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Long term restrictions, lockdowns, etc and the implications on mental health

Is your mental health suffering as a result of Coronavirus fatigue, ongoing restrictions, etc?


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yorksrob

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The 1930s. It was the title of a book (by Piers Brendon, if I recollect).

Thanks. Well I did say I didn't want to see some of the other bits that followed, but no one seems to have picked up on that.

I am fortunate in that I am able to carry on working this time round (I am a PhD student working in a research lab). But as work is now the only thing that Boris 'The Dictator' Johnson hasn't taken from us, it does mean that when you encounter difficulties in your work, there really isn't anything else to distract from it. I'm fed up, and I despise our leaders for having done this to us.

Very true. If you're having a tough time at work (which in my case seems to be permanently) it can seem like there's no escape.

Still, there's still the great out doors and access thereto, something of which I intend to take full advantage.
 

packermac

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I am fortunate in that I am able to carry on working this time round (I am a PhD student working in a research lab). But as work is now the only thing that Boris 'The Dictator' Johnson hasn't taken from us, it does mean that when you encounter difficulties in your work, there really isn't anything else to distract from it. I'm fed up, and I despise our leaders for having done this to us.
Boris 'The Dictator' Johnson
Perhaps you can explain your rationale in this term when compared to say
Macron, Merkel, Sanchez, Wilmes, Rutte or many other European leaders?
 

6862

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Boris 'The Dictator' Johnson
Perhaps you can explain your rationale in this term when compared to say
Macron, Merkel, Sanchez, Wilmes, Rutte or many other European leaders?

They are all acting like despotic dictators (to various extents)! By calling Johnson that I wasn't implying exclusivity in his behaviour!
 

35B

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They are all acting like despotic dictators (to various extents)! By calling Johnson that I wasn't implying exclusivity in his behaviour!
I suggest you emerge from your lab, and actually do some reading about how dictators behave, and what dictatorships are really like. If history isn't your thing, then a look at Hong Kong over the last couple of years might be instructive. The use of that language about the leaders you mention might get you a 3 in a GCSE paper, but only if you spelt it right.

@43066 and I disagree vigorously in this area. But, in our very different ways, we are aligned on the dramatic difference between the measures in force in the UK today, and the sort of coercive state control that a dictatorship such as China imposes.
 

6862

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I suggest you emerge from your lab, and actually do some reading about how dictators behave, and what dictatorships are really like. If history isn't your thing, then a look at Hong Kong over the last couple of years might be instructive. The use of that language about the leaders you mention might get you a 3 in a GCSE paper, but only if you spelt it right.

@43066 and I disagree vigorously in this area. But, in our very different ways, we are aligned on the dramatic difference between the measures in force in the UK today, and the sort of coercive state control that a dictatorship such as China imposes.

I appreciate your criticism of my views and will take it on board. You're correct that history is not my area, however I would argue that much of the behaviour we have seen from our leaders in recent months strongly resembles behaviour which we would condem if we saw it happening in many totalitarian countries. I am not alone in holding this view - see this comment by Sir Graham Brady: “If these kinds of measures were being taken in any totalitarian country around the world we would be denouncing it as a form of evil and here the removal of people’s fundamental liberties is going almost without comment and I think it is very important that we focus on those basic human rights and find ways, of course, to deal with the serious threat of Covid 19 but do it working with people rather than doing things to people.”

Regarding the spelling mistake you mention, I'm not really sure what word you are referring to, but if it's helpful to you, here is the definition of despotic: 'having unlimited power over other people, and often using it unfairly and cruelly'

You may disagree about my use of the word, but I hope you agree that I spelt it correctly!
 

35B

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I appreciate your criticism of my views and will take it on board. You're correct that history is not my area, however I would argue that much of the behaviour we have seen from our leaders in recent months strongly resembles behaviour which we would condem if we saw it happening in many totalitarian countries. I am not alone in holding this view - see this comment by Sir Graham Brady: “If these kinds of measures were being taken in any totalitarian country around the world we would be denouncing it as a form of evil and here the removal of people’s fundamental liberties is going almost without comment and I think it is very important that we focus on those basic human rights and find ways, of course, to deal with the serious threat of Covid 19 but do it working with people rather than doing things to people.”

Regarding the spelling mistake you mention, I'm not really sure what word you are referring to, but if it's helpful to you, here is the definition of despotic: 'having unlimited power over other people, and often using it unfairly and cruelly'

You may disagree about my use of the word, but I hope you agree that I spelt it correctly!
No spelling mistakes in your original post, but your use of terminology would be deep into GCSE "fail" territory on the concept.

As for Sir Graham Brady, I disagree with his views as stated in that quote. He is silent in that quote on the trade off represented by the measures in place between our freedom to do as we will, and the health of us as the public. Without engaging with that choice - wherever your views land on the answer chosen - you can't sensibly take a view of whether they are reasonable or proportionate. What we do retain, very seriously, are the freedoms of mind. I do not have to hide what I look at online, I can read freely. Now imagine living somewhere that Winnie the Pooh is banned, or you may only read the religious text of the state religion, or reading the wrong book could see you arrested. That, truly, would be loss of freedom.

My own views are framed by the idea of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The choices made by governments of all kinds (and, yes, that includes the likes of Sweden) have had, abruptly, had to focus intensely on some of our most basic needs, and move away from those that are less vital to life and limb.
 

6862

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No spelling mistakes in your original post, but your use of terminology would be deep into GCSE "fail" territory on the concept.

As for Sir Graham Brady, I disagree with his views as stated in that quote. He is silent in that quote on the trade off represented by the measures in place between our freedom to do as we will, and the health of us as the public. Without engaging with that choice - wherever your views land on the answer chosen - you can't sensibly take a view of whether they are reasonable or proportionate. What we do retain, very seriously, are the freedoms of mind. I do not have to hide what I look at online, I can read freely. Now imagine living somewhere that Winnie the Pooh is banned, or you may only read the religious text of the state religion, or reading the wrong book could see you arrested. That, truly, would be loss of freedom.

My own views are framed by the idea of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The choices made by governments of all kinds (and, yes, that includes the likes of Sweden) have had, abruptly, had to focus intensely on some of our most basic needs, and move away from those that are less vital to life and limb.

Firstly, I am glad that when I got my (A*) GCSE in History it was on rather more well defined topics than our current predicament!

You make a good point that we retain some freedoms, and I know I would do well to be more thankful for them, but I think it is wrong to accept the loss of so many freedoms for reasons relating purely to physical health and safety. Remember - health is more than just the physical - as per the topic of this thread, mental health is also important. Of course I know that there are people in totalitarian countries where, as you mention, what you can think and read is banned, however I do not believe that just because we are not in such a bad situation we should accept lesser restrictions without question or complaint.

Having said this, while it has been an interesting discussion, I fear it is moving somewhat away from the topic of the thread, and going any further with it probably isn't particularly helpful to either of us.
 

35B

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Firstly, I am glad that when I got my (A*) GCSE in History it was on rather more well defined topics than our current predicament!

You make a good point that we retain some freedoms, and I know I would do well to be more thankful for them, but I think it is wrong to accept the loss of so many freedoms for reasons relating purely to physical health and safety. Remember - health is more than just the physical - as per the topic of this thread, mental health is also important. Of course I know that there are people in totalitarian countries where, as you mention, what you can think and read is banned, however I do not believe that just because we are not in such a bad situation we should accept lesser restrictions without question or complaint.

Having said this, while it has been an interesting discussion, I fear it is moving somewhat away from the topic of the thread, and going any further with it probably isn't particularly helpful to either of us.
I think we can agree to disagree at that point - I don't pretend for a moment that this is an open and shut issue. Likewise, I fully acknowledge that many will have lockdown harder than I do, and that the impact of restrictions will affect different people in different ways and degrees.
 

LowLevel

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I am a kind of person that needs things to look forward to and having an empty diary is doing my head in, as is the not knowing when this will end.

We are having to deal with "persons under trains" most days now. Another one just occurred in the last few minutes, and we are a relatively small TOC.
 

Cdd89

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The restrictions so far have had very little direct effect on my personal mental health, but I know that's the not the case more widely including various close friends.

Witnessing two suicides from my window while at home in the last few months - one from a high-rise building and another at the NR station I overlook - has had an impact on me (more than I realised at the time).
 

brad465

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Next week on Tuesday the ONS will be releasing Q3 data for registered suicides, which is July to September this year. If I've read their Q2 report correctly they said in that report it wasn't possible to gauge suicide levels caused by Covid restrictions because it can take a coroner up to 5 months to confirm this, and the data for Q2 looked incomplete.

The release next week though will hopefully fill that in and give us a picture of the consequences of these restrictions from a mental health/suicide perspective, which if they look unpleasant (as in more unpleasant than they normally do), this should be leading to calls to seriously question the whole approach, and at the very least if we're doing enough for mental health support.
 

A Challenge

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This data has come out today, with a nice long list of reasons why you can't use this to gauge the suicides caused by coronavirus, even though I'm sure if they wanted to they could give us the information by month of death (though this would still have a long lag period). iIaven't looked at the actual data yet, but it does say there is no information on the date or even year of death for these.
Looking at Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) of 2020 specifically, 3.6% of the 1,262 suicides registered in this period had a date of death in the same period (45 deaths), with the remaining deaths (96.4% or 1,217 deaths) occurring before 2020.

For Quarter 2 (Apr to June) of 2020, 5.3% of the 845 suicides registered in the period occurred in the same period (45 deaths), with the remaining deaths occurring in the first quarter of 2020 (43.7% or 369 deaths) or prior to 2020 (51.0% or 431 deaths).

For Quarter 3 (July to Sept) of 2020, 5.3% of the 1,334 suicides registered in the period occurred in the same period (71 deaths), with the remaining deaths occurring in the first quarter of 2020 (34.9% or 466 deaths), the second quarter of 2020 (28.3% or 378 deaths) or prior to 2020 (31.4% or 419 deaths).

The increase in registered suicides during the third quarter of 2020 likely reflects the resuming of coroner’s inquests
The number and rate of registered deaths from suicide increased in the third quarter of 2020 when compared with the second quarter of 2020. However, this increase likely reflects the resuming of coroner’s inquests as opposed to a genuine increase in suicide. The suicide rate in the third quarter of 2020 is similar to those observed in the same quarter in previous years. We will continue to monitor and update the statistics on a quarterly basis.

The number of suicides registered in the second quarter of 2020 is lower than expected and should be interpreted with caution
The 845 suicides registered in the second quarter of 2020 is the lowest number of any quarter since 2001, when the data time series reported for this statistical release begins.

These numbers should be interpreted with caution. It is likely that the lower number of suicides registered in this period reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the coroner’s service in England and Wales, for example, delays to inquests caused by the service adapting to social distancing measures. It is unlikely that the reduction in registered deaths reflects a genuine reduction in the number of suicides. Further information on the reduction in the second quarter of 2020 can be found in our previous release.
 

brad465

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This data has come out today, with a nice long list of reasons why you can't use this to gauge the suicides caused by coronavirus, even though I'm sure if they wanted to they could give us the information by month of death (though this would still have a long lag period). iIaven't looked at the actual data yet, but it does say there is no information on the date or even year of death for these.
Yes I had a look too this morning and was a bit disappointed that not all the data was available yet, while it looks like it'll be a long wait to find out what impact restrictions have had on suicide rates are. This is bad news if, as many suspect, suicide rates have definitely gone up because calls to change strategy/get more support in won't be able to gain more traction.

Of course it would be great if the rate hasn't gone up, but it doesn't look like we'll know for sure until at the least the spring.
 

Crossover

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The way this is being handled, I feel myself venturing up more towards being more badly affected, the longer time goes on.

Reactive measure after reactive measure with no time allowed to see if the previous reactive measure has in any way helped
 
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