Mental health crisis

[WindChimeTinkle]

From just my immediate circle of friends, 3 out of 4 of have had severe anxiety and depression due to the pandemic. None suffered with mental health issues before. It is not due to fear about covid but due to the horrendous way of life now. I'm not sure I can face this winter.

Well that's another aspect to it too @Redolent - we've not even been given the option to not send our children to school.

We're told consistently about distancing, lockdowns, blablabla, yet if you're vulnerable you have no choice but to send your kids in or face fines. I don't want to take mine out of school but we live with my parents in their 60s- and I fucking dread something happening to them. Their risks should still be low but I don't know.... again it's the mixed messaging and fucked up nature of everything the government says/does that makes it so much worse and harder to stay patient with.

I just think there isn't enough balance and we are letting people of all generations down horrendously. From the social and economic effects particularly for the young- and fuck knows what the future will be. But also the very elderly who are being isolated at the end of their lives, and not enjoying what is left.

I would love to see the government actually use this as an opportunity to make things better. Improve the way schools deliver education. Improve healthcare (hahaha if only). And some kind of research/inquiry into a push for quality of life from the very young to the elderly. But it won't happen.

Sorry that's a derail but it all links in to mental health which is what the thread was about and I just think we're heading for a catastrophe far worse than the virus itself.

@TheDailyCarbuncle

Essentially it doesn't matter if you're vulnerable to covid or not, you are vulnerable to lockdown and you simply can't escape it. So being healthy, being careful, being immune, doesn't matter, as lockdown has extended the effects of the virus far beyond the physical and medical effects, into every aspect of people's lives. It's taken a natural disaster, a virus, and blown it up, extended it, added to it and made it as bad as possible for absolutely everyone.

The effect? Well you may not get covid now, but you could well get it in March 2021, while also being unemployed and severely depressed. So that's an improvement isn't it? Thank god for lockdown, saving lives.

You're also vulnerable to the social and economic effects of infection spreading though.

MH was already a pandemic in this country, this has simply catapulted it into a ticking timebomb, the fall out is, and will continue to be far reaching and tragic. Without even considering those who are struggling with their MH due to covid/lockdown, most already under the care of mental health teams had their support worker apps cancelled in March, many didn't even have them replace by phone; taking into account it is already really challenging to get 'onto the books', these are people who are hugely affected day to day by their struggles. Combined with the underfunding and under resourced system anyway, there are no provisions to account for the increased demand going forward, let alone at the moment when accessing help is often time critical.

They are collateral damage, and yes, to some covid is the most important thing, and to dare to question it makes you a denier, selfish, or you get the videos such as that above- think of the nurses. How about think of the many, many, many people who are being hugely and for some irreversibly affected by this. The one that sticks in my mind was a few months back, where a young woman took her own life because she couldn't attend her grandmother's funeral due to lockdown restrictions- that's not fucking right is it.

@Inkpaperstars covid was spreading for at least three months before lockdown, with no mitigation at all. Far from there being social and economic effects, no one even noticed it, until China pointed it out and panic broke out.

There would supposedly be social and economic effects of people being ill. With lockdown, for months, people had to essentially pretend be ill - ie stay at home, in many cases not do any work, not go to school/university, not do activities, not socialise. How is that an improvement. How does it make sense to say 'people might get ill and there might be an economic effect, so let's create the economic effect for definite, let's kill businesses, create mass unemployment, destroy livelihoods. As a 'solution' it's absolutely fucking bonkers.

@Bambooble that's fucking awful. Poor woman.

It's the complete acceptance of the erosion of our rights that I can't get my head around, it was mentioned by a lawyer on another thread and the response was 'what about the right to life?'- as though everyone wants people to die of coronavirus or something! This is a virus? Yes a crappy new one, but I cannot see how we would be going against the 'right to life' to respond to it differently to lockdowns etc, any more so than with flu or any other illness. It's a shitty, biological virus that no one has any control of.

I feel the same OP. I have one friend who has been put on antidepressants and another one I also know is struggling. I’ve suffered anxiety for years and feel at the moment I’m functioning day to day only for DC. I’m dreading the next few months and the massive uncertainty about the future.

We're told consistently about distancing, lockdowns, blablabla, yet if you're vulnerable you have no choice but to send your kids in or face fines. I don't want to take mine out of school but we live with my parents in their 60s- and I fucking dread something happening to them.

The inconsistency and lack of joined up thinking is a huge aspect of it. On the one hand they're telling our kids 'don't kill grandma' (and in many cases 'grandma' could be a parent) and on the other, they're threatening parents with fines for none attendance.
Not exactly protecting the vulnerable, so who are they protecting?

Of course people notice, China did not just 'point it out'.

The maths of how the virus spreads without mitigation is just a fact, and the consequences are not mere speculation.

People have rather misinterpreted me, I should have spelled out that I am not advocating some kind of mass medication ( which would be not only unethical and dangerous but wouldn't work).

I was just pointing out to OP that some of us with long term mental health problems have had years to come to terms with needing medication, and if some of her friends are really struggling for the first time it is something they might find helpful to get them through a difficult time. Of course people need medical advice, and it wI'll only be the right decision for a few.

When I have been at my worst I would have taken pretty much anything for a chance of even slight relief.

I agree OP. Ive had to go on anti depressants. I had also convinced myself I had a heart problem because I kept getting palpitations but my doctor was adament it was anxiety. I've gone on beta blockers too and it's helped loads but Im still not sure how I will get through the winter with my mental health intact

@RainbowParadise

So we allow the next generation to be the collateral damage then? The suffering from that will be far worse than the virus, I'm really starting to think so anyway.

No. We are letting every generation be the collateral damage. The poor mental health, the suicides, the social isolation, affect the young and the old equally, just in different ways. Every time you mention anything that might even remotely suggest not having lockdowns or "following the rules" - because heh, it's the end of October and the last six months of that has worked out so well, hasn't it? - then you will be leapt on for "killing the elderly" or not caring about the NHS. usually, and I say this as an older person , by people who are not old and who have voted for decades of cuts!

It's shit not getting the education you are entitled to and which you deserve. It's shit facing death of something (and by that I mean anything) in the near(er) future, most of which appear to be likely to be spent without seeing children, grandchildren and great grandchildren (or almost anyone?).

I am fed up to the back teeth of sanctimonious posts of the hysterical rantings of doom mongers. No, we shouldn't ignore the risks of the virus. Most of which are, even for vulnerable groups, insignificant risks. But the whole of society is the collateral damage, and the only happy people are the curtain twitchers and nanny surrogates who thrive on telling everyone else what the must do.

Setting aside the wider argument, OP, it is worth thinking about what you and your friends need to keep your mental health stable. If that means meeting inside occasionally in a Tier 2 area - well, there is an exemption in the law for supporting vulnerable people, which IMO very much covers situations like this.

It certainly does seem especially on MN that only Covid matters and protecting the vulnerable from it, everyone else just needs to suck it up. Anyone who has the audacity to feel pissed off with restrictions or lockdowns or safety measures are immediately branded as selfish and a disgrace to society, you can only have feelings or thoughts if its about saving the world from covid.

@Moondust001 I don't know what your point is as I said in one of my other posts that this is fucking over everyone in various ways- i made the point of the isolation and how cruel it is for the elderly to have the joy sucked out of the end of their lives.

But I linked to that article because it is going to be the young who suffer by far the worst of the economic consequences of the reaction to the virus. They are suffering mentally, their education and employment chances are suffering. Their was already a concern about the perceived generational divide. Things are going to be even worse now for the young. I don't dispute that it's affecting everyone but I really think it's the young who will bear the brunt from all angles.

The government is pretty much making me send my child to school even though we are a vulnerable family. Or I can deregister and the mess up my child’s mental health as I probably won’t get a place again. I was ok to send them until they lost total control of the virus and conveniently forgot to protect vulnerable people. So I should take medication because I am anxious and depressed due to this? If the government lifted fines for parents like every other country with any ounce of compassion I’d be fine.

It is a tough time anxiety has increased among those who didn't suffer before. I know 2 people who took their life during covid both had made attempts in the past as awful as it was I believe they would have eventually done it without the pandemic. I mean the majority with MH issues have them anyway.
It has always been in crisis the waiting time for CAMH's or adult MH is horrendous.
I read posts from people in NI cursing lockdown as the cause of suicide in NI. I know it hasn't help though NI suicide rate has been sky high for years.

@3littlewords

It certainly does seem especially on MN that only Covid matters and protecting the vulnerable from it, everyone else just needs to suck it up. Anyone who has the audacity to feel pissed off with restrictions or lockdowns or safety measures are immediately branded as selfish and a disgrace to society, you can only have feelings or thoughts if its about saving the world from covid.

Agree with you

Those of us saying we don't want further lockdowns have been accused of not caring for the elderly.
It's perhaps time we started calling out those demanding further lockdowns and restrictions as not caring for the lives of the young (and potential suicides).
I know of two people who have committed suicide as they lost access to mental health services very early on in the lockdown. It's a national disgrace.

@Inkpaperstars

Of course people notice, China did not just 'point it out'.

The maths of how the virus spreads without mitigation is just a fact, and the consequences are not mere speculation.

People have rather misinterpreted me, I should have spelled out that I am not advocating some kind of mass medication ( which would be not only unethical and dangerous but wouldn't work).

I was just pointing out to OP that some of us with long term mental health problems have had years to come to terms with needing medication, and if some of her friends are really struggling for the first time it is something they might find helpful to get them through a difficult time. Of course people need medical advice, and it wI'll only be the right decision for a few.

When I have been at my worst I would have taken pretty much anything for a chance of even slight relief.

Maybe you're not aware, but for a time there was uncertainty about whether covid existed or not - in spite of it spreading in January, Feb and March of this year without mitigation, with thousands of people infected, it wasn't until China said that there was a new virus that any action was taken - covid cases up to that point were just considered to be flu or one of the many other illnesses that cause coughs and the other covid symptoms. I thought this fact was well known but clearly not.

The maths of how the virus spreads is definitely not a fact, you're just completely wrong on that one. The maths is based on a model that has no actual data in it, it is pure speculation and is highly disputed among the scientific community. Again I thought that was well known, but clearly not.

I thought that how far it was spreading before February was not yet known, although we already knew there was a new virus in China through the media. It was there awhile before the media here covered it though I think. DP's colleague frequently travels to Wuhan for work (or did!) and they advised him not to come because of what they described as a new pneumonia like illness, this was some time before the news coverage here began.

They also seem fairly sure by now of the natural R. Although, if true that natural R is 3 and R in London is currently around 3 then obviously something is going very wrong!

I don't want to derail the thread from being about mental health so maybe that is a whole other thread.

Yet again, @TheDailyCarbuncle is making all my points for me.

There is the mental health of late 40s/50s people whom have lost jobs and have huge financial responsibilities to burden. New mothers, people who can't access other healthcare as perhaps they should. People starting out in adult life, people with family far away unable to visit. It's all there. Every group, age, gender, everyone can apply their own story to this never ending spiral of charts, masks, R-rates, advice, instructions, and on and on it goes.

Medication might be a good idea for a lot of people, since it might help to stop the problem becoming more complex and self perpetuating. Since it is largely situational and the situation is likely to change, they should be able to withdraw in time. The medication is no magic bullet but it may help to stabilise people, and other help can be hard to access

So Brave New World then, basically? Let’s put all the sad people on Soma...

I’m also starting to really struggle. The prospect of this going on for another 6 months is daunting; as is winter. I’m currently lying in my bed hiding from
My kids whilst the eat in front of the tv!

There’s been a mental health crisis FOREVER in this country. Admittedly it hasn’t been of concern to many people pre pandemic, but good luck to anyone trying to access any services. You’ll need it.

I’m well aware I sound like I have zero empathy, it’s not that, I’m just tired of the bullshit services this country pretends to have. I have numerous family members with severe, extensive and long term MH conditions. Two in the last week alone who are clearly psychotic, and struggling to access any services AT ALL.

Good luck getting “proper” treatment for your garden variety anxiety and depression is all I can say. If you want to pop some pills and medicalise your reactive depressions then I guess that’s easily done.

Without even considering those who are struggling with their MH due to covid/lockdown, most already under the care of mental health teams had their support worker apps cancelled in March, many didn't even have them replace by phone; taking into account it is already really challenging to get 'onto the books', these are people who are hugely affected day to day by their struggles.

This. I haven't spoken to my psychiatrist since early July. I nearly got sectioned in May. I'm not on medication because I had a bad reaction to setraline and he refused to prescribe anything else. I have near constant suicidal thoughts, I barely sleep and I'm struggling to keep going.

The thought of this going on indefinitely is more than I can bear, especially since I started the year so hopefully after extensive therapy. All those little positives have just slipped away and I'm right back to being that scared worthless thing with no future.