Page 6 | I know more people who've committed suicide than I do who've died of Covid

Imissmoominmama · 16/01/2021 11:09

I knew two people in my small town who have taken their own lives as a result of the pressure Covid put on their MH .

AcornAutumn · 16/01/2021 11:11

@BagsOFr

4 people (not all friends but people I know from around my area) have now committed suicide, one being the brother of a friend. I know multiple more who've gone missing after a MH crisis and been found thankfully alive.

AIBU to think there HAS to have a massive overhaul of the MH services in this country after this shit show? This can't be allowed to go on silently. I know everyone is very focused on Covid and I appreciate why, but I don't know a single person who's died from Covid and yet here I am, seeing another person who's taken their own life because of this situation. It seems to be such a bigger issue than anyone wants to admit.

I was very close to this, a neighbour stopped me.

But why do you do mental health funding is the answer?

Who is going to recover from this because of MH help?

Of course those who need meds should have them but other than that, what can be done? The damage from lockdown is done. Please don't let it come with an even bigger tax bill.

x2boys · 16/01/2021 11:14

I was a mental health nurse for years it's not just that services are woefully underfunded ,but they are completely mis managed ,the trust I worked for redeployed me twice between 2005-2006 due to cuts ,they used to do ridiculous things like completely regurbish wards at the cost of £1000,000 and then close them down completely less than 12 months down the line ,these are things people don't talk about ,yes mental health services need to be funded properly ,but there needs to be a complete overhaul and managers need to be held accountable

ScrapThatThen · 16/01/2021 11:20

Even gold standard Mental health services won't solve the mental health crisis, economic actions and actions that support families and communities will be much more effective. Help parents raise secure confident children, reduce the rates of alcoholism and addiction, educate everyone about domestic abuse so children raised with violence don't find themselves in violent relationships, help communities create social networks and belonging for people who feel isolated.

NamechangedHelpPlease · 16/01/2021 11:22

I understand that the vast majority of covid deaths are over 80's after a longer life than the average.
I understand that suicide deaths are a much lower demographic
MH services do need looking at. Some are pushed to suicide and could be saved others will occur no matter what help is given.
No answers each and every death is tragic for the ones that are left behind

MumOfPsuedoAdult · 16/01/2021 11:26

@CovoidOfAllHumanity

Many people think MH services 'need overhauling'

In what way?
What do you want more of and indeed less of
Please don't say hospital beds. Admission to hospital does not solve anything for the majority of people

More access to therapy I wouldn't quibble with at all but finding the people will be hard. We can't fill the posts we have

Honestly you'd be better off investing in proper social care, housing and education in many ways and resolving the issues that lead to poor MH.
Being a social worker or a housing officer are some of the few jobs I think get more abuse than I do though!

Better funding Better paid NHS staff so that it's a career path more people consider Shorter waiting times for referrals (which just exacerbates the problem).

But other than that you're right - we also need to tackle a lot of the social problems that cause SOME MH issues (not all).

Billie18 · 16/01/2021 11:28

@ScrapThatThen

Even gold standard Mental health services won't solve the mental health crisis, economic actions and actions that support families and communities will be much more effective. Help parents raise secure confident children, reduce the rates of alcoholism and addiction, educate everyone about domestic abuse so children raised with violence don't find themselves in violent relationships, help communities create social networks and belonging for people who feel isolated.

Presently we have the opposite. The lockdown is separating families and communities and causing the deepest recession in living memory. Until it is lifted more people will be lockdown collateral...

crossstitchingnana · 16/01/2021 11:31

But I know more who've died from Covid. What's that prove? Both are shit but we cannot let the virus rampage and kills hundreds of thousands. We can support people with poor MH, all of us. Only medical professionals, who are under enormous pressure, can do so.

NancyDrew1966 · 16/01/2021 11:34

Agree economic actions are needed to improve equality and educational outcomes, reduce poverty, increase investment in left behind areas neglected for years. There's much talk on threads questioning lockdown about poorer people really suffering because of lack of outside space, living in cramped environments, having even less money because of job losses etc, maybe when all this is over we should consider those people again and vote accordingly for parties that want to try to improve things for them. And yes that will involve tax increases....

Kazzyhoward · 16/01/2021 11:42

The 3 million excluded self employed don't need better NHS mental health services - that won't pay their bills - they need parity and the same financial support given to those who weren't excluded on purely arbitrary and illogical rules as to who got support and who didn't.

inquietant · 16/01/2021 11:57

@Kazzyhoward

The 3 million excluded self employed don't need better NHS mental health services - that won't pay their bills - they need parity and the same financial support given to those who weren't excluded on purely arbitrary and illogical rules as to who got support and who didn't.

This situation is an absolute scandal and I do not understand why it isn't causing more of a stink.

I know these are just words but I wanted to say I hear you and I think it is a disgrace too

kateybeth79 · 16/01/2021 13:32

There has always been a lack of funding in Mental Health, I have Bipolar so have had dealings with the Mental Health service for the past 23 years. It took 15 years to get my Bipolar diagnosis! The only time it improved was when I was pregnant and my children were very small. For what it's worth I know 5 people who've died of Covid and no one who has committed suicide.

PrivateHall · 16/01/2021 14:03

@BagsOFr

And I have also not suggested this is evidence based fact for my local area. I am talking about what I am personally seeing in the people I know and it concerns me. I'm not talking about studies and figures and statistics.

'Figures and statistics' are what matters though. Would those people you know have committed suicide even if were not in a pandemic? You will never know. Therefore the only way to work out if the pandemic has increased the numbers of suicides is to look at the data. I understand that seems irrelevant to you because obviously the people you know were people, not numbers, and I am sure you don't want them reduced to 'data'. So I do get what you are saying. But by comparing it to numbers of covid deaths, you are automatically leading the conversation towards statistics.

dudsville · 16/01/2021 14:13

One of the biggest problems with this pandemic is the deaths are largely (not all) contained in hospitals, so you don't see it. Your thread title is contentious, which you later explain wasn't your intention, you didn't mean to compare two forms of death that are avoidable, one of which you can't catch arbitrarily by passing an asymptomatic person in the street. It would be more helpful to your argument if you started again and didn't compare 2.01 m deaths to 800,000 deaths worldwide.

Watchingbehindmyhands · 16/01/2021 14:29

And so we should all be absolutely up in arms that the Govt has allowed the NHS to be so unfit for purpose in the past however long that it has come down to this, rather than making Sarah down the road public enemy number 1 because she had a brew with her Mum

I agree that years of underinvestment should lead to us, as a public, questioning why that happened and it should be something Labour can campaign with at the next election. We should all be voting to improve,our public services and ensure everyone gets the help they need. Of course that will likely require a look at taxation and I wonder how many people shouting loudly now will be prepared to pay a little extra to try to prevent future problems.

From a covid point of view, I am not convinced that better health care would have made the current situation considerably better than it currently is. There is a balance, for example, of needing more beds and staff to manage them when in usual times those beds would just lie empty and staff redundant. There is perhaps an overhaul needed of disaster management? But I guess planning for the unknown is difficult and will never tick all the boxes when the disaster actually happens.

As for Sarah having a brew...as a single person I have kept to the rules and am struggling. It is clear that the more contact we have, the longer it’s going to go on and there needs to be acceptance of a ‘new normal’ as things move on.

KarenMarlow3 · 16/01/2021 14:41

I used to work in a school and so many problems are due to parents ficing their children mobile phones at a young age. The children would take their phones to bed and be at school shattered and depressed, full of anxiety, having been on the phones most of the night. I think the Netflix documentary 'a social dilemma' sums it up well. Remove social media from youngsters and you remove alot of issues.
I agree with you this. There is also the fact that many of today's parents try to create a perfect life for their children. Treats, the latest toys and games, days out, holidays etc. They intervene at the slightest problem at school, try to manage children's friendships, and punishments are minimal and ineffective.
The children then encounter the real world, where they are not the centre of the universe, and they find it hard. It isn't surprising that there are so many mental health problems.

sundowners · 16/01/2021 14:44

I know 2 people who’ve died of Covid (both very elderly with serious pre existing health conditions) and one young mother who very sadly

committed suicide in the last lockdown x

Spiratedaway · 17/01/2021 13:14

Going back to this found out someone I know killed them selves last night leave wife and child just could not handle it ..... whatever the statistics say suicides are going up and lots more people going on anti depressants I am gutted about this