AIBU to think that the Government now needs to step up its mental health support?

[Teddypops]

Obviously the mental health support in the country has been atrocious for some time.

However, I can't help but think the Corona Virus Pandemic will cause a huge amount more mental health issues.

Especially if people lose loved ones.

They really need to think about it now and start to find ways to put things in place.

You are not unreasonable. During the outbreak in China, a lot of psychologist and therapist had come together voluntarily to work on mental health hotlines dedicated to doctors, isolated patients, worried general public and peers. They also created an app to connect volunteers and callers. Each person works up to six hours every day in the evening.

YANBU, though it won't happen.

You may or may not remember the effect that Foot & Mouth Disease had on rural areas (particularly farmers and the tourism industry) in 2001. Not everyone got compensation. Many businesses folded. There were suicides directly attributed to the fallout from FMD and government efforts to contain the disease. Here are just four suicides directly attributed
www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jun/15/footandmouth
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1361953.stm

Of course, coronavirus will hit the country much harder than that due to the impact on almost every sector. I'm looking at seeing my business collapse and being unable to pay my bills; the budget announced yesterday provided bugger all help. I'm already on anti-depressants and this is only making things worse.

That would be great but we need to ensure we have physical health support. Even that’s not in place. Why are people waiting several days to get tested? It’s unacceptable. The govt need to do more, on every level - physically, mentally and economically.

At the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan, there were a lot of tragic cases where entire family got wiped out, and there were people asking for help on social media then passed away few days later, it caused a great deal of fear and panic. Especially after they locked down the city, people rushed to hospital even with minor symptoms, and many probably got sick because of it. So I’d say mental health support is VERY important and the earlier we can provide this to people the better. It helps people stay put, and it’s good for recovery.

I am not trying to be a negative nelly but the govt cannot seem to get high risk CV exposed patients swabbed in a timely manner and generally, mental health “care” in this country is appalling. With that in mind, I cannot see how they are going to be able to provide decent mental health care in times of crisis. I fully recognise the importance and I promote it, I just don’t think it’s realistic. :( I hope we can all support each other as much as possible and look out for our friends and neighbours.

Yeah totally understand. Mental health workers are not public funded in China, so all volunteers basically devoted their own private time to help medical workers on the frontline. It’d be nice if the psychotherapy community in U.K. could do something similar.

I think a lot of people who have had their anxiety, panic, OCD, depression etc triggered by Coronavirus could just benefit from a better response from government. A lot of people with 'mild' mental health problems and those who are usually well managed usually benefit from knowing the plan. My anxiety is massively increased worrying about the 'what ifs' and yet when I try to research the answers all I find are questions. That doesn't help anybody.

@Bubu222

I’ve seen some lovely posts on my local Facebook group. People are offering to check in on others, collect prescriptions and do some shopping, as well as phoning just to make sure they’re ok. A small group of people are banding together to make if official which warmed my heart. I know this isn’t mental health care, as such, but reaching out to scared, isolated and vulnerable people should ease some of the concerns around deteriorating mental health.

@Schuyler Humanity rocks

@AnotherMurkyDay

I completely agree. The not knowing has me teetering on the edge of a downwards spiral :( I was hoping for a reassuring announcement today but everything just feels more uncertain now.

@CornflakeBreath

My coping mechanism Is to plan for every eventuality. At the moment I can't plan more than a day at a time. Another coping strategy is to limit the amount of time I spend reading the news. Feels impossible right now. Another one is to research every eventuality, usually I end up with at least a vague plan for each scenario and I usually find statistics reassuring. I'm not trusting in our politicians but usually I feel I can put my trust in the NHS. But right now nobody has any answers. I've been off medication for a while now and thought I might ring my GP, but they are not functioning like normal and I don't want to burden them right now. Do another night of not being able to sleep worrying about tomorrow. And my MH is fairly well managed these days. I feel like my mind is just running in circles and I just need some reassurance, but everybody else I know are panicking a bit too tbh

I seriously wouldn't hold your breath!

I'm 2 years+ housebound due to ocd, associated agoraphobia, depression and anxiety. I've had no support from mh services since April of last year and doesn't look like I'll be getting any time soon. Gp and Mp have tried to help to no avail.

There's been 100's if not into 1000's of suicides either directly or indirectly related to uc, benefits cuts and austerity that have barely been reported by MSM.