BetterHelp: Lockdown’s Hidden Mental Health Time Bomb

Written by John O'Sullivan on September 9, 2020. Posted in Current News

A University College London study that monitored 90,000 people at the height of the UK’s  COVID19 lockdown paints a damning picture of increased widespread anxiety, stress, and monotonous boredom. This growing mental health crisis repeats itself worldwide and must be addressed.

Sadly, societal mental health impacts have been seemingly overlooked while governments and media speak incessantly about coronavirus ‘cases.’ As a result, more of us are turning to online counseling services for support.

The insidiousness of the ticking time bomb of pent up mental issues must be weighed alongside where it may lead; very real and frightening rise in suicides, domestic violence, and street violence (so-called peaceful protests) which may scar families and communities over the longer term.

The UK’s Health Foundation has spoken out on serious concerns about victims of domestic abuse being locked down with perpetrators. A report by MPs found 16 people – 14 women and 2 children – were killed in the first 3 weeks of lockdown, and calls to the national helpline Refuge were 49% higher than usual. This is one of the unintended consequences of the public policy of governments to use lockdown as a pandemic remedy.

The psychological repercussions from the pandemic are creating a crisis that urgently needs further study and prompt remedial action to safeguard those at risk.

Worse yet, there appears no end in sight to this long-running nightmare. In the United States as well as the UK and other nations, we are seeing a rise in new local lockdowns whereby a new surge in reported ‘cases’ for a local area is resulting in towns and cities having to close again; reverting back to the full-on nightmare of restricted movements, heightened worry and feeling there is no end to this nonsense.

Not helping the situation is the apparent flip-flopping of politicians who, for example, at the outset of the pandemic decried compulsory mask-wearing only to make them mandatory (with punitive fines for refusal) after the ‘curve’ had already been flattened. To many, the official advice often appears contradictory and lacking in basic common sense.

Some sections of society are worse hit. The lonely and isolated, the unemployed, small business owners are especially vulnerable, While shop workers, front line essential service providers, the police, bus drivers, etc are too often at the sharp end of the rise in civil disobedience.

Counting the cost are bodies such as the UK Health Foundation which tells us:

“The Royal College of Psychiatrists reports almost half of psychiatrists have seen increases in urgent and emergency cases during lockdown, but also that a similar proportion have seen falls in routine appointments. There are fears people are staying away until they reach crisis point, which will result in a flood of exacerbated and untreated mental illness after the pandemic, and mental health providers are already reporting significant increases in demand and severity of new referrals. The charity Mind has found that almost a quarter of people who tried to access mental health services during a fortnight in April failed to get any help.” [1]

So overwhelmed are these essential mental health workers that those in desperate need of counseling feel abandoned and locked out during lockdown.

Anne Marie Collins, President of the Australian Association of Psychologists in Melbourne, Victoria, where she works with patients who are battling personal trauma identifies what experts see as the five emotional states being evidenced from the prolongation of the ‘lockdown.’

Speaking to the Daily Mail (Australia) Collins details the five stages many people go through as they feel overwhelming emotions as the impact of losing any real agency over our lives and our futures takes hold.

“Coronavirus has triggered a sudden loss of structure and a loss of social contact for people all over the world, who are now trying to create a new routine for themselves working from home, or perhaps not working at all. You can’t really put a time frame on it. You have to allow people to move through the stages at different paces – it’s a very organic process that’s totally individual to us all. Just know that whatever you are feeling is absolutely justified,” she said.

Collins emphasized that:

“Long-term effects like PTSD come from being stuck in enormous stress and not being able to do anything to change it.”

Anyone suffering from undue mental health issues should not be cowed into believing there is nothing that can be done. Despite downsizing and integration of local health services help is still available for those who need it.

Even if physically traveling to see a counselor during lockdown is a problem there are online solutions such as BetterHelp, which offers professional support from licensed therapists and counselors online.

Also, check out: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.betterhelp&hl=en_US

The loss of personal agency, the ability to have control and a sense of direction and purpose in life is being undermined, if not permanently scarred by policymakers and so-called ‘experts’ who are being increasingly exposed as lacking foresight about the long term societal implications of their handling of this world-first mass shutdown.

Do not give up hope if your mental health is impacted. If you are unable or reluctant to reach out to friends, family and colleagues do consider contacting online mental health support professionals who are now gearing up to meet this growing need.

[1] https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/blogs/emerging-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-on-mental-health-and-health

About the author: John O’Sullivan John is CEO and co-founder (with Dr Tim Ball) of Principia Scientific International (PSI).  John is a seasoned science writer and legal analyst who assisted Dr. Ball in defeating world-leading climate expert, Michael ‘hockey stick’ Mann in the ‘science trial of the century‘. O’Sullivan is credited as the visionary who formed the original ‘Slayers’ group of scientists in 2010 who then collaborated in creating the world’s first full-volume debunk of the greenhouse gas theory plus their new follow-up book.

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