Mental illness will be fallout from Covid, says psychiatrist

Daily Telegraph Reporters

A RISE in mental illness is “inevitable” as a result of coronavirus, the new president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned. In his first interview since taking up his post, Dr Adrian James said there would be “multiple layers” to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, both for people with pre-existing mental health conditions and those who had never suffered before. He said NHS front-line staff needed support, while those recovering from Covid-19 should be screened for issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

And he warned that waiting lists for treatment would now rise substantially, including for young children and older people. “There will be very significant mental illness consequences of Covid, and we need to be ready.”

Dr James said the pandemic had exacerbated problems for some people with pre-existing conditions, including anxiety and depression, but as the country went into lockdown, fewer had sought help due to fears over catching the virus. Demand had now begun to rise again, which would stretch services, he said. “A lot of need was sort of suppressed,” he said. “There’s the people who should have been receiving treatment who didn’t receive treatment, and their conditions will worsen and their need will be even greater. You’ve also got the people who through Covid are developing mental illness,” he said.

“Some people have been very directly affected, people who have been on a ventilator, the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder are very significantly higher. And of course, grief within Covid has been very much more complex because people sometimes weren’t able to provide any support to each other. People were told that somebody was going to die within 24 hours. On some occasions, they actually got to see their loved ones, but on other occasions they did not.”

Dr James said the virus itself appeared to affect the nervous system, with reports of psychosis in people with no prior history of the illness, and others suffering a dementia-like syndrome. ♦ One fifth of Britons have contemplated self-harming during lockdown, according to research by University College London. UCL surveyed 40,000 people, 18 per cent of whom reported thoughts of self-harm or suicide. The survey was self-selecting and promoted by a number of mental health organisations indicating that respondents may have accessed mental health supports previously. The impact of the coronavirus crisis has been mentioned in at least 11 recent inquests for those who died by suspected suicide.