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AIBU?

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Original poster

No real mental health crisis from pandemic

498 replies

Nimbostratus100 · 09/03/2023 08:41

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.

OP posts:
Corah5 · 09/03/2023 09:19

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 09:12

Yeah a few middle class people got time off work

Totally worth it

Actually it was more likely to be lower class people who got time off work. People who did jobs that couldn’t be done remotely. Waiters, cleaners, etc. Middle class people were mostly in office jobs that could be done from home.

Thepeopleversuswork · 09/03/2023 09:20

The BMJ is extremely credible and I'm prepared to believe this, but the real story as @Botw1 rightly points out is the huge divide between those children who were well equipped to weather lockdowns (because they were in affluent, two-parent families in large houses with gardens) and those who weren't.

I do also think now, as I thought at the time, that there was an unpleasant strain of smug running through this whole narrataive, with families who were well set up for lockdown crowing about how much they enjoyed their family downtime, apparently oblivious to the fact that for anyone who was working in the emergency services or a supermarket, or anyone in a single parent family, lockdown was unmitigated hell. And for those families there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that mental health did suffer.

I'm quite prepared to accept that the lockdown mental health crisis has been overstated in the media but I could do without having masses of people come out of the woodwork to reprise this tedious story about the golden age of lockdown.

LlynTegid · 09/03/2023 09:20

I think there was a high level of mental health issues before the pandemic and it made it worse for many people. There were those whose mental health improved by contrast, but I expect they were fewer.

There were people bereaved who could not attend a funeral, above all, whilst Mr Johnson and others who lived and/or worked in Downing Street were having drinks etc. If Mr Johnson had acted promptly in March 2020, at least 20,000 fewer people would have died and the periods of restrictions would have been much shorter.

MarshaBradyo · 09/03/2023 09:21

ErrolTheDragon · 09/03/2023 09:04

From the Times article
Women were the only specific group to experience a worsening of symptoms across all three areas.

Oh, well, that's ok then.Hmm
Since women are half the population, and there was no overall change in the general population, does that imply mens MH improved somewhat on average? (It may not.... depends on the makeup of the cohorts etc)

Ha at women the only specific group. That pesky 50% of the population huh

I read about this on the BBC. It did say children weren't included in any of the research

If this is true then it’s pretty much saying men were ok, not women and we didn’t check children. That’s good then.

swallowedAfly · 09/03/2023 09:21

Also likewise the state of camhs and of young people's mental health in general had been in decline for a long time and services, support and funding in schools, local authorities etc so shit for so long that to blame the final straw on a broken back would be crazy.

I'm a teacher and the kids I teach through and since covid peak years loved being off school. Behaviour being down doesn't necessarily equate to mental health being down - it more likely results from conditioning and willingness to comply to school behaviour systems is down. Having a break from constant conditioning does change our responses to systems that are arguably broken and unreasonable in nature be we adults or children.

ExtraOnions · 09/03/2023 09:22

I am at CAHMS at 11am this morning, with my teenager, whose mental health suffered during lockdown … Maybe she’s making it up eh

fluffiphlox · 09/03/2023 09:23

I really enjoyed the first lockdown but I’m in a privileged position. If you’re less privileged and not very mentally resilient, it was probably awful. I think the study is a meta study of the data for better-off countries.

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 09:24

@Corah5

I was being sarcastic

But you seem to have missed the point.

Middle class people working from home/being furloghed, in their nice houses with gardens, not worrying about money (I know lots who were far better off) enjoying lock down is not a justification for ignoring the huge negative impacts on everything else

Londontown12 · 09/03/2023 09:24

This was a small minority of people in good standard of living in Asia !
This did not include young people or young adults and not in property related areas if you read the whole news article on bbc it’s very misleading and easy to jump to a conclusion ! X

swallowedAfly · 09/03/2023 09:25

ExtraOnions · 09/03/2023 09:22

I am at CAHMS at 11am this morning, with my teenager, whose mental health suffered during lockdown … Maybe she’s making it up eh

Of course not but you have no control to test whether this would have happened anyway especially with the trends that were already present in society.

MyDogStoodOnABee · 09/03/2023 09:26

Mine did

Londontown12 · 09/03/2023 09:26

poverty *

swallowedAfly · 09/03/2023 09:26

It definitely damaged their education - I can attest to that. I just have seen no evidence in my own practice that it damaged their mental health as a collective in my practice.

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 09:27

@swallowedAfly

We can't pretend the pandemic didn't happen

It did. And our response to it is having an ongoing negative impact

The fact things were bad and would have continued to be bad without it is irrelevant

swallowedAfly · 09/03/2023 09:27

It's almost like people are disappointed by good news Hmm

LadyHester · 09/03/2023 09:28

Just read the article. They seem to be saying that ‘only’ women’s mental health suffered - so that’s ok then.

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 09:29

@swallowedAfly

Are you a mh practitioner?

The study is good news for men I suppose
Not women. And it's not relevant to children

MarshaBradyo · 09/03/2023 09:29

swallowedAfly · 09/03/2023 09:26

It definitely damaged their education - I can attest to that. I just have seen no evidence in my own practice that it damaged their mental health as a collective in my practice.

What is your practice? Ie where and when we’re you seeing dc

swallowedAfly · 09/03/2023 09:29

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 09:27

@swallowedAfly

We can't pretend the pandemic didn't happen

It did. And our response to it is having an ongoing negative impact

The fact things were bad and would have continued to be bad without it is irrelevant

It's not irrelevant because blaming covid and lockdown distracts from the true long term causes of the problems we see in society and our public services! It let's the true perpetrators of the state of things off the hook. Covid isn't going to cough up and properly fund public services and education is it? It's all very convenient to blame something that can't be changed.

247SylviaPlath · 09/03/2023 09:30

You do realise though that just because someone asks a question doesn't mean they're going to give you a full and frank response though OP? My daughter would probably say, yeah it was ok if someone asked her, but it was also a time when she started self harming, and was incredibly depressed for a long period after, is only just starting to come out the other side now with mental health intervention. There are so many of her friends who went through similar.
It's such a facile statement to make, why the fuck would you think anyone would tell you exactly what went on for them, particularly those it affected most... Christ there is some bollocks on here...

NastyNiff · 09/03/2023 09:31

I had a breakdown that was partially related to WFH... but I think it ultimately taught me I was in the wrong job. So perhaps a good outcome.

LastTrainEast · 09/03/2023 09:31

Women doesn't mean all women. Hence the confusion about 50% of the population. Apparently literacy has suffered too.

ReadersD1gest · 09/03/2023 09:33

The vast majority of children; certainly teenagers, hated lockdown. That's fairly indisputable.

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 09:33

@swallowedAfly

Im not blaming covid.

I blame the govt.

But covid is a factor.

I don't think anyone thinks it's solely covid to blame

But pretending it's had no impact to try to avoid letting the tories off the hook is daft

IHateLegDay · 09/03/2023 09:33

My husband, kids and I loved lockdown! He normally works non-stop so it was lovely having him home for 3 months (he went back in the June).
We had so much quality time together and explored our local nature.
Fortunately, we have a large house so we weren't on top of each other.

I know many families who struggled.

The 'figures' will only show people who got support for their mental health. What about all the people that have suffered in silence? There will be no data for them and I'm sure the number is far higher than you think.