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.

@Sarahcoggles that makes utter sense. I remember having anxiety (not during covid) and not wanting to leave the home. I got help straight away because I need to go out to work etc. Some medication and CBT and I was ok.

I imagine if it had been lockdown I would have possible not gone to the doctors, and just managed as I could just stay home, and then when I had to go back into work my anxiety would have been more entrenched and harder to treat.

Both of mine preferred lockdown, but we were in the privileged position of having one parent (me) with the time, energy and ability to teach them, and they really benefited from that.

Plus they got to see more of their dad then they ever had before - he works in the City, and since birth they only really saw him at weekends, as he left before they woke up in the mornings, and usually got home around bedtime. Working from home changed that, and he still hasn't gone back to the office full time, because I'm he likes being there for them.

We were able to have family dinners round the table every evening, and have kept that up post-lockdown. They are happy occasions at which we chat and laugh a lot. We are all closer as a result.

I got the kids out every day for fresh air and exercise, and we discovered some beautiful areas right on our doorstep. On the odd occasion when one or more of us was stressed out by homeschooling - which was by no means easy and gave me a greater than ever impression of the work teachers do - I'd declare a mental health day, and we'd go and spend the day paddling in the river or walking through the woods.

But, we were extraordinarily privileged, and I absolutely acknowledge that the majority of people had a much, much tougher time. And I agree with a previous poster that's it's much too soon to say for certain what the long term repercussions might be.

@Corah5

You know 'lower class' is made up of more than waiters and cleaners right?

It's not true less well paid people were more likely to be furloghed

They were more likely to still be working in their essential but low paid jobs in care, supermarkets, food production etc

Putting themselves at risk (according to the govt) for shit money

And if lower paid people were furloghed, they would have had less income.

They weren't wfh.

Exactly this. The write-up of the research says that women’s MH got worse during the pandemic. So if you think this research is credible and complete, this means the pandemic/lockdown/covid effect was negative for at least 51% of the population. And there does not appear to be any specific evidence about under 18s MH in this study.

I would look closely at the funding of this report, and who/how they surveyed. I think there are too many different agendas at play to make it completely trustworthy. Imagine if a study showed that government policy had caused massive mental health problems - the risk of litigation would be worrying for governments.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all and I get the BMJ every week, so I'm fully aware of the standards it sets itself. But on this occasion it is in such massive contrast with my observation as a clinician, and that of my clinical friends, that I do not trust this piece of research.

Anecdote does not equal data.

I'm willing to believe that the BMJ has published a decent bit of research more than a few MN posters who don't agree with the outcome based on their own personal experience.

As someone said upthread, lockdowns are not the only contributing factor to poor MH, especially 2 years on.

What a load of bollocks, this is just more lies created and spread by the UK media who are now trying to gaslight people into thinking the past few years hasn’t effected their mental health.
the study will be completely corrupt if you really research it. Any stats can be twisted and manipulated, you only need to speak to say 50 random people to know the answer to this!

Exactly. All of my DC enjoyed lockdown, both at the time and in retrospect. And at the time I largely enjoyed it, too.

Looking at them now, as a parent, it is blindingly obvious that the pandemic has had a significant negative impact on all three of them. All of them have suffered academically, and two of them have also struggled socially, one of them significantly so.

I'm sorry to hear about your DD, kittens.

Why isn’t the headline along the lines of Women’s mh suffered more during pandemic

And we didn’t look at children

Rather than centering on the group men

@KickHimInTheCrotch

I don't disagree with the outcome of the research.

It says of those they studied with mh issues prior to the pandemic, their symptoms weren't worse at the end.

Except for women. Whose symptoms were a bit worse

And except for children who werent included

@Nimbostratus100 PLEASE READ THE SUMMARY PROPERLY!!!! it includes no studies later than 2020 ...and "only a handful of studies " from late 2020 at that......as far as I was aware the pandemic only started in 2020 it didn't finish then!!! In addition, any suicide statistics are never deducible that quickly for the precise reason that they are subject to coroners input, much of whose work was likewise significantly delayed. As a parent of a child who's mental health was a)vastly impacted by the pandemic and b) vastly affected by the lack of access to help , it's an extremely naïve post. My own child's school went from being outstanding to inadequate and many of the reasons relating to the inadequacy has been around the children's response to the pandemic.

And except for children who werent included
Op appears to have conducted her own research, questioning "hundreds of children" 😬
Quite how she had access to these children, she doesn't say.

I'm a health scientist and I've had a look through this. It's a good robust study from all I can see. But it's important to read the fine print. The time points assessed where in 2018/2019 compared to 2020. Only 1 included study was from 2021.

I think my personal anecdotal experience was that a lot of people weathered 2020 and the first lockdown and thereafter with quite a bit of resilience. It was an 'emergency' and people tend to pull it together in emergencies (obviously not all). But it's the long-term effects of trauma and stress that are key and this study isn't measuring that. It's measuring the impact of the very first few months of COVID.

This is still an important finding, but it's not saying what people (and likely media, who are awful at interpreting scientific findings) are assuming it says about the impact of COVID on mental health.

Many people may hVe enjoyed the lockdown but many people did not.

Caring responsibilities changing massively.

Dealing with homeschooling while still working (whether from home or having to go in).

Pace of expectations hugely raised because of the emergency and having to work in new ways and with significantly reduced resources.

Having no respite from difficult family members.

Any progress that had been made in dealing with existing SNs going significantly backwards.

Young people losing out on so much of their key development.

Not being able to get out for own mental health purposes.

No one has been in touch with me or anyone around me to ask our experiences.

And our case is by far and away not nearly as bad as many of those around me.

But we had suicidal talk and self harm from teen that the only help I got was the number of the adult A&E unit in local hospital as the services were all closed, both existing services and emergency services - and when they reopened, teen was "not serious enough" to get proper help as there were too many others much worse affected.

The impact on us as adults and as a family have been dreadful. Physically and mentally. Dh and I never stopped working at full tilt - and I was someone who did have to go in many times in the peak when 5% of our organisation were going in.

Just because lots of people did the sourdough starter, binge watched box sets and learned new skills and hobbies, does not in any way mean that this was a universal experience.

Do you expect me to list every single job category? I gave two examples of low paid jobs which were furloughed because they couldn’t wfh. Yes some low paid people still went to work. But those who were furloughed were almost exclusively in low paid jobs which require face to face contact. The vast majority of middle class jobs were able to wfh.

So you are extrapolating a study that looked at men v. Women to children - poor science. A more accurate summary of the study is that for men there was no significant increase in mental health referrals, for women there was a small significant increase. However, as others have said it didn't review a long enough period,
The studies that actually looked at children found a very different picture to the one you are suggesting. This study found an 81% increase in referrals of children to mental health services.
Lies, damn lies and statistics.

Dr Gemma Knowles, from the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, King’s College London, said:

“The paper answers a broad question. In doing this, it risks obscuring important effects among the most affected and disadvantaged groups and, from that, obscuring possible widening of inequalities in mental distress that occurred because of the pandemic.

“There is evidence from other studies of considerable variation – with some people’s mental health improving and others’ deteriorating. This may mean no overall increase, but this shouldn’t be interpreted as suggesting the pandemic didn’t have major negative effects among some groups.

“The sub-group analyses are limited and don’t, for example, include analyses by SES, ethnic group, or by direct impacts of the pandemic on income, work, etc. Individual studies, including our recent study1, that have considered these domains suggest quite marked effects in some of the most affected and disadvantaged groups.

“The paper also considers pre- and mid- pandemic, seemingly without considering a) the timing of measurement pre-pandemic matters and b) the impacts of the pandemic varied over time. The study has very little data on sub-groups, beyond gender and age and pre-existing conditions, and so the authors cannot conclude there was little deterioration in mental health without considering these differences.”

Dr Roman Raczka, Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology, said:

“The findings of the systematic review confirm what studies have indicated – that the mental health of the general population did not significantly worsen during the pandemic due to the high level of resilience.

“However, early studies indicated increasing mental health concerns for people who had existing problems, and there is evidence that the pandemic played a key role in worsening mental health for particular groups, including children and young people, women and parents living in poverty.

“We do not yet have the full picture, and further studies are needed into the impact of the pandemic on groups experiencing long-standing social and health inequities. We do know that overstretched and underfunded mental health services have been unable to meet soaring demand in recent years. With more people reaching out for support, it is vital that the government adequately funds services to deliver the support that is needed.”

www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-systematic-review-and-meta-analysis-on-mental-health-before-and-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

TLDR: It's not that straightforward.

The report opens with,
"High risk of bias in many studies and substantial heterogeneity suggest caution in interpreting results."
Then discusses the use of statistical evidence to fill gaps. Considering how difficult it is to get access to a doctor and MH support, the statistics won't show the truth and extent.
The Samaritans and other charities have done research. Thankfully the suicide rate didn't increase. Self harm seems to have and only 38% of those who self harm were able to get any psychological or physical help. Children's charities are reporting an increase in anxiety in children and from a SEN pov there was a massive lack of support and many children still haven't recovered. There were more murders of children and disabled people, who should have been protected by services. So a lot of both physical and mental suffering was happening. We don't just take one body of research as fact. This is one of many.

@bellac11 I worked with vulnerable children during lock down and their mums. I agree, if you worked with people already having a horrible time who were then confined to horrible flats with an unwell or I’ll-equipped parent it’s hard to think lock downs didn’t effect children poorly. I’ve also got SEN kids and they didn’t love it, it set them both back a lot.

It wasn't a U.K. study, it was a meta analysis of studies from various countries.
.... women tend to get the shitty end of the stick, especially the issues re childcare during lockdowns pretty much everywhere I guess.

By and large the only kids who will have enjoyed lockdowns are those for whom it stopped something negative that shouldn’t have been part of their lives anyway
I.e Bullying at school, social anxiety or school refusal, spending time with parents who are usually absent.
Lockdown for kids didn’t bring anything positive which should have already been there.
If any child sees a positive in staying at home with no access to friends, family, space to play and learn and exercise and have fun outside the home then something is very wrong.

I’m a social worker and I’m working with families that are still dealing with the effects on lockdown on their children. Children who previously had no issues whatsoever now have anxiety that stops them being able to go to school, children who already had some problems have been exacerbated but they can’t get help from CAMHS due to waiting times and children with disabilities such as ASD, definitely impacted from changes in routine, not seeing their teachers at special school etc. Kids with dyslexia left behind as they had no extra support at home. Mothers impacted due to them being the ones overwhelmingly in charge of schooling and keeping the kids on track with school work.

Of course some kids will say lockdown was amazing solely for the reason they didn’t have to go to school but that doesn’t mean this won’t have an impact later on in life if they end up being behind in anything due to it. Kids don’t have the kind of foresight that adults have.

@Corah5

I don't expect you to list every job.

I do expect you to understand the issue of lower paid people being furloghed or still working while most mc people wfh

And I'll also say that in terms of referrals of the adults in our household for help, we cannot access public services due to backlogs, tried private but even there there is too much demand, so DH and I have done our usual and just kept trudging along rather than getting any specific help.

But I am at the point that I am looking to set up solo life not because I want divorce or to leave DH but because our family is so fractured and we cannot get help for Dd so for my safety and mental health, I am better off leaving and setting up my own household. And that won't show up in any figures.

My dh is a paramedic and I can assure you the amount of mental health jobs during lockdown that the ambulance service had to deal with was absolutely through the roof. What a load of bullshit the original post is, lockdown was absolutely terrible on many, many levels!