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.

I have always been concerned that children are not encouraged to have a quiet indoor hobby as well as more noisy, often outdoor activities.
It's probably terribly old fashioned I know, but actually the skills to keep yourself occupied are very useful in life.
I do wonder if along with the constant onslaught of social media, the 'doing things' culture is also damaging.

I think lockdown was necessary to control the virus.

But I also think it had some awful knock on effects, including on the mental health of young people. My own son began self harming in the second lockdown.

I hate the way this has become political. So if you try to talk about the impacts of lockdown you are automatically labelled as one of the "let the virus rip" crowd.

This then means that the government can turn around and say "oh well we don't need to look at that issue (eg child mental health) because it's only a few nutters from the lockdown sceptics banging on about it.

I have said this before and I'll say it again. If you dismiss the concerns that people have regarding the negative impacts of lockdown, if you claim children are resilient, if you gaslight parents and say that they "only missed a few weeks of school" etc., then you are just as bad as those that were advocating for no restrictions at all.

This.
The very notion that it was a positive thing is astounding.

I’d really like to see if there’s an increase in interventions needed, particularly in relation to PSE, for those about to start school this September.

They’d have been the cohort who were in prime social development periods, during the lockdowns.

Well said.

The study referred to by the op does not include children.

I recall the BMJ highlighting harm via increased head injury and a silent second pandemic of damage to children in various ways.

I couldn’t find it but on google the BMJ does include insight to this damage

Measures being taken to control the spread of covid-19 are causing what has been dubbed a “secondary pandemic”1 of child neglect and abuse. As one senior paediatrician summed it up: “Children are perversely suffering for the benefit of adults.”2

www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter-Green-11/publication/340985401_Risks_to_children_and_young_people_during_covid-19_pandemic/links/5f108f3a45851512999ed0b4/Risks-to-children-and-young-people-during-covid-19-pandemic.pdf

That was end of April 2020. Really early on. It’s a shame people didn’t listen a lot of damage could have been avoided.

If you asked hundreds of children, does that mean you were involved in some research? Are you a teacher who asked the children in your school? Were you able to ask a broad range of children from a variety of socioeconomic back grounds?

because it includes thousands and thousands who were teens in the pandemic, but are adults now

Like anything in life we only hear the bad side. So if you have a bad back you will moan about it; people don’t go around saying oh my back is fine today.
So during lockdown we heard about the people who suffered but not the ones who benefited.

I work in mental health and agree with the findings of study. I worked full time throughout lockdown offering both face to face and virtual support. In my experience adults with already diagnosed mh conditions such as psychosis, clinical depression, bi-polar etc did not get worse and they did not have an increase in suicidal ideation. For adults with personality disorders, they managed to keep themselves remarkably well with revolving door patients no longer demanding psychiatric beds .....

@Nimbostratus100

No it doesn't

Did you actually read it?

So many people I know have been left with a lingering sense of insecurity, unease, distrust of government and society, fear that anything they plan will be spoiled.... are you saying that's fine because it's not a mental health crisis incident therefore isn't recorded officially?

What an odd way of looking at it.

Yes in the aftermath of a dreadly pandemic that would be expected, and you would have expected it after the Spanish Flu for
example, when everyone knew people who died and which followed the trauma of a hideous war so quickly. But Covid doesn't compare to that in terms of the illness. And people issues are generally associated with the restrictions which were imposed rather than the death toll (there are exceptions obviously).

Your OP sounds so lofty and dismissive of the effects of people's trauma. Personally speaking, compared to many, I had a "good" lockdown. But I still have that fear bubbling away that I will be left on my own for weeks/months again, that anything I plan could be ruined on the basis of one politician's decision, that I will be kept apart from my family and friends. I try imagine what a single parent in a high rise flat feels, looking back at a time when her teenager was isolated, defiant and miserable, when she was trying to get her primary child to do their schoolwork, or her nursery child entertained, while maybe trying to "work from home" at the same time. Don't tell me she looks back on that time with anything other than horror.

The linked editorial for that summarises the systematic review in a little more upbeat manner than I feel was wholly appropriate but does end on a cautionary note.

Finally, while the present study clearly shows that we need not be overly concerned about the general population’s mental health in relation to the covid-19 pandemic, reported prevalence rates of mental health symptoms, especially among adolescents, are still concerningly high.101112 Pandemic or not, there is a strong need to provide preventive mental health interventions for those most at risk of poor mental health outcomes.

www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p435

Sarah Markham wrote a very good Patient Perspective piece linked to that review.

It is interesting that the general mental health of women, but not men, seems to have worsened slightly—possibly reflecting the extra burden the pandemic placed on women, who are often primary care givers, both in families and healthcare services. Women are also more likely to be socioeconomically disadvantaged and vulnerable to domestic violence and abuse during lockdowns.2

Although it appears to be widely accepted that most nations are now past the peak of the pandemic, concerns remain about potential long term effects of covid-19 on people’s wellbeing…The review indicates that in the context of large scale societal events and disturbances it might be of greater value to focus on protecting the mental health of more vulnerable cohorts rather than deploying mental health interventions at scale. It is important to note, however, that some people’s mental health may be more vulnerable in the context of pandemics and their associated socioeconomic changes. For example, multiple studies have found that people with compromised immune systems have been more susceptible to anxiety than their more immunologically robust peers.3

It is also important to remember that having a mental health condition doesn’t predispose you to deterioration in the context of significant psychological, social, and economic stressors.

www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p540

You need to look at the study. It gives the timeframe for the studies. They were conducted early on not now.

Knowing this do you revise your opinion?

I don't think this can be generalised. Kids, even teenagers, often don't have enough insight to understand that their current mental health issues are partly as a result of lockdown. It will seem long ago for them. My DD works in a school however and the teachers have noticed a huge difference, especially with the current yrs 7 & 8. Personally, I'm quite laid back but had my first ever panic attack during lockdown and have experienced more since and I know I'm not the only one who feels it impacted them significantly. Family dynamics have changed. Elderly people who previously were quite active deteriorated a lot and have not quite managed to regain their previous motivation.

Who paid for the research?

I dont know anyone who died of covid. I know 4 who took their own lives in 2020

Most children (especially teens) benefitted from the lockdowns.

Most adults also benefitted from the lockdowns (which is why wfh has never been so popular).

However, it was the going back to normal that was the issue.

In the schools I work with the students were for the most part, expected to come back and carry on as normal but there is a lot of evidence to show that they’re emotionally younger than previous children of their own age.

They also got to sleep in later (teens aren’t designed to get up at 6/7am), do their work later and have much more time for exercise and generally less pressure.

They were then expected to go back to full days, getting up early and being mentally drained.
There was extra pressure from parents and teachers because of the worry about what they’ve missed.

I think too much emphasis was put on their education and not their well being.
I remember the majority of the threads back then were all more concerned about the missed education than anything else.

I don’t think anyone is to blame but in hindsight I think the government should have made it so schools had a much more relaxed approach eg part time timetables, condensed hours or one core lesson a day and the rest more active or social. Just to take the pressure off and ease them back in.

You were aware, I assume, that like a lot of other NHS services, mental health closed waiting lists during lockdown meaning they are still playing ''catch up'' and this is a woefully under resourced service as it is.

I bet you wouldn't like to wait two years for psychotherapy or an ADHD or Autism assessment like they do in the Trust I work in.

I would be interested to know the number of people continuing to suffer from mental health issues and anxiety caused by the disproportionate whipping up and sustaining of fear of covid by the authorities too. There are still people living in terror of infection even now - not talking about the genuine clinical vulnerable - these are people who are still avoiding public scenarios despite the fact that 95% of the population now have covid antibodies and virtually every one of us has either had the virus or been exposed to it.

For some, their lives still seem to revolve around avoiding it at all costs. I suspect the mental health damage might be on a par with that caused by lockdowns.

Most children (especially teens) benefitted from the lockdowns.

How can you say how teens felt during lockdowns if you didn’t see them? Parents will know the impact on their mh better during that time. My dc barely interacted with their teachers, they wouldn’t have the insight.

My local school has found a lot more children struggling to be away from home, or away from their parents.
Lockdown made children's homes become the only place that was 'safe' and being with the people they live with were the only 'safe' people they could see. The implications of lockdown on MH will take years for show fully.

Most children (especially teens) benefitted from the lockdowns
Can you give an example of some of the "benefits"?

@Sassyfox

'think the government should have made it so schools had a much more relaxed approach eg part time timetables,'.

Or ya know. Just not have shut schools at all.

I also disagree with your first 2 statements

This really. DS loved lockdown as it meant staying home with us and no school.

As to whether the outcome will be negative or positive long term, I don't know, but there is the possibility of the latter if it means the school refusal, anxiety - and possibly ASD diagnosis - can be dealt with now while at primary school rather than at secondary at an age where his violent meltdowns would be a lot harder to deal with. But it's been an absolute nightmare.