The Impact of Covid-19 on Mental Health

by Grace Powell

Covid-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus, is the global pandemic that has stopped the world in its tracks. The impact it is having on mental health is immense, as well as intensifying the experiences of people struggling with mental illness in normal everyday life. May is mental health awareness month and many feel deeply conflicted. While it feels wildly inappropriate to discuss mental health in the face of a relentless global threat to physical health, it’s also grossly apt.

Due to the nature of a national lockdown, many people could not leave their homes except to buy food or exercise briefly. They could not see their friends or family, or go to work, and despite the slight relax in lockdown rules, the near-term outlook is still bleak. This combination is the perfect storm for an increase in mental health conditions and we are already beginning to see signs of an associated mental health pandemic on the way.

For those struggling with anxiety, certain fears they may have are heightened, therefore making mental and physical responses more severe and harder to deal with. People who struggle with depression may experience more suicidal thoughts with death counts constantly being broadcasted on the news. For those who suffer with OCD, constantly being told to do a compulsion they are trying to combat would be extremely mentally draining. With post traumatic stress disorder, that feeling of having no control can become significantly more overwhelming, and people with psychotic disorders or hearing voices that are now orientating around the virus would be consuming.

A recent poll from Young Minds Uk found that 80% of young people with mental health conditions have seen their conditions worsen since the pandemic began. This shows us that Covid-19 and lockdown is introducing more psychological consequences to many young people across the UK. Despite all of this, everybody has a mental health and if someone is struggling whether they have a mental illness or not, they are still a just as valid.