The building Mental Health crisis

[Getbettersoon]

How long before it becomes bigger than the virus itself?.

I am a very fortunate person. I had an amazingly secure upbringing and strong adult relationships. I've got to 50 without any MH issues and generally consider myself pretty resilient.

Lockdown wasn't too bad for me. Again, I was very fortunate, I live with all my important people, in a nice house with plenty of space and a good garden.

Even I am struggling with the idea of going back to lockdown without the benefit of the perpetual sunshine we had for it.

I can't begin to imagine how someone who lives alone or is a single parent, in a flat, must be feeling at the thought. Add in already fragile mental health and it doesn't bear thinking about.

Is it still, really, a price worth paying?

Op it's an impossible situation. The government are trying to sort out money for every bit of society that is suffering and all the economy that is coming to a half.

At the same time, we haven't got a good enough health system to deal with a widescale outbreak and we are learning more all the time. Such as the longterm impact the loss of taste and smell had I.e. killing the nerve cells :S creepy stuff.

Please don't forget that people who have had Coronavirus are at risk of suffering from PTSD in your calculations. Or the mental health of the NHS staff who have to deal with the effects of the virus.

There is no easy path here.

I take coronavirus extremely seriously.

However, I think that medically we just don't know for sure what the long term impact of "long covid" is going to be.

It is in fact quite common for people to take a long time to recover from a serious bout of lung infection, and from being in ICU etc. Sepsis takes a year to recover from - and people with covid , especially severe infection, have had a substantial insult to the system.

However, the human body does have remarkable powers of recovery. I think we need to take the situation very seriously but at the same time hope for the possibility of recovery (and also monitor the recovering illness as carefully as is possible at this time). It is possible for people with significant systemic / neurological injuries to show improvement even over 2 or 3 years.

Given that losing smell and taste is not that uncommon with viral infections, I am a bit suspicious of the suggestion that this is due to brain damage in covid. For example, this article suggests that the mechanism isn't permanent neuronal damage. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200724141027.htm

[quote herecomesthsun]I take coronavirus extremely seriously.

However, I think that medically we just don't know for sure what the long term impact of "long covid" is going to be.

It is in fact quite common for people to take a long time to recover from a serious bout of lung infection, and from being in ICU etc. Sepsis takes a year to recover from - and people with covid , especially severe infection, have had a substantial insult to the system.

However, the human body does have remarkable powers of recovery. I think we need to take the situation very seriously but at the same time hope for the possibility of recovery (and also monitor the recovering illness as carefully as is possible at this time). It is possible for people with significant systemic / neurological injuries to show improvement even over 2 or 3 years.

Given that losing smell and taste is not that uncommon with viral infections, I am a bit suspicious of the suggestion that this is due to brain damage in covid. For example, this article suggests that the mechanism isn't permanent neuronal damage. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200724141027.htm[/quote]
The scary part is that losing the sense of smell and taste isn't linked to being congested (like a cold). Thanks for the link!

I on the other hand have had mental health issues all my life and absolutely loved lockdown. So much more chilled than normal life but noone else is prepared to admit they enjoyed the slower pace of life.

my mental health has never been as bad as it is now. I don't know how I'll cope with a winter lockdown. It has got to the point where an in patient stay is possible and I'm terrified of that.

The virus is serious but the government handling is a shambles and I just think they've lost too many people now to be able to make any meaningful rules stick.

I enjoyed the slower pace of life very much, but I wasn't trapped indoors without a garden or isolated as a single parent or single person with no contact with any other household.

My DM’s mental health absolutely spiralled in lockdown. And for the first time in my adult life I had to ask for help from the doctor.

There’s a friend of mine I’m really worried about who has barely seen another person in real life for 6 months, lives alone, works from home, had just started to venture out to meet people again but has now been slapped with a local lockdown from next Tuesday (Liverpool).

And we’re all in the privileged position of job security and without money worries or abusive relationships.

Before COVID everyone was all “mental health” is health but that’s been dropped now because COVID is all that matters.

In my area every other day there is reports of people on bridges suicidal , people aren't getting the help they need.

Mental health was getting to the forefront before, but now we are told to suck it up, awareness and help gone backwards in my opinion.

Your mental health doesn't matter to the government because covid is all that matters apparently.

What does the government think will happen if they stop people seeing their families? Doesn't matter, as long as you don't get covid life is peachy.

My MH was never an issue, until just after the birth of my second child. Then it was horrendous for a good 12-18m

Being stuck indoors with both of my young children during lockdown (we were shielding) brought back so many of those post natal memories for me and I felt myself going back to a dark place. I really feel for anyone who was struggling with their mental health before all of this, I can’t imagine how some people are coping

I should have loved lockdown, but didn't my MH for the first time broke.

Just because you have house, garden, loving family, no immediate finance concerns doesn't mean you are protected from MH issues.

I went to the GP. If you are struggling and haven't go to your doctor as a first point of call. I can't say everything is back to how it was but the darkest black dog days seem to have subsided for the time being.

noone else is prepared to admit they enjoyed the slower pace of life.

But it wasn't a slower pace of life for everyone. I work at home, for myself and have done for years. So in that aspect, nothing changed. In lockdown, i've been busier than I ever have been. But instead of being in an empty house between 8.30 and 3.30 each day, I had to adjust to working with DH working from home too, and three kids in the house. Three kids who needed support with their learning which was impossible to give because I was - you know - working. We missed out on two holidays, one UK and one overseas.

Yes there wasn't the rushing around and taking the kids places as usual, but the slower place of being stuck in the house was pretty rubbish for a lot of us.

I totally agree @SockYarn, my work supporting vulnerable children significantly intensified, with a workaholic husband both working from home, plus a year one and a preschooler with possible ADHD our pace was not slow, it was a nightmare.
My MH really suffered and I still feel I’m one logistical challenge away from a breakdown.

I have two friends in a seriously too anxious and unable to leave the house state. Neither were in a brilliant place before lockdown, but I seriously fear for them both now.

I on the other hand have had mental health issues all my life and absolutely loved lockdown. So much more chilled than normal life but noone else is prepared to admit they enjoyed the slower pace of life.

I might have enjoyed the slower pace of life if I’d actually had one.

I was on the verge of a breakdown (I had one 7 years ago so know the signs now) due to living in a flat with no outside space and a neighbour from hell. We have just sold our property to move to a house with a garden and the thought of another lockdown before the sale goes through is already making me very very anxious for my mental health.

I tried as much as possible to hide it last time from everybody but I just can't do it again.

I'm a fit and healthy 36 year old who has not worked since they caught coronavirus in March - my mental health is not great!

I'm terrified of another lockdown. My MH was on a downward spiral anyway but events during lockdown just tipped me over the edge. I'm getting back on track now, in part due to the medication and therapy but also being able to get out and about and not just be staring at the same four walls, alone (I've been WFH and DH is back at work).

Doing things that bring us joy and socializing with others is so important to mental wellbeing. The thought of going back to that lonely dark place makes me feel sick but I get that there needs to be a balance.

I think the reality is (having MH issues, friends/family with MH issues and having worked with those with MH issues) that the crisis was already there. It's already HUGE. Access to appropriate therapy is very, very poor and - in many areas - the required therapy doesn't 'exist' eg. individual psychodynamic therapy instead of 'group DBT'. Doctors rely too heavily on medication and don't have the therapy places available to offer. If the local therapist in the area cannot take you or refuses you on assessment*, you either have to attempt a charity (most have huge waiting list) or go private (v. expensive, not affordable for the masses). That includes for those with severe trauma, abuse victims etc. It is so reliant on area as well.

I would definitely think there'll be a bigger increase, based on the poverty increase caused by Brexit (upcoming) as well as Covid-19 and the societal pressures (women having bad news at a scan alone, cancer treatment for a parent being delayed and causing death, isolation and loneliness among so many other things). However, the help wasn't there to begin with really - or not on a large and functioning scale - so it will worsen the crisis, but the crisis is here now and probably bigger than Covid-19 already.

This sounds really negative, I don't mean to be. There IS some great help out there, but it's not easily or reliably available. I'm very supportive of the NHS (just got in to study MH nursing, but delaying due to pregnancy), but I think there's a perception that services are very different to how they are and I really feel there needs to be a lot of improvement before we can reach a stage of it not being a 'crisis'. That needs input in so many areas - across education (too many schools do not understand MH issues still or simply have few resources to help pupils due to underfunding), perinatal health care, addiction services, trauma services (and making these more available to those with addictions), CAMHS, Social Services (inc. adoption support), an increase in mum & baby units, an increase in therapists and centres offering longer term therapies and not just 5-12 weeks (read sessions - mostly group) and I could go on...

One thing that I don't think has helped is that CMHTs, who used to keep patients on and monitor them during periods of wellness are now encouraged to discharge patients and only reassess them for services if they have a 'crisis'. I understand why it was done, but I can't say it seems to have been helpful for many who tend to have 'reoccuring issues' and may have got to a higher level of crisis before re-referral due to not being monitored. Anyway, I believe we can improve services and want to help that - but, at the moment, they aren't up to where they should be and Covid-19 will not help in any way.

*Yes, this happens and can be based on that therapist's opinion, even if they've only read your notes and never met you.