Resilience is Getting People Through the Pandemic But Government Must Do More to Avoid a Mental Health Crisis.

Results of a survey carried out for the Mental Health Foundation and published to coincide with World Mental Health Day show how Britons have been coping with the pandemic.

 

Resilience, the ability to cope with stressful situations was cited by 64% of the people questioned as what helped them get through lockdown. A significant number of respondents reported experiencing some level of stress since the pandemic began.

 

Our of these 87% said they had used at least one coping strategy , these ranged from positive activities like going for a walk or spending time in nature, some respondents though said they had used less healthy ones such as eating or drinking too much.

 

The survey found that respondents who were unemployed or on low incomes were less likely to say they were coping well than those in full time work. People with pre-existing mental health conditions also reported struggling to cope.

 

The Mental Health Foundation has worked with the universities of Cambridge, Swansea, and Strathclyde along with Queen's University in Belfast to create a longitudinal survey covering the whole UK.

 

This is the third publication of findings from the study and focused on the theme of good mental health for all. The data was collected through an online YouGov survey and focus groups were used to further explore the findings.

 

Previous publications of results from the survey have highlighted the number of people who feared losing their job but to the pandemic (May) and how lockdown has exacerbated existing problems with loneliness for the over 60's (July).

 

Although resilience has helped many people to cope with the pandemic so far it is becoming ever clearer that there is a long way to go yet. That makes it even more important that local and national government act.

 

The Mental Health Foundation have put forward a range of suggestions for what form that action should take.

 

These include the creation of a Covid-19 Mental Health Response and Wellbeing Recovery Plan that would operates across all areas of government. The newly created National Institute for Health Protection, they suggest, should incorporate an awareness of its impact on mental health into their work on communicable diseases.

 

The report calls for cuts to council public health budgets made during the austerity years to be reversed. Local authorities, the report says should develop safe places for social interaction using existing assets such as libraries, this would be supported using a designated funding stream from central government.

 

Since March, the pandemic has placed a heavy burden in lost lives and livelihoods on the UK. Many people have been able to cope in the short term with the hardships they have faced, this report suggests that long term damage to our national mental health can only be avoided by acting now.