No real mental health crisis from pandemic

[Nimbostratus100]

Confirmed by BMJ, after surveys across high income countries across Europe and ASia

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest, despite a myriad of anecdotal accounts on MN and in some other places.

I know I asked many hundreds of children myself, and found more enjoyed and benefited from lockdown than suffered because of it, and mental health charities knew at the time that suicide rates were falling, which has later been confirmed.

Some people's mental health deteriorated in the lockdowns. Some people's improved. Overall, there was a small rise in mild/moderate mental health problems being reported, while suicides decreased.

Can we stop blaming the pandemic and lockdown for poor mental health across the board now, but particularly in schools.

Presumably they were loaned to people who already had horses, rather than chancers who fancied using a horse as an excuse to go outside!

I've still no idea why we all just followed their nonsense rules.

Especially the ones about not visiting people in nh.

It was barbaric

I agree. The care home rules and funeral rules were unbelievably cruel.

Me too

Lockdown really helped my mental health, I appreciate it didn't for others, but the move to online access for various services really helped me be able to access them when I hadn't been able to previously due to disability. It definetly had a fall down again though after and I struggled as some were removed back with f2f or phone call stuff, I wish they would keep both.

why didn’t you let them kick a football in a field? :/ didn’t you go out daily? If not, why not? My boys still kicked footballs; there were no rules against doing so.

It's strange isn't it. I look back now and marvel at how compliant we were. Any rebelliousness I felt was squashed because I live in a small village where I was worried I'd be reported if I broke the rules.
If it happened again I'd do exactly what I wanted. Just like the politicians did!

🙄Right... because a riding school would hand their horses over to any randoms off the street rather than to people who have been riding there for years. It was a way to allow my daughter to continue her hobby, but she has been riding for years. It wasn't like they handed over a pony to us just like that

Horses aren’t footballs. I can’t just chuck them in the shed until they’re ready to be played with again.

They still need to be cared for day in and day out. They need turning out/bringing in, feeding and mucking out and exercising. Every single day.

We did stop riding to start with until

1. my DD’s pony became a huge pent up ball of energy that she took me out on the way to the field one day and I ended up in hospital anyway
2. my oldie ended up crippled with arthritis because she wasn’t in her usual routine of gentle exercise.

So we started riding again. In the middle of my daughter’s mental health breakdown, going to the yard and spending time with her pony was the only way to get her out of bed.

And they weren’t loaned strategically. I lost my oldie recently, but we’ve had them for a very long time.

I did not enjoy lockdown in the slightest. I feel like watching my daughter fall apart in front of me and not being able to help her and the last 3 years of trying to put her back together has traumatised me tbh, .

We were fortunate in someways over the pandemic and lockdown, but I will never forget feeling so utterly helpless

The parks were cordoned off. Lots of big cities are a long way from fields.

You weren't allowed to see anyone else. My DS didn't want to kick a ball on his own. You had two boys so it was probably much easier for you in that respect.
It's scary how compliant people are even now, talking about the rules as though they made some sense.

'And yes you could ride every day as it was part of animal welfare. As you could walk your dog'

Exactly we were always out dog walking, most people of course carried on to care for their animals .

The rules about care homes were of course unpleasant but necessary. If they'd let folk traipse in and out there'd have been an outcry when homes then inevitably had break outs.

The whole thing was to reduce the risk of spread not to punish folk, clearly necessary in a pandemic and something that went on globally it wasn't just The Evil Tories.

@Meandfour I lose track of what was allowed and when, but I'm pretty sure at one point you couldn't go to the park and a lot of them were shut anyway. But I clearly remember they couldn't play football with their friends, and that went on for a long time.

I wasn't referring to anyone who owns horses, just one particular poster who borrowed one specially for the duration of lockdown., presumably having had zero interest in horses beforehand.

'The parks were cordoned off'

No they weren't. Outdoor spaces were open, albeit with some over enthusiastic councils taping off benches but they wanted people getting fresh air and exercise.

If it was such a bit threat, why did the politicians not follow the rules? there's food for thought.
I never stopped seeing my elderly parents. They're still alive, even though my mum was in poor health.

Well unless he was going out alone could you of not done it with him? At the risk of sounding a pedant; the poster I replied to didn’t actually say “play with friends” she said kick a football around. That was definitely allowed.

Parks were open but you couldn’t meet up to play football etc

Is my recollection

Did you miss the part where she pointed out they loaned the horse from their riding school :/

I’m in a big city and surrounded by fields. green spaces were not cordoned off.

People are being ridiculous now. Children were allowed to kick balls 🙄

I'll try to find some photos of our local (London) parks with their gates locked. I'm not imagining it. We could have scaled 6' railings if we'd been determined enough, but we didn't.

I assume not to randomers who didn't already have a horse and the land to keep one on.

I could. But he's pretty good and kicking a ball in a park isn't enough, especially with his mum who has two left feet. He needed his team training and that wasn't allowed. They needed their mates.

The poster said she’d loaned from their riding school

Several of the riding schools round here ran similar schemes during that time, where kids who had regular lessons could loan a riding school horse.

It was the only way a lot of them could stay afloat and feed the horses

I agree you did an excellent job from my experience.
I don't know where people got the idea home visits did not happen. Maybe because people feeling a bit sad did not get a home visit because they rang their GP?