To think there's a whole mental health aftermath to the pandemic which isn't really being addressed

[crackerscandycanes]

Just looking at people I know, people seem to be really struggling at the minute, and of course the cost of living is a big part and all the bad news etc, but I also think that some of it is the aftermath of the pandemic and everything we had to go through being locked indoors for all that time. It seems as if we're not supposed to mention it now or reflect, but I think there's a lot of mental health issues on the back of it.

There are, yes. But MH services in this country are hideously underfunded and were stretched to breaking point before the pandemic. Unless the government fund them much better there isn't going to be an improvement. There is a lot of talk/platitudes about 'mental health' and opening up to people - but very little professional help available. Waiting lists are very long.

I had bad Post natal anxiety after giving birth to my first dc in April 2020 when lockdown began.

I then had another baby 1 year later when restrictions were still in place. It was a lot. I have eased back into normal life now but still not been out much with friends due to breastfeeding etc a new baby but when I talk about the pandemic or lockdown or covid people just look at me like I'm weird like 'why are you talking about that that was ages ago' but it was a big deal to me. Our lives were turned upside down?

I also have friends who weren't symphatheitic because to them covid wasn't a big deal.

I don't go on about it but talking about it helps me work through what I went through but no ones seems interesting in reflecting at all...

I don't think we collectively have reflected on what we went through. But then perhaps moving on through it is the best way to deal with it for lots of people. I think a lot about how we will talk about it to our children and grandchildren.

Absolutely, my friend died 2 weeks ago today, I'm sure her health situation might not even have existed without the pandemic let alone the chance of someone in their 40s getting a decent doctors appointment being so difficult without a pandemic. Then there's the hospital care, she went to A&E and they sent her away, that was 4 weeks ago and her situation was really serious.

Mental health problems and particularly grief were an issue for her, although she died of a physical illness the lack of self care was a big factor.

I have seen people say this a lot but I'm not sure what colectuvely reflect meansin practice. What would help?

I was almost sectioned in May 2020 (already under the CMHT for a range of issues including ptsd and had been for 5 years ever since I had postpartum psychosis when dc1 was born), 4 months later I was discharged without being seen as they decided I was "coping". If I disagreed with their decision I could get in touch to discuss. Given how worthless I felt at the time, which was reinforced by their letter that's the last thing I could have done.

I'm struggling on, accepting that I'll never get my career or sense of self back whilst trying to be the best mother I can. I know many others in similar situations.

No one has had any time to reflect on lockdown. We’ve been thrown from one crisis (covid) to the next (cost of living).

Yes it feels like almost everyone is on anti depressants

I think something similar. I'm not the same person now, but hardly anyone even mentions the pandemic in passing. My child grew up during it, and I wonder what the effect of the pandemic will be on their generation.

Yes, possibly they are - members of my family are, and I'm not quite the same as pre-Covid.

But previous generations went through world wars and much worse pandemics (with a huge fatality rate - not 2/3%). Maybe most of us just need to get on with it and accept that life may never quite be the same again.

I get really annoyed with the threads on MN which seem to think we in the West have some God-given right to live our best lives. No - we've had a big set-back of historic importance - not just due to Covid but also the Ukraine war, to name but 2 factors. Possibly we will all have to accept a lower standard of living and the 'loss of innocence' - the realisation that even we (and not just Third World countries) are vulnerable too and might - horrors - have to see our living standards fall in all kinds of ways.

I get this - and I've had a family member very badly affected in health terms, so I'm not speaking from a position of smug security. I just think, if you know anything about history, that bad things happen, we are not all-powerful and the West in particular if losing ground in terms of power, influence and prestige to China - something economists and historians have been predicting for a long time. I think we need to take this on board and get used to our new not so shiny status.

Sorry for typos....

Tap into the psychotherapist / counsellor community online (Instagram, YouTube) - lots of acknowledgement there.

Huge sympathy to all those who have posted having suffered losses and had a hard time

I can see that for some people just battling on through is what they might want, but there are a lot of people who I think need to reflect. Things like being able to talk about it, some kind of national campaign or initiative, some acknowledgment of it all in some way is needed, I don't know. How do we process the emotions. I do find it upsetting to think about it but also I don't think it's necessarily helpful that it's barely mentioned now and we're all meant to carry on as if it never happened.

Thanks for that Iwritethissittinginthekitchensink anyone to look out for on YouTube on this?

But previous generations went through world wars and much worse pandemics (with a huge fatality rate - not 2/3%).

There are so many things wrong with people trotting this line out, but I think my favourite is the fact that having experienced a world war and covid aren't actually mutually exclusive. There are hundreds of thousands of people even just in this country who have experienced both, and they have a range of views about it. But nobody who invokes WW2 ever bothers to pay any attention to their experiences at all.

Yanbu OP. The pandemic and the response to it both caused a lot of trauma for many people, and we're going to be living with it a while yet.

I agree op but everything is going to hell in a hand cart at the moment and NHS is already about to hit it's usual winter catastrophe phase So I can't see where extra services or money would come from.

There was a good thread covering how people felt recently.

I also think the media has learnt how to hammer us with doom on a daily basis and that’s not helping. I’m careful with what I read / listen to though.

Yes. Even exceptional performers at work are troubled by the experience.

I made sure to limit the amount of media coverage I exposed myself to during the peak of the pandemic too, it was unhelpful.

Definitely! My DH has lost his career as a teacher due to catching Covid at work and now having long Covid. MH support services are woeful and there's nothing for him. We are on our knees financially as I had to give up work 5 years ago to look after our disabled DD who also didn't recover from a virus. So we knew genetically speaking one of us would come off badly from the pandemic. There are many many casualties from this, be it through catching it or not catching it. Such a shit show!

I think a lot of people are still in a heightened state of alert, I know personally my underlying stress levels haven’t returned to normal as it has been one thing after another.
We do need to keep moving forward though and hopefully at some point things will calm. My 2 dcs (13 & 7) seem to be ok but I don’t know if the fact I kept them away from news etc. has potentially help shield them a bit

I do feel people are burnt out. I'm not sure if it is COVID per se or the combination of everything that's happened the last few years: Trump, Brexit, COVID, Ukraine, cost of living.

I am aware of some people I know well, especially youngsters having mental health issues related to the pandemic.
My husband died of Covid19, he was vulnerable because of underlying health problems.
The very last thing I would like is some sort of collective acknowledgement or national campaign. I just think over focus on it in the media is unhelpful. For example, I was distracting myself watching Strictly last week and there were some very emotional references to it all.
It's a shame Mental health services are so stretched for people who need individual support but a more references in the media etc are just horrible for me. I have no alternative but to try to look forward and build a positive life. Let's not get mawkish.

I think a lot of people don't want to talk about the pandemic.

It comes across as unfeeling, but I wonder if they're trying to protect themselves by pretending it never happened and Covid isn't still a thing now. We all have different coping mechanisms, and the ostrich approach is well-known.

The pandemic trashed my physical and mental health, I lost people, and I'm losing people still due to conditions that weren't diagnosed in time. It has been the most traumatic time in my whole life.

Some people didn't undergo any of the trauma. But so many did, and I think the scale of the collective trauma makes it complicated. On one hand, most of us can relate to all of the bad stuff. On the other, we're too busy reeling from our own bad stuff to support other people with theirs.

In the past, if one person was having a shitty time, generally, they had a pool of friends and family to call on who weren't having that same awful experience and as such, had the emotional energy to support. Now... it feels like we're all tapped out of emotional energy.

Literally loads of us made these comments on covid threads and were ignored and called selfish amongst other things.

I'm not surprised with mental health issues and it needs sorting, but the arseholes who called us selfish are nowhere to be seen.