According to Dr. Miriam Stoppard, a UK author from The Mirror, the Covid-19 pandemic caused anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stoppard, who is also a medical doctor, says the repeated lockdowns to stop the spread of the disease and restrictions imposed by the authorities have made people feel like they have survived a war. Currently, people are suffering from the fallout of living in a ‘warzone’ and their mental health has been affected.
In a recent column for Mirror, Dr. Stoppard said that the rate of suicidal thoughts increased among people aged 18-29 during the pandemic. Interestingly, the opinion piece appeared on the portal on August 8, two days before ‘World Suicide Prevention Day.’ Stoppard said that General Practitioners (GPs) have told her that about 40% of their workload involves mental health. Faraz Mughal, a Doctoral Fellow at Keele University, told her that frequent exposure to pandemic news is one of the risk factors for distress.
After testing positive for the virus, she said that many people went into self-isolation mode. Many of them developed stress, anxiety, adjustment disorder, confusion, and anger as a result. Families of patients with Covid also suffer significantly from mental distress. Stoppard believes that the pandemic will exacerbate mental health disparities for ethnic minorities. There will be serious implications for people with mental illness who have pre-existing conditions.
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The number of remote mental health consultations has increased in recent months, according to her. However, it is undermining the close relationship between doctor and patient, who used to interact face-to-face before the pandemic. According to her, doctors must be given the time and resources they need to effectively treat mental illness.
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