What are we going to do about mental health?

[ATieLikeRichardGere]

Even when this is all over, a lot of people’s mental health will have seriously deteriorated and people have experienced various forms of complex trauma. There needs to be some plan in place to meet what I can only assume will be staggering need. I wonder how this could be done. Mental health care was already insufficient beforehand so it’s a bit of a nightmare.

As with everything, there are barely enough professionals to go round. Probably not enough in patient beds either. And probably not enough primary care appointments. Feel like there needs to be self referral pathways, triaging, online support, govt should create beds in hotels like they have done for covid isolation. Start hiring more professionals now. Start training people now. Start doing research on how people have been affected now. Integrate with other needs such as financial support and job seeking.

If you’ve been affected, please share what type of support would help you.

I should have given this a more goady title to get clicks!

There isn't enough inpatient beds. The beds at the unit I work in are continuously full. Someone leaves and as soon as that bed has been cleaned someone else is in it. That not Corona related it has always been that way. Our crisis team are rushed off their feet. Some of our own doctors are now off with their own mental health issues. Staff like me are struggling to maganhe all the absences and ensure there is a doctor to treat you in the middle of the night when you get brought in by the police etc. The amount of new mums with postnatal depression seeking help has seen the biggest increase ever in our service.

We have no plans to hire more staff (other than current vacancies) because we have a limited budget.

There will likely be no extra help until the government realise that mental health services are part of the NHS too, and also need "protecting" however not by telling people not to use them, by extending them and making them actually accessible.

Not surprised staff are struggling at this point.

We need a pressure campaign for the government to do something. This needs to be part of the public health response.

Totally agree.

You asked for personal experiences: I work in health but not in a clinical role so I've been WFH since March. We live rurally so most days I see nobody in person other than my husband (who I'm obviously grateful to have with me) - i am an introvert so was surprised at how isolated I am now feeling from the lack of interaction and variety - just have noticed a sudden lack of desire to do anything, dragging myself through working (we are busy so the workday passes quickly) but really other than that I could spend the whole day lying around aimlessly, wanting to sleep a lot but not really feeling rested or refreshed. Definitely a touch of mild depression. I have healthy coping habits (regular exercise etc) but some of these like gym classes have been taken away by covid. Running club in small groups was a highlight and I noticed my mood was very noticeably better after being able to go, social distancing and all, so gutted that's no longer possible under tier 4 (running on my own doesn't really help with the sense of isolation). Just the lack of movement and monotony is making me struggle. I think I'd really benefit from some online CBT like tools but my CCG area doesn't have it available. If anyone has any suggestions for services I might be able to access I'm all ears- already do yoga/headspace but I need more constructive methods rather than just mindfulness.

Sending love to everyone struggling right now.

I agree that it's a massive issue and we need much more investment in this area. We obviously need more resource to address the immediate fallout from covid and associated problems, but it's a tricky one as simply throwing money at the problem won't increase the number of paid professionals overnight. I don't know what the answer is.

I think there also needs to be a much longer term strategy with regard to mental health, focusing more on prevention. Covid has really highlighted the fact that many people have very little resilience. We need to invest in teaching children and young people how to manage their mental health proactively so that they have better coping strategies for the challenges that they will face in the future.

Pre covid I think the NHS were fire fighting and the lists were long.
I've been waiting for emdr for over two years was told in January 2019 I'd get it this January but now it's been delayed indefinitely. In this time the only contact I have had with the mh team is one letter in May asking me to contact them if I no longer need treatment. I have had no one check if I'm OK. How many people are in my situation?
Then on top of this we have mh directly linked to covid so will have an even larger number of cases. If emdr in my area (medium sized town) had a waiting list of two years pre covid what will it be like post covid?
We will have an even more stark difference between the haves and have nots. Those that have the finances will pay for care those that don't will deteriorate while on waiting lists and some unfortunately may never get to the treatment stage.
Long term investment is needed plus long term planning so we're not just fire fighting. But this has been said for years and the opposite actually happened so I'm not holding out much hope for the kind of drastic change we need.

People often have low resilience when for example they have had adverse experiences in childhood or when they are experiencing a lot of additional life challenges now. If you are already facing poverty, for example, the extra stress related to covid might well be a tipping point for you. Many many people in this country already live in challenging circumstances with traumatic histories so it’s no surprise that resilience is run pretty dry. Prevention strategies that I am aware of rightly focus on the early years of life which are so crucial but it’s less about managing mental health as such and more about averting a whole set of traumatic early experiences that have long term effects.

I’m very sorry to hear about everyone who is struggling and the lack of services or long waiting lists.

I agree that there should be a plan in place - but there won't be.

I have a close family member with mental health issues. Lockdown meant that they have ended up sectioned. However - very little has since been done to help them. They have been handed out 3 different drugs. One anti-psychotic, one anti-depressant and another one for anxiety. They have also been prescribed sleeping tablets. They are in a secure unit and their tablets have been switched 2 or 3 times to try and find one that suits them.

They have received no other help. Staff are overworked and busy. Relative is told that they need to speak to the doctor about that any time they ask a question - he'll be here tomorrow - then he doesn't turn up. No one is talking to them, no one is doing anything to help.

Much of the reason they are having to be in a secure unit is because their assigned mental health person frequently failed to phone when they should, missed appointments, went on holiday/off sick. No one else called to see how my relative was (except us - but we are 400 miles away).

The service is shockingly poor when you've seen people who need it. I have no faith that the government will do anything more about it.

Well what were you doing about insufficient mental health services before Covid? Surely you just continue doing that.

I agree the provision was shocking before. But not everywhere mind you - bit of a postcode lottery. I don't have faith anything will be done either but there are still people who care with good intentions and clearly this government does bow to popular pressure so I don't want to give up. Even with the best will in the world, it is undeniably a difficult problem to tackle though.

These links might be helpful for some of you, free CBT courses
llttf.com/

Soothing rhythm breathing, it helps calm the nervous system, slow you down, can help you sleep, its an NHS link so safe

@stuckinreverse that looks like a fab resource, thankyou!

My husband has always been a worrier and a perfectionist. He has got to 42 without struggling with his mental health, till this year. I never expected to have a husband with depression. I can see many people must be at crisis point.

We have never before kept people apart from one another. I am the sort of personality that thrives on human interaction. Screens don’t cut it. My mental health would improve if I could see more people and socialise but that is not possible because physical health is being put ahead of mental health. I’m not making any comment on that either way, but the whole response has been to say physical health is the priority and mental health doesn’t matter.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/27/covid-poses-greatest-threat-to-mental-health-since-second-world-war

@ferretface, my GP prescribed me 'beating the blues' online course for while I was waiting for my counselling referral. So you can get it on the NHS. But you can also pay for it if you Google it. I found it good. It helped me see how negative thoughts were setting up a foundation for anxiety and depression for myself.