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Covid

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Nobody cares about mental health in Covid times

51 replies

inuet · 13/12/2020 14:26

That's it. CMO here in Ireland blithely asks for 6 week lockdowns, doesnt even mention it. The British pay lip service to it, but fundamentally they don't care. This is ripping the heart and soul out of people but there is only 1 illness that counts now. I suppose suicides don't overwhelm the NHS.

OP posts:
Backbee · 13/12/2020 14:29

When you say no one cares, do you mean the politicians who make the decisions? Plenty of people who work in MH care, plenty in communities who have set up initiatives care, a fair amount of people recognise the impact on people's MH and don't see how it's a fair balance.

LindaEllen · 13/12/2020 14:29

Of course people care, but have you even looked at suicide stats? They're not up.

We HAVE TO stop people from needing beds in ICU. We just have to. There is no other option. We all need to look out for each other, mental health services are still running, but slowing down the spread is a necessity unless you want people dying in a queue outside of hospitals because there's no room inside.

Athinginitself · 13/12/2020 15:44

People do care its just a very hard balance to find. I work in mental health and definitely care, and despite what's being said on here I've done more work this year, not less and am offering all my therapy appointments still (although currently via video as I work mainly with people that are CEV)

inuet · 13/12/2020 16:22

@LindaEllen

Of course people care, but have you even looked at suicide stats? They're not up.

We HAVE TO stop people from needing beds in ICU. We just have to. There is no other option. We all need to look out for each other, mental health services are still running, but slowing down the spread is a necessity unless you want people dying in a queue outside of hospitals because there's no room inside.

So as long as suicides aren't going up, nobody is suffering? It's easy to say we have to look out for each other but what does that even mean in practice? Nobody is bothering with anyone's mental health and everything is going to hell
OP posts:
Ethelfleda · 13/12/2020 17:52

I feel the same as you, OP.
I’ve seen my employers doing this same thing too... leaving people at home to rot with no word on when they may open offices again so people can plan. So many are very unhappy and yet my employer bleats on about how seriously they take mental health all over LinkedIn etc.

We are probably staring in the face of one of the worst mental health crisis’ of a generation and yet it just doesn’t seem to matter. I am really struggling. I darent say how much.

MassiveSalad · 13/12/2020 18:00

I agree with you OP and it is just awful, really really shameful.

Nothing matters except Covid.

Ethelfleda · 13/12/2020 18:15

I feel as though the overwhelming narrative to anyone who is struggling is one of “there are plenty worse off than you”

Almost as though you’ve no right to struggle unless you’ve lost 50 of your closest relatives to Covid. It’s not helpful.

canary1 · 13/12/2020 18:18

I totally agree, OP. While suicide rates did not rise March- May, the ongoing impact will I am sure see a rise following this. And as you said, suicide rates are not the only thing to consider at all- the general mental suffering of many continues. People working in mental health services care, but it’s not even on the agenda for politicians making decisions. So 😞

Sirzy · 13/12/2020 18:21

What alternative can you offer then?

My mental health is even worse than normal at the moment so I get how hard it is but what’s the alternative.

Hayeahnobut · 13/12/2020 18:26

We don't know whether suicide rates increased during the first lockdown. Death by suicide is usually subject to a six month delay in registration due to the need for an inquest, and this year that delay is even longer due to hearing delays. So the rates for the first two quarters this year will mainly be deaths that actually occurred last year. This is explained on the ONS website if anyone wants more information.

HazeyJaneII · 13/12/2020 18:27

@Sirzy

What alternative can you offer then?

My mental health is even worse than normal at the moment so I get how hard it is but what’s the alternative.

This
Hayeahnobut · 13/12/2020 18:28

What alternative can you offer then?

Funding to give mental health parity to physical illness would be a start. Even without the pandemic, the inequality between services is vast.

YellowPostItPad · 13/12/2020 18:30

People are bothered OP but it is possible to recover from mental illness. There is no recovery from death. Death from COVID is occurring in FAR greater numbers than from suicide, so the NHS has to prioritise COVID. If they do not prioritise COVID the NHS will be overrun. It's a simple numbers game.

Hayeahnobut · 13/12/2020 18:33

If they do not prioritise COVID the NHS will be overrun.

Mental health services are run by separate trusts. There's zero impact on covid care by providing (and increasing) mental health services.

Sirzy · 13/12/2020 18:35

@Hayeahnobut

What alternative can you offer then?

Funding to give mental health parity to physical illness would be a start. Even without the pandemic, the inequality between services is vast.

I very much agree with that it’s long since been atrociously underfunded. But even then like most things care would inevitably be impacted at the moment
Sirzy · 13/12/2020 18:39

@Hayeahnobut

If they do not prioritise COVID the NHS will be overrun.

Mental health services are run by separate trusts. There's zero impact on covid care by providing (and increasing) mental health services.

Not always.

And even then they still need to enforce social distancing which will impact numbers. They still have to work around staff isolating.

For most people the first port of call will be GP and their services have very much been impacted

YellowPostItPad · 13/12/2020 18:41

Also the lockdown has been good for some people's mental health. Certainly it has helped my own DD. She has been so much better at home during lockdown and any isolations at home, than she was at school and she isn't alone in that. She much prefers it when school is closed.

sphr.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-events/new-report-shows-young-peoples-mental-health-improved-during-lockdown/?cookiebanner=true

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/29/coronavirus-lockdown-anxiety-mental-health

Obviously some people's mental health has declined but it has also been good for some.

ElephantWhaleRabbit · 13/12/2020 18:49

I agree with the OP but I don't think it's covid related - mental health provision has always been viewed as the second class citizen to "physical" health problems and resources to tackle it were already woefully inadequate prior to the pandemic. The fixation on covid has just served to make it worse.

DougRossIsTheBoss · 13/12/2020 18:51

Haye that is an idiotic thing to say

Do mental health patients not get COVID??
Yes they do and there is evidence those with severe mental illness are more likely to die if they do get it
Therefore services will be affected. We had to stop a lot of face to face work in order to protect patients ans reduce spread.

Do mental health staff not get COVID?
This one has got it right now
My team is decimated and we can't provide a service because over half the team is COVID positive. We are the crisis team so this is a very bad thing
There is a massive outbreak on one of the wards in our mental health Trust right now. 100% of staff ans patients got it. As it's a locked ward maybe not surprising. A number are really sick.

Covid doesn't affect MH services then?? Do you still want to stand by that

GlowingOrb · 13/12/2020 18:54

It is not universally true that lockdowns are bad for everyone’s mental health. Some people are actually happier.

DougRossIsTheBoss · 13/12/2020 18:57

With the economic crisis caused by Covid plus Brexit it's safe to say that no services at all will have increase funding physical or mental health.

Since there has never been spare cash floating around parity of mental health funding actually means taking some away from physical health to give to us. That's when people start to squirm in their chairs and make excuses I tend to find. No-one can ever think of anything the health service should stop funding.

sirfredfredgeorge · 13/12/2020 19:05

The CMO of the UK, and every other medical officer wheeled out have been universally awful, they talk about covid, nothing else, they don't make any effort to discuss how you mitigate the health costs of lockdown, or of isolation.

They've not updated their guidance on exercise during a pandemic, they still encourage you to go swimming, or exercise with others, at the very same time as telling the politicians to make those things illegal.

Do nothing to say you need to eat the 10-15% fewer calories than normal because lockdown causes that much fewer demands just from the change in normal life.

And as the OP says, say nothing on ways of mitigating mental health - other than "maybe have a video call with someone".

They're killing people through this - and making people much more at risk from covid, all that isolation, all that lockdown, all those reduced fitness increases the risk of not surviving covid. If you're less fit now than you were in march, you're much more likely to die from covid, let alone all the other causes.

inuet · 13/12/2020 20:15

I can just see the next few months bringing people into despair. A rubbish Christmas, a dead cat bounce of a New Year, Brexit with a rubbish/no deal, economic disaster, real real hardship for people on these islands who never felt it before, MN getting more and more carping and backbiting, the "hands on hips brigade" constantly harping on an on about how x and y's behaviour is a disgrace, friendships & relationships ruined, mental and emotional health lost and then Whitty/Holohan just constantly going on and on and on about "the need to stay safe".

OP posts:
manicinsomniac · 13/12/2020 21:07

I'm not sure about this, actually. I think there has actually been a huge increase in awareness, discussion and concern for mental health this year. It seems far less 'taboo' to 'admit' to suffering from poor mental health - in fact, people seem to expect everyone's mental health to be suffering.

When it comes to mental illness, I agree with you that there has been a lot of (possibly unavoidable but still unacceptable) delay and cancellation of very necessary treatment. But that is also the case with physical illness. Both signs of a healthcare system struggling to cope.

SansaSnark · 13/12/2020 22:20

Just to provide a counterpoint-

During the first lockdown, my mental health was pretty good. I was lucky to have a secure job and income and a nice place to live.

Since September, I've been back at work in school and my mental health has definitely worsened- as has that of many of my colleagues. It is definitely super stressful being in an environment where I can't social distance or take many of the precautions we are told to stick to! And there are additional stresses of kids testing positive, setting work for self isolators etc. etc.

A lot of our students are increasingly anxious about coming to school as well. School refusal has increased a lot this term, as students do not feel safe in school.

Lockdowns are not the only thing that causes poor mental health.

I actually reckon it would be impossible to get through the pandemic without it having some impact on mental health, so we may as well focus on mitigating the impact of the pandemic, whilst supporting people with mental health needs.

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