Nobody cares about mental health in Covid times

[inuet]

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.

@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.

For a start, I think the thing that is missing is a big public health campaign on mental health wellbeing during lockdown. It does seem to be the thing nobody's talking about.

There seems to be lots of complaining about how lockdown is bad for mental health but not a lot of actual doing anything about it other than pointing out that lockdown's are damaging or calling for them to be stopped as far as I can see.

I think I usually (in recent years at least) have good mental health and am resilient but I don't think I have ever felt so low and anxious as I do this year.

Lost my mum in the midst of it all
Juggling home schooling kids and the worry of them being sent home at any moment and having to manage that
Worried about DH losing his job
Constant new ways of working making everything much harder at work and in the world in general
Constant stress of juggling mental health risk vs Covid risk and fear of killing someone if you get it wrong either way
Usual outlets to reduce stress nearly all gone- no yoga class (zoom really not the same), no gym, no massages or spa days or even a haircut, no travel, no holidays, can't see my family, can't give my poor grieving dad a hug

This weekend I really feel I might not be able to pick myself up any more.
I've stayed in bed crying all weekend and called in sick Monday.
I'm not capable of being part of the solution right now.

Policy makers have to make choices. Their priority is to save the maximum number of lives. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I agree. Unless things have changed in the last couple of weeks, ONS stats have not been available for suicides due to the delay in inquests. I am fully expecting there to be a massive rise. DH's friend's brother shot himself a couple of weeks ago. My son is desperately unhappy working from home in his apartment. Perhaps those of us who are managing ok should not underplay the despair of those that are not.

Recovery from mental distress is typically a long game and everyone's case and its causes are different, so it would be rare to find a fast-track solution that conveniently works broadly for all ages and reasons - that said, we do have the knowledge and choices of what treatment might be. Potentially too, the under 11s may not need the service as much as for other treatments.

Isolation, lack of control or predictability, restrictions, boredom and a feeling of threat will not be on the right side of the balance sheet for anyone's wellbeing - mental especially, but physical too. This for all ages. We've all had this for some time now and the results have varied but we can't put any kind of time limit on this unless willing to say yes to bigger spikes (not sensible, really, halfway through winter).

The growing cause of severe illness that may be fatal relatively quickly, however, does seem to be down to 1 identifiable thing right now (that didn't even feature as any danger statistic 18 months ago). It's a problem because knowledge and treatment for it is still in such early stages while its community infection rate is still behaving like a coronavirus in winter. Just as problematic is that even when not fatal, it can take out workers 'not at risk' (in theory) who are needed for the greater demands in care, food production, education, electricity, internet provision etc. and everyone regularly still working in groups that are larger than most households (classrooms, buses, wards, surgeries...), is pushing the boundaries. They don't have a lot of choice in their risk taking.

www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1371723/coronavirus-probe-non-covid-deaths-2020-norwich

@DougRossIsTheBoss

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

This^ Add also a lot of mental health staff were redeployed during 1st wave from outpatient routine services to crisis services, wards or residential settings. MH patients and staff on these wards died. Like anywhere now there are large numbers of staff at anytime sick or isolating, staff struggling themselves with long covid, or with their own distress that has worsened during covid.

MH services are always underfunded and we desperately need more funding to provide a good timely service BUT there is also a lot of distress, worry, low mood and anxiety about, which is a very normal response to a very abnormal situation and its important we don't medicalise every person who is struggling right now.

Even in normal times there is too little help provided to those with severe MH issues. I have a relative whose MH is very poor and it severely impacts their daily functioning. (They get both elements of PIP for the next 10 years). I can attest that their community mental health service is unfit for purpose. Their CPN(s) have been useless, psychological therapies took over a year to obtain and haven't helped and they are considered to be treatment-resistant by the Psychiatrist.

Whilst I would really welcome a proper increase in awareness of those suffering poor mental health (and it being considered as important as physical health issues) I don't necessarily think there is now more awareness, rather that the phrase MH issues is used with more abandon.

I would prefer posters to state they suffer anxiety or moderate depression or severe depression or state their particular diagnosis (if they even have one) rather than state "I have MH issues". The phrase doesn't give an insight into their issues so they can get better advice and it sometimes feels like it is being stated like a badge of honour.

Reading MN, the amount of times this phrase is used, you would be forgiven for thinking no-one has any semblance of resilience these days. I wonder how many of these posters actually have clinical depression rather than just feeling quite down over the stressful times we find ourselves in due to Covid.

Being worried and stressed in these uncertain Covid times is normal.
Being stressed or worried as a result of loss of a job and income is a normal response.
Being stressed when a relative is severely ill is a normal response.
Feeling bereft and heartbroken after the death of a loved one is a normal response.

I'm just a little concerned that people are stating they have MH issues when sometimes they are just experiencing the normal, albeit upsetting, worries and strains of life. It then detracts from the attention paid to those suffering with poor mental health.

I agree, there will be many more deaths in the future from the psychological trauma of the covid response.

In the mental health nhs trust I work in, it's a north west one the suicide rates are massively up im saddened to say so covid is affecting us badly x

Oddly enough I've found that medical staff are a lot more respectful to me about my mental health issues since the pandemic. Perhaps its because I have a bundle of diagnoses, some of which may be incorrect, that have historically been attributed to 'women behaving badly' and are now understood to be primarily neurobiological, anorexia being the most prominent. Perhaps its because I now have 'Dr.' in front of my name too and a 'respectable' career. But I don't think so. I'm still a woman; I'm still not White; I still have a bundle of pathologized labels. I honestly think that whilst treatments haven't improved, necessarily, and staff are certainly short of time, the pandemic has brought home the realization that people with severe mental illness are still, you know, people.

The people saying that some peoples mental health is better in lockdown... surely you must be worried that they’ll struggle with a return to normality? It’s also not healthy to find our current lives ‘easier’ to that extent, I’d be seriously concerned for anyone who is happier in lockdown to be honest

In the mental health nhs trust I work in, it's a north west one the suicide rates are massively up im saddened to say so covid is affecting us badly x

Why are people disputing that suicides rates are up? I've seen it churned out on here so many times. I've heard of more deaths through suicide then covid. Covid is king these days and nothing else seems to matter, it's tragic.

I think it must vary with location and be NHS trust dependent. The mental health provision in my county has expanded 10 fold, helped hugely by a collaboration by a number of charities and supported/driven by the local NHS Foundation trust

Calm I do agree with you that phrases like 'my mental health' are bandied about in a ridiculous fashion

No-one would say 'it's affecting my physical health' 'I have poor physical health'. They would say what is wrong ie arthritis, breast cancer, diabetes

But you did just do the exact thing you complain about when talking about your relative too.....

Some of the problem for MH services is the vague and very general nature of what people expect us to help with. We were originally set up for SMI ie schizophrenia and bipolar with a smattering of OCD and severe depression. We are fairly good with those. What we are less good at is personality disorder, generalised anxiety, dysthymia and other such things where medication is generally not helpful, psychotherapy requires engagement and change on the patients part and social factors in society that we cannot control are maintaining ie abusive relationships, poverty, poor housing etc

calmandmeasured I think you are confusing mental health and mental illness. Most people who talk about their mental health suffering or being poor don't have an illness to be specific about. And I think you do get the equivalent of this for physical health too.

Poor physical health:
'Feeling a bit run down' 'knackered' 'under the weather' 'off colour' 'bleurgh' 'Feeling my age

Poor mental health:
'Struggling today' 'can't find any positives' 'can't be bothered' 'want to stay in bed all day' 'crying a lot' 'generally miserable' 'can't sleep'

Most people who experience those things can't tell you that they have flu, cancer, tonsilitus, torn muscles, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety or bulimia because most of them don't have a specific illness like that. They are simply not in a particularly good state of health on that moment.

I have three mental illnesses but today I have relatively good mental health. The two aren't the same.

No they don’t care. And your right - only one illness matters at the moment.

Ambulance call outs for suicide attempts are hugely up.

People with mental health issues are not thinking - ‘ah I hate covid I'm going to kill myself’, it’s the knock on effect of mental health services being suspended, back logged, job losses, unable to have vital support of family, relationship breakdowns and much more.

The mental health of elderly people isolated away from family has had an shocking effect on their physical health. I’ve seen my grandmother go from a busy active 88 year old to a frail old lady in months. She’s very depressed and is waiting to die.

The mental health of elderly folk in care homes has been massively ignored especially the people with dementia which comes hand in hand with depression.

Just awful.

OP, you are making sweeping generalisations "nobody is bothering" and "everything is going to hell". People are bothering. Right now in the ROI and UK many therapists will be online helping patients, many GPs will be speaking to patients on anxiety and depression. Lots of pharmacists will be dispensing medication. Police will attend incidences caused by MH breakdowns, specialist hospitals and carers. Families will be picking up the pieces for their loved ones with MH issues. Social workers...the list goes on.
Is the government prioritising Covid over every other illness? Yes.

You and your loved ones had access to some MH provision and you will after Covid. How much help is there for MH in poor and developing countries? Probably zero.
There is provision, but you are quite right to say that more is needed. That's very different to claiming nobody cares. It's a disservice to everyone working to help people with MH issues today - and that is thousands of people.

The emotional blackmail we are being subjected to is affecting me badly.

The mental health of elderly people isolated away from family has had an shocking effect on their physical health. I’ve seen my grandmother go from a busy active 88 year old to a frail old lady in months. She’s very depressed and is waiting to die

I sympathise with you here. My Nan was the same, her sight and hearing had all but gone but she still had her faculties. Her favourite thing was conversation. It was the one remaining thing she could still do that she held dear.
She went rapidly down hill health wise during the first lockdown and sadly passed away in June.

The last months of her life were spent isolated in her room. We were very fortunate that we were allowed to spend some time with her in her final days but I’ll always feel bitter about how she had her one remaining joy taken from her.

It’s not tragic though as she didn’t die of Covid!!

It's so bloody hard
I work in older people's mental health
On the one hand we are terrified we might pass it on and kill someone. That's a genuine fear. Loads of my team are infected right now.

On the other hand we can't support older people properly via phone and video link. They often can't use that tech and/ or they need practical support and human touch which is what we can't give.

I don't know the answer
I feel crap whatever I do
I have just been hanging on for the vaccine but now we have this outbreak in the team and it's too late

She went rapidly down hill health wise during the first lockdown and sadly passed away in June

Dementia is a massive killer, isolation is a huge predictor of dementia, keeping covid out of care homes just increases dementia risk, sadly though there was no way for the isolation risk to really be quantified and no direct way to study it.

DianaT1969 whilst you're correct in talking up the positive work so many are doing, the OP is right in their "everyone", they don't mean individuals working, they mean the people who are able to drive opinion, the politicians, the medical officers of the countries, the media, these are the groups who've elevated covid above everything, covid harm is not more harm than other sorts.

My road is looking out for each other, we have a WhatsApp group. Everyone knows that someone will go get their shopping if needed. We have a whole plan for if people need to isolate and can't get Christmas shopping in. People are checking in on those who live alone. The older shielding couple haven't had to set foot in a shop since all this began. We are all doing what we can.

We have to have restrictions, the alternative is the NHS being overwhelmed any people dying due to lack of resources. We need to look out for each other and take some personal responsibility for how we can do that locally.

I think people do care, but it is a difficult balancing act. My local hospital is comepletely overwhelmed right now, and its getting to a situation thats not particularly safe

I think we say my mental health is suffering too much. Its normal to struggle at times, to have down days etc. Struggling in a pandemic doesnt mean you have poor mental health or mental illness, its just a normal reaction to a stressful situation. This is a temporary situation although it doesnt feel like it, and just because people are finding it hard doesnt mean they will have long term mental health implications. Some people probably will, and it may exacerbate existing mental health issues as well in some cases. I think by nature lockdown or not a pandemic is going to lead to anxiety though, so it cant necessarily be attributed to lockdowm

I worry about the isolated elderly, but equally I dont see much option. If you are high risk what are you expected to do? Lockdowns in a way make it easier because it is safer for these people to get out. The current situation is not particularly safe for at risk people. I try and call my elderly relatives as much as possible but I would be putting them at risk seeing them in person