To think the coronavirus is causing a new pandemic of mental health issues

[Vampyhooch]

Agree or disagree?

So many people are struggling at the moment. Myself included. I’ve heard of people struggling to cope at the moment that haven’t suffered mental health problems previously. I’ve heard of several suicides local due to it.

I would imagine the need for mental heath support has increased ten fold through the pandemic.

What’s your thoughts?

Oh for sure. Uncertainty and feelings you have no control of the outcome. I'm not saying we don't have control of our actions but we have less control over external influences.

We all need to look after whom we can.

@frozendaisy

Oh for sure. Uncertainty and feelings you have no control of the outcome. I'm not saying we don't have control of our actions but we have less control over external influences.

We all need to look after whom we can.

I don’t think anyone expected to be in lockdown for so long turned everyone’s lives upside down.

I would agree. My MH has never been worse. I came off the pill after New year with the intention or conceiving DC2 but that is on hold now due to covid (I needed a lot of antenatal care and hospital treatment with DD1) and now I don't even know my MH is strong enough. I spoke to a GP yesterday about some symptoms I've been having and he helpfully said that most people's MH is getting better now but I don't think that's true. Life still feels stressful. We're trying to live the illusion of some normal life but it isn't normal is it.

Yes without question. Many are really struggling.

Friends who have been wobbly throughout, have fallen off cliffs in the last week or so. Lots of them are very anxious about getting back out there.

I agree. I feel really low with a constant background anxiety.
I've only been depressed once before when my dcs were little. Even though I'm a natural worrier I tend to have a fairly positive view on life and find engaging with people and being productive fairly easy.

I just feel.....bleak. My dh isnt working (so I feel pressure there), my dm is ill, my dd is having tests for epilepsy, I going through peri-menopause/menopause and just feel generally unwell.

I'm making it well, sounding bright and breezy on the phone, email and zoom meetings etc. However I just feel so down.

I feel low about my own life, about the state of free-speech, the cancel culture, the pandemic, the selfish nature of lots of people......stuff that I would brush off before.

I'm hoping I snap out of it soon.

I also agree with PP, in that I felt ok during the height of lockdown but it's in the last few weeks my feelings of bleakness have increased.

Yep - both in adults AND kids. But in my experience on here - you'll get 1 1/2 pages of support before the "get a grip you snowflakes" arsehole fucknugget twits arrive to destroy the thread.

As for the kids - well oh they're resilient and half an hour playing with their friends and they'll be fine.

It's the toxicity of the social environment that's killed my mental health - only going to get worse now the self-appointed corona police have masks to shame people for, after their hobby of grassing up Bertha who went for more than one walk a day, was thwarted.

Most definitely. My mental health is fragile at the best of times. I feel in despair at the state of the country, the NHS, Brexit. I'm just starting the divorce process and am terrified about how i will manage financially. I'm really worried about getting Covid, not so much of dying but of being badly affected for a long time like a friend of mine is. Oh and I currently have a slipped disc. There's a 2 month wait for an MRI on the NHS as they have such a backlog so I'm going to have to pay privately 😪

Yes! For me it's not seeing an end to all of this. Sadiq Khan said something like masks probably won't be permanently required like seatbelts are and the way he wasn't sure terrified me.

I don't want a new normal.

This situation is starting to feel more and more like when my uncle went missing. At first it was shock but hopeful and then each day stole a bit of hope from us, piece by piece. And that period of grieving him without knowing he was gone is what I am feeling now. It's horrible.

Yes.

Shocking news about the reports of increased suicides, especially amongst young people - what a terrible price we are paying. www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/lockdown-contributed-to-suicides-of-three-teenagers-228000/

Absolutely. I work with parents with MH conditions and they're really struggling with it all, such a worry

I have anxiety, in particular Health anxiety. Weirdly I've managed to keep myself in a pretty good way, by focussing as much as possible on the positives of lockdown, it's been hard work, I've had a couple of wobbles along the way, but just about done it. If I hadn't I'm not sure what position I'd be in right now

Yes absolutely.

Health anxiety.
General anxiety especially in children after being told not to go near people, not to leave the house, not to touch things.
Depression from loss of control and not knowing what might happen next.
All mental health issues exacerbated by reduced support networks, not allowed to meet family and friends or visit doctors and counsellors.

I actually started a thread on this sorry didn't see this
Suicides double
Mental
Health double
I am suffering too

I'm struggling. I'm taking donations to my local free community 'shop' at least twice a week at the moment. I give everything away that I don't use regularly when I'm struggling as owning things feels like a burden. So I know I'm not coping at the moment. I want to tear up roots and leave the country at the moment.

Yes, and high blood pressure/hypertension. My GP said he now spends most days diagnosing new cases and writing prescriptions for it.

Yes. I am a mental health nurse we have a new wave of patients coming through who are anxious and depressed due to lockdown and Covid. We have all our other patients who were already unwell and are now more unwell and we have ourselves nurses we visit people in ppe and we are all just as anxious about covid as the everyone but have to give advice to others about her to remain calm. It's a busy time.

Sadly the media are to blame. For most young-ish and healthy-ish people there are greater risks out there than COVID...

Yes, mine is horrendous at the moment. I already suffer with MH issues. I’ve considered suicide a few times since this began.
I can’t see an end to it.
The virus isn’t what I’m majorly concerned about, it’s the ‘new normal’, the loss of control, not being able to see friends and family like we used to, or not as freely at least.
We have a toddler who is going to nursery one day a week in September, but it’s such hard work with him, on top of all my usual issues and more added on.

I used to go to a fortnightly mental health peer support group face to face. That’s not allowed to go ahead anymore (god knows when it’ll start up again). It was my lifeline. Yes, it’s gone onto Zoom and the phone, but it’s not the same at all

Yep. Masks are the final straw for me. I'm done. It's stupid, 2020 was meant to be a great year. Therapy was finished, thought I was in a great place having finally moved on a trauma which defined a chunk of my life. We had 3 holidays booked. Everything was looking great, then my Grandmother died in March and it's been downhill ever since. I just can't see anything positive anymore.

I struggle with my mental health, I lost all of my support when lockdown started and only had some phone support started when I reached crisis point.

I have actually settled down into lockdown life now, an increase in my mood stabilisers might have helped, but have a real terror of going back out there now lockdown is lifting. It's not just fear of the virus but almost like agarophobia.

Yes, DP just gave a load of money to a fraudster on the phone, I would have stopped it but I was taking DS out for a hair cut. It never would have happened under normal circumstances.