Lockdown and Mental Health

Mental health during the 21st century has always been a sensitive topic which has began to gain more acknowledgement and discussion, so much so that multiple campaigns have been launched over recent years to promote talking about our feelings to reduce suicide rate.

However, with the coronavirus outbreak, isolation has began taking a difficult toll on the mental health of tons of people. Being forced to stay inside and not being allowed to have outside interaction means people are left alone with their thoughts, which can heighten their moods and escalate the depth of their mental illness.

While some of the lockdown regulations have been lifted slightly, allowing you to see one person from another household but maintain the two metre social distancing, it’s still difficult. However, it provides a little more time for distraction from mental illness.

As someone who suffers from anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, I have found the lockdown affecting my mood negatively, to the point where my depression had increased, and I’m now looking forward to adjusting my anti-depressant medication. For some people, a lot of these words cause distress. Automatically, if you’re on medication for your mental illness, then many people think you must be crazy. Lockdown and its effects on the Mental Health However, it helps me cope a little bit better, and eases some of the pressure I feel from my mental illness. I’ve never been ashamed to admit that I do have mental health problems and that I’ve sought help to make things easier for myself. I’ve been in a few bad places mentally during my life, which is why I’m happy that mental illness is becoming something more natural to talk about, especially for men, who are starting to realise that society is breaking the stigma pushed on them from a young age, in which they’re not allowed to cry because it demasculates them. Suicide is more common in men, and the suicide rate for males has increased significantly in recent years because they suffer in silence.

For me, lockdown has hindered my feelings towards myself and the world because, although I choose to be an introvert a lot more than I choose to be an extrovert, being forced to stay inside is another matter. It changes from having the option to be out, to not being allowed to be out even if you wanted to, which takes more of a toll.

As the weather gets warmer, we can only hope that we regain our summer and enjoy 2020 for the first time once we’re over the coronavirus.