So it doesn’t look like the lockdown is going to be extended does it?

[HighlandSpring101]

Just caught the daily news briefing. Despite a lot of people on here last week thinking there’s no way they’ll be easing the lockdown before the end of May (and I admit, I too thought this!) it looks like BoJo may announce relaxations of the lockdown Sunday, possibly taking effect as of Monday?

I am a bit confused though as though the majority of the criteria for relaxation looks like it’s being met, there are still 4000 new infections each day, which is the pretty much the same amount as at the start of this pandemic so surely that’s still too high?

People after the war had terrible mental health issues.

People keep talking about how people were stronger and more resilient.

Not the case at all. People didn't recognise mental health problems. Ptsd in soldiers was very common. Many commuted suicide or had life long issues. Not just soldiers, everyone.

The worst cases were locked up beujd closed doors.

The mental health of nation is one of the reasons we are encouraged to talk about it. Because it did happen. Just no one talked about it. And that didn't make it better.

Thanks for all the reports about this thread.

This is a difficult time for everyone right now - and we understand why threads like this get heated - but we'd like to remind you that Mumsnet is here to make parents' lives easier.

While we encourage healthy and robust discussion, we hope that everyone can be respectful of one another and express their views without resorting to personal attacks.

If this doesn't happen, we may have to remove the thread entirely, which would be a real shame.

Thanks all and peace and love.

There's a certain kind of irony in posters professing concern over MH to attack someone for arguing for better MH provision.

I'll leave the thread now.

But don't accuse me of saying things I haven't. To imply I said poor MH was a weakness? That's disgusting. Go to the threads by people struggling with their MH fears over Covid. Posters there telling people with valid fears about Covid to 'just get on with it'. That's a real dismissal of MH struggles.

Calling people fragile is the same as calling it a weakness.

I am not on those other threads, so I can't comment. I am commenting on this thread.

We interpret words differently? I think if someone's unwell - mentally or physically, they are fragile. That's not a character flaw.

Whether physically or mentally it's about being ill. It's not a weakness, as in character flaw or something to be ashamed of. I think the stigma around being fragile or unwell in any way is a problem and it shouldn't be shameful to be in some way fragile. We are all fragile physically or mentally at times. It's being human.

A poster suggested our temporary lockdown was a life not worth living. It's not dismissing MH struggles to point out that's a very offensive thing to say. Many people are permanently housebound (that includes those with MH issues like severe agoraphobia as well as physical disability). Their lives are not worthless.

MH has been neglected for too long. Of course people struggling now should be helped. It's just a shame so few cared pre pandemic. A good example is the permanently housebound. They've often been left with little or no support because many MH and other support services are face to face.

A silver lining of the pandemic would be improved MH support. For all.

And some people (not you) forget MH issues re lockdown work both ways. Just as we should have empathy for those struggling with lockdown so we should for those fearful of it ending. Not you, but on other threads some posters shout loudly about MH in lockdown but dismiss those fearful of Covid as needing 'to get on with it'.

ToffeeYoghurt A poster suggested our temporary lockdown was a life not worth living. It's not dismissing MH struggles to point out that's a very offensive thing to say. Many people are permanently housebound (that includes those with MH issues like severe agoraphobia as well as physical disability). Their lives are not worthless.

That is not what I said. I said:
at the end of the day, mental health services can only go so far - even the best therapy will set people up to go and have a life worth living. It's extremely difficult to do that in the current circumstances.

My point being that mental health services don't have some kind of magical solution that solves everything; they can only do so much. Even the best mental health service can't cure social problems (and obviously we don't have the best service). There is a desperate need for more widely available suitiable therapy (more than the brief interventons of IAPT) but even with this, therapists don't just make everything better, they set the person up with the skills to make a better life for themselves. That will obviously be different for the individual, but for many will include forming and maintaining positive social relationships. And things like getting into a routine of going swimming twice a week or joining a hobby class or something. Also, for the people who should be getting therapy but can't, these things were keeping them ticking over. So people are falling apart or regressing, when without the current social conditions, they'd be doing quite well.

I find it this idea that somehow "mental health problems" are clearly distinct from "crap going on in life problems" really troubling and unhelpful. You just cannot ignore the social context of someone's distress like that. People don't just reach a point where we give them a diagnosis and shuttle them off the mental health services to meet all their needs (well ok, as a society we often do, but it's fucking counterproductive!) There are normal, human, wellbeing type needs that mental health services could never hope to provide.

With this in mind, I didn't say that the lives of people who are housebound are worthless - far from it. What I'm saying is it would be completely understandable for them to struggle (and that's not a strong enough word really) with isolation. And it wouldn't be a "mental health" issues exactly, nor one easily remedied by MH services - it would be a social context issue. One of the saddest things I've ever read on MN was recently, someone who iirc is a carer for their mother with dementia, who said that lockdown is little different from her normal life, except now people care and are checking in (GP, social worker, community volunteers). One thing I hope comes from all this is that people will start to give a shit about socially isolated people, after experiencing some of the limitations themselves.