Also on rise on psychosis type illness due to the pandemic.
"Dozens of patients across Scotland have been treated for psychosis in recent weeks, as evidence mounts that the coronavirus pandemic can trigger mental illness.
Most have involved a Covid “theme”, with patients believing that the virus can be transmitted by exchanging looks with an infected person, that they have been placed under police surveillance or that the virus is a government weapon to control the public.
Dr Michael Gotz, a consultant psychiatrist in Forth Valley, said evidence of a direct link with the virus is unclear, as some cases had not been tested for it, but confirmed that the anonymised cases will be passed to CoroNerve. “We have a feeling, a suspicion, that there’s a correlation between the pandemic and younger patients presenting with acute mental illness,” added Gotz.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned that services could be overwhelmed by “a tsunami of mental illness” amid evidence that some people are developing serious psychological problems for the first time — without catching the virus — as a result of the lockdown, anxiety, isolation, job insecurity, relationship breakdown and bereavements"