Covid-19 has caused many issues not just in the UK but globally, shutting down things like small businesses all the way up to countries to try to prevent the spread of the virus. With everything shutting down many other effects have come into play for people, less access to support networks, less time with friends, and it’s harder to see a doctor for medical assistance, all these things negatively affect a person’s mental health. The general consensus with the pandemic is that overall everyone has struggled more with their mental health.
BAME men have shown a drastic increase in mental health issues compared to their white counterparts, with GHQ-12 scores being on average two points higher than pre Covid times while white men GHQ-12 scores only go up an average of less than one point, a very noticeable difference.
Both BAME and white women have shown a similar increase in mental health issues during the pandemic. Both groups’ scores jumped up by nearly two points. Both BAME and white women seem to be at similar risks of developing mental health issues, with BAME women just that little bit more at risk than white women.
There doesn’t seem to be much research available on the effects Covid-19 has on young people but the little bit I could find states that of all age groups young people were the most affected by mental illnesses and other mental health issues during the lockdowns.
To help people deal with mental health issues during and after the lockdown GAIN worked with other organisations to provide a training course and an awareness course. The awareness course offered was a half day course to bring awareness to mental health issues, fight the stigma of mental health and provide resources for people to use if they need help. The training course is a two day, more in depth option, that covers how to help people with the most common mental health issues as well and where to recommend them for help if needed, as well as fighting the stigma around mental health and helping open up conversations otherwise ignored or buried by communities so as many people as possible can get the help they need or want. Both courses were held online and promoted health conversations and offered a lot of support to those attending.
Sources- Proto, E., & Quintana-Domeque, C. (2021). Average GHQ-12 before and during the pandemic [Image]. Retrieved 14 July 2021, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=large&id=10.1371/journal.pone.0244419.g001.