How long do you think we can tolerate this lockdown?

[TeethingAgain]

I know it's necessary and for thy e greater good, but how long do you think society will tolerate it before (more) people start flouting the rules? Are there psychologists who the government are consulting about how long humans can be expected to live like this? I know people say we are just being asked to sit on our sofas but that's a very simplistic way of looking at a gargantuan change in lifestyle and social habits which are engrained within us.

I think people could manage 8-12 weeks and I think the toll on mental health will start to outweigh the physical health benefits.

Psychological it is hard. People dont like change and the pace that this arrived at hasn't really given us time to adapt and understand the change and what it means. Mental health is delicate and humans do need to socialise and go out.

But you have to see it like this - this is a matter of life and death and whilst at this present time there is no cure and no end in sight, there are marvels happening every day- the formula one team of engineers have developed a mask that they can use instead of putting you on a ventilator. This will save lives this will reduce the load and then some of the risks as a result. There is a difficult situation but adversity is always a challenge, but man has overcome before. We are social animals and need to socialise but hopefully, it will be a few months and then it will return to some normality. But we must be prepared as the world will be a different place to what we expect for a while.

I hate it already.
Toddler tabtrums because he’s used to being out at groups and the park etc. We go for our one walk a day but we don’t have a garden so he’s starting to find it hard, as am I. Me and my DP keep arguing.
It’s a small house with no garden, I just want this to be over 😢

I’m struggling a bit to be honest, but we’re on our third week as my husband has asthma and immune system issues,

I have worked from home for about four years, I requested it and prefer it but for it to work for me I’ve found I need my social life, to have things to look forward to, seeing friends, or out to dinner with my husband, going to gigs, seeking my daughter is most important.

Not being allowed to do that i struggle with. Like an underlying sense of desperation. I need to get out and do things, see people, have fun.

I’ll do it for as long as it takes, and we are lucky, we have food, jobs, a garden etc, but it’s just the two of us, day after day, our daughter is in her uni town working from home, so I can only face time and text.

Past that as said, it’s just my husband and I pottering round each other, and I do need more. We haven’t argued yet, but twenty four seven with just one other person will get very trying quickly.

I suspect for others, with less space, or young kids at home, it will be even harder. Even intolerable. Then when you move into the domestic abuse arena, I can’t think how awful that must be.

I think it will ultimately be hard for everyone, it’s just how quickly that occurs for you.

I think that people are exaggerating their ability to cope.
Studies on prisoners in solitary confinement allowed one hour a day to exercise in 'the yard' (I know it's not the same, but maybe indicative) have shown that permanent psychological damage can occur after fifteen days, with actual physical changes to the brain after six months.
With Skype and TV we can be expected to go longer than 15 days, but probably not as long as people think. My guess is one month tops for people living on their own. Most will break long before this.

I’m struggling, I don’t usually go out socially so that aspect isn’t a problem, but I do work and not having to go to work is killing me (strange I know,) I have my routine. The home schooling is the worst, I’m trying to control my own emotions and having to do that on top is not helping, if I’d wanted to teach I would have been a teacher. They know how to cook and do practical stuff, they can both read and write. I just don’t feel I’m academically good enough to teach them academics. I am doing it to protect others, but ultimately I might blow a fuse before then end of the lockdown

I also miss seeing family and friends

How are people supposed to stay locked down
with no food and no money ?

How can you be bored if you’ve got a dog? Some people don’t know they’re born.

What I can't understand is why people talk about "sitting on the sofa" and being bored.
I am furloughed and obviously in lockdown but I haven't stopped doing things, I haven't had time to sit around or get bored.....there's far too much to do. Has everyone lost the ability to occupy themselves, as well as enjoy their own company, these days? How very sad.....

ListeningQuietly Mon 30-Mar-20 22:18:57
People with no income for the next six months or more
do not have the luxury of enjoying lockdown
the electricity bill does not pay itself
and if members of the household are vulnerable, working in a supermarket is not an option
........
Yes!

Basically, it's alright for some but not for others.

Those for whom it is alright should not be complacent or insensitive towards those for whom it isn't - and try to find some way of helping if possible.

I'll do it for as long I'm told people won't be at risk of dying.

I don't really understand this point of view. Surely if you felt like that you'd never drive a car as you could crash and kill someone? People die of the flu every year and any one of us could get it and pass it on to someone vulnerable.

I'm not saying I'm against the measures currently being taken but there's a point at which the harms of putting an entire country under constant house arrest overrides the harms of this virus. My grandma died last year but I am absolutely certain she would rather have died of coronavirus than spend 6 months on her own without being able to leave the house.

I still feel angry that this has been done to us by another nation's 'lifestyle' or worse still by their scientists.
I feel resentful ....
Our whole class is being kept in just because pupils in another school have misbehaved.
Oh, and worst of all, there is no guarantee this will not happen again and again and again in the future.

This is my fifth week and I have at least another 11 to go , it just has to be done - I can easily reconcile it with the question would breaking the rules be worth risking the death of one of my parents - the answer is obviously no

Would you rather you or your family dies?

It's a bit more nuanced as that - if we crash the economy, many more people will have their lives prematurely shortened due to austerity. It's a balance - we have to do this long enough to get a handle on the situation with testing/hospital space/possible medicines, but not too long or we will have a decade of utter poverty.

Personally I am sat at home furloughed earning 80% doing fuck all, which is nice in a way, but I rely on going to the office and having a social life & evening classes to keep me positive and motivated. I get naff all done when "WFH" and have never successfully managed to do school/uni/work work at home - just pissed about on the Internet all day. So it will be quite a struggle trying to get anything useful out of this period. I guess I have to try and set a routine, get 1 or 2 hours of productive stuff done each day and try not to sink into depression. I want to come out of this having learned new skills but suspect I'll spend 12 hours a day watching Homes Under the Hammer.....

I've been crook for the entirety of this year. I had only just started going out for an hour or so each week, in the last few weeks before lock down. I'm stir. But I also know I can do it, because I have before, and I'll just have to do it again.

I speak for myself, nobody else.

This lockdown has made me realise that I REALLY want a garden.

I think people are already breaking. The mental health impact will be worse than the actual virus.

Apologies for the Daily Fail link here, but seems like there's already been a group family suicide (4 people and a dog) as well as a murder-suicide (a family) and two domestic violence murders. I read of another young adult that killed themselves over isolation anxiety the other day, not to mention the two nurses in London and Italy. Awful, absolutely awful.

All these people getting paid to sit at home
utterly disregarding
the millions who have NO INCOME
no pension
no wages
no benefits
NOTHING
so when the savings run out they will live on £94 a week

Studies on prisoners in solitary confinement sorry but unless they studied prisoners is solitary confinement who were trying to hold a conference call with a toddler screaming “mummy mummy” at them, it’s not a relevant study!

there's a point at which the harms of putting an entire country under constant house arrest overrides the harms of this virus

Yes, but we're not at it yet, the rapidly rising infection and death rates tell us that. I think some wildly underestimate how bad pandemics can become if left unchecked. I have met a few epidemiologists and all have said the same thing.

We are working on basis it will go on until September and we can manage that, would find it easier with a few more shops open at some point (click and collect we could use say once a month) and need to get pets vaccinated and roof needs doing asap. Otherwise could live with it.

People keep saying it’s life vs death to stay inside for months- correction it’s lives vs lives- austerity, mental health, this isn’t as straight forward as people like to make out.

Listening--u agree

so when the savings run out they will live on £94 a week

Some live on that long term.

Okay, what's the solution others suggest? In view of the infection and mortality arcs? Assuming that it's more likely than not that you and yours are likely to be infected, suffer terribly, or possibly be terminal? Not just somebody else? Because if you've got some really bloody clever suggestions that mean that everything continues as per, while people aren't unnecessarily put at risk of serious illness or death (including the health workers who have to look after us), I'm pretty bloody certain that small part of the Government that isn't in self isolation because they've tested positive for Corona really want to hear from you. . .