How is lockdown affecting your mental health?

[Rainbowb]

I’m normally a pretty chirpy person but I am starting to wonder if I have depression now. I’m over eating, crying a lot and losing my temper. I wake up feeling utterly exhausted and just wonder how to get through the day having to put on a smiling face for everyone.

So sorry got everyone who is struggling.

I am a long term anxiety sufferer and on a day to day basis I'm actually ok. I fixate and obsess so when all of this kicked off I was a bit of a mess, obsessively reading the news etc. Since lockdown I have managed to avoid a lot of that. I am wfh which I do fairly frequently anyway and my dh is a sahp so he is doing the home schooling. I'm seeing more of the kids which is great.

But, I am very very scared about the economic fallout and what that means and can see some of my obsessive actions creeping in. I am concerned about my widowed mum on her own in a big house (although she seems to be fine tbh!).

No sex due to pre teens who go to sleep later than I do (never been able to fully relax unless they are out/asleep) which doesn't help stress relief and also bond with dh. No time without dh/dds around apart from an occasional run. I am an introvert so struggle a bit with this.

All in all I'm fine but pleased when we can define a new normal.

Good. Full time ESOL/EFL FE teacher. WFH doing lots of prepping, on line lessons, marking and meetings. Busy but no commute, no getting up early, no rushing around getting my DDs to here, there and everywhere.

I am enjoying time with my girls that I never would have got in normal circumstances. I am enjoying the pace of life at the moment.

Gosh aren’t you Smaug @moneymoney12 - guess your user name says it all.

Be great to have lots of money and nothing to buy except Dettol and toilet roll as these are about the only businesses that will survive.

I’m an introvert so, whilst I miss the people I care about, people en masse not so much. I can relate to secretly thinking this is ok and being fine with it continuing a while longer, even though I’m well aware it’s unsustainable economically and not everyone thrives emotionally.

Has it though? Some people are locked down in massive houses with loads of land, hot tubs, quad bikes, trampolines etc. Some are locked down in 1 bed flats with no outside space at all.

What I meant is that I feel that it has levelled for me and my DCs because now nobody can go out to the cinema etc and do all the things that we can never afford to do. We haven't been to the cinema in ten years, my youngest two can't remember ever having been to the cinema and they are teenagers now.

Aside from the worry of getting the virus it hasn't made much difference to me in my daily life as such, as I had no social life anyway. I have to shop but have limited it to weekly. Partner still working and taking relevant precautions, but obviously can't be certain about any of it. I am concerned, but try not to dwell on it too much.

I'm up and down. Have the kids 50/50 so it's one extreme or the other - relentless needs of children (6&8) or totally alone. Ds has extra needs and, after being in a good place since Christmas, our relationship has taken a nosedive since lockdown with being cooped up with each other and no escape. I don't do brilliantly with my own company for long periods and my friends are mostly married so dealing with their own stresses of no break from the kids, so all the virtual socialising I keep reading about isn't really happening. Work is okay but wasn't particularly challenging or fulfilling before this kicked off. Youngest is struggling and very clingy. And I too am sick of the local routes for the daily walk. I just want to hibernate.

It is stressful zante

And I know there's lots of people worse off so I feel guilty for being stressed

I feel the same too and I don't want to bother the GP.

Pre Covid my anxiety levels were shot anyway, but didn't want to bother GP as I was scared he'd dismiss me.

With my seemingly high BP and heart rate I spend time worrying about palpatations too, which makes it worse. And I worry it makes me more susceptible to the virus, but because I never went to GP I don't know if I am at risk or should be on blood pressure meds?

It’s just Groundhog Day here.
Normally have a very busy life , here, there and everywhere..so it just feels like it’s on hold.
I haven’t tried to do anything meaningful at all.
There’s still a pile of unread books.
House stays reasonably tidy with just the two of us. We’ve been out most days..I think it’s more grieving for my old life.
I keep away from the news. The tv doesn’t go on till about 3 to watch tenable, tipping point or the chase. Then off again till we watch Netflix after dinner. Unless we go to beach, park or supermarket in afternoon.
I’ve seen my grandchildren, well some of them anyway and That’s helped.

We don’t even see much of our neighbours as we are at the end of a cul de sac of 4
No huge garden here, but a bit of decking..can’t even be bothered to do my pots
Should’ve been away this weekend but grateful to be alive and my children and grandchildren
Don’t even think of the future, just live for the now..it really is all we have

I'm a bit all over the place. I'm still working full time, half at home and half in the office. DH mostly working from home. I think I'm coping slightly better than him as I'm still seeing people outside the family ( at an appropriate distance). Teen DDs have coped brilliantly so far in terms of keeping spirits up, but i think it is now starting to get to them a bit. It was quite nice at first having some time together as a family, but I think the kids could now do with seeing some other people. When lockdown first started we played a lot of games together but were now getting a bit bored of the games we have. The weather has helped a lot, this would have been really hard if it had been a cold rainy month.

Up and down from hour to hour. Mainly terrified of getting virus & leaving dc. My favourite times are when I’m walking the dog in the woods away from everyone. The sunshine has helped too.

It varies daily! I'm on antidepressants for pnd before all this started and they have helped me lots. Some days are very hard I'm a sahm of four including one with special needs. My husband is still working. He was off work for a few weeks and things were better. We were enjoying more family time together going out for walks in the sunshine ect now he's back to work I feel a bit lost again. I love the kids to death but I am really missing adult interactions. I normally see my parents every other day so not being able to see them at all is hard. We don't have much of a garden more a little yard with not much space to do anything so it is tricky but we've been blessed with the weather and I think we are all living for our daily walks! We have it better then Alot of other people so I'm trying to stay positive and grateful for what we have but it isn't always easy. I think it really depends on what each individuals situation is for how well they will cope.

It's affecting me badly. I'm just not the sort of person who can conjure up happiness out of positive thinking. I need actual things to do and look forward to in order to be happy.

Sadie - I have every sympathy for everyone who's having a hard time, but it's not just rich, smug, mentally healthy people who are finding some peace and respite in lockdown. There's really no need to respond to positive stories by saying "Ha - your furlough money will soon run out and your kids will soon be miserable!"

I think things are a lot harder fir some people than others.

It depends on your house your relationships, whether you’re working, whether you have dcs that need homeschooled, if your temperament is introverted or extroverted.

For some life is probably temporarily less stressful but fir most it’s a MH nightmare if not now, at some point.

People should try to have some empathy.

Im up and and down but nothing to do with being home. In fact that's giving me the time and space away from my wider family to do the work I need to do in my past when it comes to them.

I feel better for not seeing them. I can't connect to their moaning about missing people. I'm not missing anyone. And I find that equally sad and liberating.

I do have my husband and children at home with me so i am sure it would be different if they were grown and lived elsewhere.

My life hasn't changed hugely. I am usually depressed/anxious and don't go out much except for food shopping. I'm limited to what I can carry and that means I have to go out 2 or 3 times in a week. I'm in a top floor flat with no garden, no green space nearby and just walking around the streets feels incredibly pointless. I don't have any energy for all the online connecting and my family don't really bother with me because I'm not 'useful' to them.
I'm feeling angry a lot, grinding my teeth and losing my temper. About to start phone therapy so I'm hoping that will help. I'm just so angry at the situation. Everything feels so divisive now. People with cars, supermarket deliveries, gardens etc feel like they are another species to me. There are lots of us in these little flats/bedsits, living on universal credit, with mental health and physical problems, having to use the food banks. We are the poor now. Yes I AM bitter. Society is more divided than ever, and some of us have fallen through the cracks.

I’m in a bad place because all the things I do to protect my mental health are not available. Friends, acquaintances, exercise classes, shopping trips, coffee with friends, hobbies, have gone.

The exercise classes are on Zoom and I do them, but it’s not the same. I have a constant knot of anxiety, can’t eat much or sleep much, cry every few minutes and panic several times a day.

I also feel massively dictation guilty that I can’t cope better than this and have thought about ending everything. I just don’t know how people stay sane. I don’t think I am just now. I’m older, so the message I get from MN, is that I’m expendable, useless, can be sacrificed. Before this, I could manage without medication, could concentrate on things, could knit, crochet and cross stitch. Can’t do any of that know.

thesuninsagittarius and Foxy loxy, 💐 💐

Nothing much to add at the moment but hold in there.