The mental health charity Mind have recently conducted a survey to find out how the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown was affecting people’s mental health. Their findings show that new mental health problems have developed and existing mental health problems have worsened.
Worryingly, a staggering 60% of adults and 68% of young people said their mental health got worse during lockdown.
Results show that restrictions on seeing people, not being able to go outside and worries about the health of family and friends are the key factors driving poor mental health.
Some of the groups of people found more likely to report that their mental health has declined included women, people with eating disorders, and frontline workers.
It has been found that the most common (negative) coping strategies that people are using are over or under eating, alcohol and drug use and self-harming.
Positive ways of coping that many are using include connecting with family and friends, watching tv or films, spending time outside and doing household chores.
Some of the participants gave their advice on how to manage mental health during difficult periods of uncertainty. The most commonly focused five key points are:
- Be kind to yourself – getting through each day is enough
- Keep talking to others about how you’re feeling
- Develop a new routine
- Find activities that help to distract you
- Limit how much news you engage with
While there is still so much more to achieve, Mind’s research is leading the way to enable people to help one another through this challenging time and it has highlighted the degree of which coronavirus has affected our mental health.
To find out how Mind are making use of these findings you can read the full report here.