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.

How nice for you feel there was a choice in how your mind and body responded to the pandemic. For many of us that choice got taken away by the virus - you know, the one you feel was no big deal.

The government basically went “the only way we can persuade people to stay at home is to scare them”. So they did. With death tolls and news stories about people dying in overcrowded hospitals.

The footage of peoply dying hideously in overcrowded hospitals came first. Italy. Then governments prevaricated. Then lockdowns. They didn't invent the scenario presented, they tried to prevent it.

It's like Y2K, people say it was a non-event and just scaremongering. But people worked for years to rectify it so that it would be a non-event.

I feel really angry about the way the pandemic was handled. The acceptance of strict lockdowns by so many people even though they were being imposed on us by politicians who clearly didn’t believe in their own rules. The 37 billion that was wasted on test and trace (which most people didn’t pay any attention to), the 10 billion that was wasted on unusable, overpriced or undelivered PPE. The 70 billion on furlough and the 849 million that was spent on eat out to help out. People who questioned any of these things were accused of being selfish and extremist but we could certainly do with some of that money now. I still feel angry when I see a mask. Not because I have anything against the wearer but because it reminds me of covid and all the restrictions.

Lock downs were incredibly hard.

I work in a people facing role and things have really changed. People are very intolerant of others now.

My lockdown started with losing my mother in law to sepsis in April 2020. Her last few hours were spent alone with no family able to visit.

My home was taken over by work and it was awful taking some of the customers

We lost my father in law in September from cancer.

We would still have him if getting an appointment was more straight forward.

My daughter is having a very poor period of MH and I have not been able to access any support for her

Who is saying you shouldn't mention it? I hear it talked about alot.

I do think we are experiencing more MH problems as a society, i dont attribute all of that to lockdown, i do think if we have people struggling and a government not giving a shit to fund the services, the problem will continue to get worse.
I am expecting it to get alot worse.

Yanbu. I've been mentally drowning since covid and there's no support. They signpost you to another service with a waitlist,then they recommend another support service who sets a meeting up in 1 month and it continues. No therapy, no treatment, no support for my family. I'm on my 4th type of anti depressants and thats the only treatment I've received after being locked down by the govt.

Of course it isn't all lockdown. That's just one cause and/or complicating factor. There are others too.

I was thinking this afternoon that one of the saving graces of it being dark, cold and miserable outside is that you can be in your warm home. My house was 18•c (I know this is tropical for MN) and I was freezing but I am scared to turn the heating on due to the cost. It feels like there is nothing to look forward to. I have no money to spend on anything apart from bills and food (lone parent)

Definitely agree with the statement below

"The impact on children and teenagers was huge and as a society we are minimising this, the number of school refusers has soared, anxiety is through the roof and yet everyone expects them to be resilient and just carry on as if nothing has happened without the chance to discuss their feelings or experiences- I feel we will be paying for Covid as a society for a few generations and the government should at least invest in proper mental health provision to help people"

Back in the 80s i was being badly bullied at school The place made me nervous and caused huge anxiety. If Covid had happened then i would have been one of the school refusers.

And I will never forget that callous flippant attitudes to older and elderly people expressed here.

I worked in a Covid Red Zone throughout and altho it was pretty harrowing at the time I can’t say I’ve been affected by it.

What does annoy me though is the current commentary in many media outlets, that it was an over reaction and a crisis made in Westminster. That is just arse water. It was real enough.

I said quite early on once they got a grip that I thought Sweden had the right idea about how to manage it-I still think they did and despite a much lighter touch their stats are better than the UKS. We lived in Denmark post October 21 and it was noticeable how much better it was handled. Shorter lockdowns , places allowed to open but vaccination passport needed for quite a while or very frequent free testing -all viewable on an app- , free testing on turn up as often as you wanted, school children out having lessons in playgrounds - and far less constant stuff about it- the number of people who got addicted to the 5pm doom and gloom spot . I am pro vaccine and had them all but I think it was certainly kept very quiet that it was an aid in the fight against serious illness from it- not a total preventative vaccine. I can't help but wonder now if the actual vaccine and lockdowns and loss of livelihoods and businesses and homes etc has caused as many lives ruined of often middle aged people , as lives it was meant to save- my father in law who is now 83 says he would rather have took a personal choice of how to minimise his chances of getting it

@binglebangle567 I totally agree I absolutely despise people for coming out with the "we are all in this together" bullshit when it was very far from the truth. The same people were also very happy to go back to their default setting of slagging certain groups off. e,g. the posters who think you should be grateful for having a titchy one bedroom flat also moaned like fuck at the flat dwellers for not having the room to self isolate should it be needed to do so.

@milkyaqua it's interesting you say that and I do understand how you feel, I was therefore quite suprised by my FIL at 81 at the time, who thought far too much emphasis on life being screwed for all - he said he would rather have had a bit of life out there and made his own choices .

@milkyaqua Like this you mean.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/coronavirus/3853749-All-my-elderly-neighbours-are-out

There are now more excess deaths than during the peak Covid years:

www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-are-excess-deaths-higher-now-than-during-covid/

This was pointed out and predicted during the pandemic but the majority supported the restrictions.

That was his outlook, but he wasn't on here reading how people like him have had their time and should move over and die.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3878285-to-be-worried-about-people-over-70-who-aren-t-really-taking-covid-seriously

Majority voting yanbu. This would have been very different during pandemic and any posts suggesting damage ridiculed. Good to see the change but it’s so late to recognise it now.

Good to see you keeping alive the spirit of spite, JB. Hold on one moment while I scan the Covid board and link to each of the thousands of comments I'm talking about...

I think you'll find it was because a minority felt that an entire generation of children's education, mental health and futures were being sacrificed in order to protect society against a disease with an average age of death at 82.4 (when the average age from all causes was 81.2).

Not to mention the economic consequences of the lockdowns that we are paying for / dealing with the consequences.

At the time I didn't think the societal and country wide lockdowns were the right decision and I still don't.

@milkyaqua Im agreeing with you. The elderly were treated disgustingly. Told they shouldnt be out and about at all and that this was all being done for their benefit.