  We consider the calculation of the thermal self-energy of a neutrino that
propagates in a medium composed of fermions and scalars interacting via a
Yukawa-type coupling, in the case that the neutrino energy is much larger than
the fermion and scalar masses, as well as the temperature and chemical
potentials of the background. In this kinematic regime the one-loop
contribution to the imaginary part of the self-energy is negligible. We
consider the two-loop contribution and we encounter the so-called pinch
singularities which are known to arise in higher loop self-energy calculations
in Thermal Field Theory. With a judicious use of the properties and
parametrizations of the thermal propagators the singularities are treated
effectively and actually disappear. From the imaginary part of the self-energy,
we obtain a precise formula for the damping matrix expressed in terms of
integrals over the background particle distributions. The formulas predict a
specific dependence of the damping terms on the neutrino energy, depending on
the background conditions. For guidance to estimating the effects in specific
contexts, we compute the damping terms for several limiting cases of the
momentum distribution functions of the background particles. We discuss briefly
the connection between the results of our calculations for the damping matrix
and the decoherence effects described in terms of the Lindblad equation.
