No real mental health crisis from pandemic

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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.

We had a friend who killed themselves after lockdown destroyed their business and their marriage, another friend is still in the depths of a covid induced anxiety crisis and still rarely leaves the house three years on (she is a healthy early forty something).

However i think there are a lot more people who are not experiencing serious mental health problems, but have a sort of low level depression and listlessness indiced by covid and lockdown. I was talking to a friend the other day about how our social lives have not really got properly back on track after lockdown.

suicides and suicide attempt went down and yes, that is recorded

Suicide isn't the only indication of mh issues

And its already known that suicide rates decrease in times of crisis, as pps have repeatedly said

As recently as last week I was speaking to another parent who was saying she still feels like she’s in a state of shock from the lockdown and what we all had to go through and I agreed. I’ve never spoken to a doctor about my mental health and I doubt she has either so neither of us will be in any statistic.

I know my oldest’s year at school they’ve had to add in the extra catch up phonics classes as the whole year group was seen to be lagging behind. I think teachers are seeing the effects of lockdown every day.

In the UK, 4 million more antidepressant prescriptions were issued in 2020 than in 2019.

From 2021-22 there was a doubling in PIP disability benefit claims, with a particular rise from teenagers.

There was a 12% increase in domestic violence cases referred to victim support, and a 65% increase in DV helpline calls.

I do love a survey. However I'll take the self-reported symptom impact with a pinch of salt Vs the actual measurable outcomes.

Links below, for the 'where's the source?' crew:

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/domestic-abuse-and-covid-19-a-year-into-the-pandemic/
wilmingtonhealthcare.com/state-of-the-nation/
ifs.org.uk/publications/number-new-disability-benefit-claimants-has-doubled-year

DD didn’t prefer lockdown but she thoroughly enjoyed it. She had siblings to play with; a large garden to enjoy, gorgeous walks around our area, lots of time to play and to go on her bike. She speaks fondly of it. We did so much craft, baking, cooking, painting, pool time in the garden etc.

However I'll take the self-reported symptom impact with a pinch of salt Vs the actual measurable outcomes.

I may have to remind you of that if I see you pop up again with a Pubmed link or similar…

Agree with this.

I believe lockdown affected some people very badly, but let's be honest ordinary UK life pre-lockdown affected some people very badly.

The facts are that fewer people committed suicide. we gave anecdotal evidence supported by research that lockdown benefited some who previously found ordinary life very difficult. We have the same in the opposite direction.

I felt like a survived lockdown. Day in day out it was ok - we were suitably housed, entertained and fed but on the whole it was quite rubbish and very very lonely. I never want to another zoom quiz as long as I live.

Working 18 hour days from my kitchen nearly broke me in the first few weeks of 2020 lockdown.

Thanks for info. The report doesn’t include children (not sure why pp are still ignoring this, maybe their bias is too strong and it can’t be accepted) but this shows some of the impact.

We really loved lock down. I knew it was coming, despite the promises it wouldn't etc. as soon as I saw what it did to China I started getting my preppers coats sorted out and topping up where I needed to. Nights printer, school books to support home learning, art sets etc. I even bought a potters wheel and king on eBay 😂🤷🏼‍♀️. By Valentine's Day I was sorted and soon after I pulled my children out of school on the advice of my consultant as I was CEV and going through a very bad period. Not only that but my gorgeous kids were twisted off bringing something home and me catching it.

My sister has two kids with serious additional needs so we bubbled with them straight away before bubbles were even a thing. Nothing could have stopped me going to her house to offer support and give her a break. We were relieved when the guidance was brought in and we just carried on as we were. We didn't see anybody else at all and it was blissful just floating from my house to hers. The kids spent hours every day in the hot tub, we set up a telescope on the roof garden and they learned basics of astronomy from their big brother/cousin. We did group painting sessions where we each had a canvas and paints and we followed a Bob Ross video ( a Bob-off). We made the garden beautiful and caught up on DIY. BBQd several times a week. We camped in the garden and left the tent set up pretty much all summer to get extra space. The weather was absolutely beautiful that first lock down so that definitely helped.

We all very fondly look back on it tbh. It was wonderful although my sun was sad he just left school and never got to see some of his friends again. But he did very well in his GCSEs and then college and is now at university.

You only have to look at CAMHS statistics to understand how flawed this study is by not including children:

190,271 0–18-year-olds were referred to children and young people’s mental health services between April and June this year (2021), up 134 per cent on the same period last year (81,170) and 96 per cent on 2019 (97,342).

www.local.gov.uk/about/campaigns/bright-futures/bright-futures-camhs/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-and

I agree with this. I found people I know with serious mental health problems found it easier. I am talking about people with diagnosed bipolar or other enduring mental health problems. This was in large part because the services that often cause them stress were far more adaptable. For example the DWP allowed phone appointments rather than making people already struggling to get out the house, use public transport and get somewhere on time, attend regular meetings with an unsympathetic advisor.
And my experience of directly supporting someone with serious diagnosed mental health problems was that the GP bent over backwards to be supportive.
Those reliant on more informal services such as drop ins, mental health cafes, etc will have been affected by their temporary closure though.

I do have to wonder why some people find it so difficult to acknowledge the harms of lock down?

I find it a bit odd.

I find it even worse that the most often used justification is, well I had a wonderful time in my lovely house and garden, with all my money and horses

🤦

We were living with my abusive mother, I’d just got divorced. In the night she took an overdose.

Nightline, the student-run listening and information services open at night-time, has recorded a 51.4 per cent increase in calls in 2020-21, with early data indicating a 30 per cent increase for the 2021-22 year, and a further increase of 23 per cent since the start of the current academic year

I had know where else to go at that point

@GoChasingWaterfalls It is only talking about adults. But referrals in itself does not tell you anything. Referrals may have increased because mental health issues increased. Or they may have increased because parents and teachers were far more concerned and on the lookout for any mental health difficulties. Or any mental health difficulties that led to increased referrals may have been temporary and quickly resolved themselves.
Increased referrals is too blunt a tool to be useful.

@OutOfChocolate

This is very true. We had a wonderful lockdown but I am bipolar and my DH has OCD and my son is autistic. My two nephews are both possibly ASD and have developmental delays. There was MUCH less worry about things like assessments for PIP etc as they were just extended. A lot of pressures were just suddenly GONE. No job centre appointments to jump through hoops, nothing. Even visiting the dr was easier, most we're phone cages or video with a brief trip for a blood test and that was it.

I think that hugely affected my experience of lockdown and contributed to making it much better/easier.

@KnittedCardi People where in some cases stuck in their rooms, I would expect calls to increase. I volunteered on Nightline as a student. Most calls were not about what I would call mental health. Most calls were people wanting someone sympathetic they could talk to so it tended to be people lonely, boyfriend/girlfriend troubles, feeling anxious at night and all their friends were asleep.
With reduced access to friends to talk to about everyday worries more students would call Nightline.

Or maybe we are using different definitions? I do not call feeling normally sad, lonely or anxious mental health problems. They are just part of life.

So why was there an 81% increase in referrals of young people in 2021?

www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/the-pandemic-has-driven-unprecedented-surge-in-demand-for-mental-health-services-for-children-and-young-people

Just incredible. I work with young people, it has had a massive impact on health and indeed development.

The study doesn’t include dc. The op didn’t read it.

Oh look since lockdown files we have this thread that now says no real mental health crisis. It is like some are trying to hold onto the bulls* at whatever cost.

Ah ok, so we can extrapolate from a study that doesn't include children that mental health was not impacted overall, but we can't extrapolate from statistics suggesting an increase in child mental health concerns that there may be an issue with child mental health. Gotcha.

Honestly I don't get it. It's OK to say that lockdown was necessary and some people had a great time, whilst acknowledging that not everyone did and for some people there were lasting and damaging impacts, and that this particular study does not reflect the population as a whole.

The mental gymnastics that are performed here to try and deny that there were any harms at all is Olympic gold medal worthy.

Stockholm syndrome/trauma bonding.