The world is returning to a sense of normality with the imminent lifting of restrictions. As Boris Johnson says, ‘We need to live with Covid’. The lifestyles and mental health of many have been compromised, not least the economy. New freedoms are vital for optimal lives and livelihoods.
The fact is we ALL need to live as safely and as freely as possible while the virus continues to hover like a potent miasma.
A group who have suffered a vastly disproportionate amount of stress throughout the pandemic are Clinically Vulnerable Families. Their high levels of stress will rise exponentially as the morning of freedom day dawns.
The mental health needs of this group are currently in danger of being buried completely under a growing mountain of discarded masks. Their mental health needs are in threat of been overlooked negatively affecting their learning, life chances and liberties.
Amid a growing rhetoric about opening up about mental health and liberties, this must be addressed.
In our treatment clinics throughout the pandemic, many children in this group have been referred with severe anxiety. Some were refusing to go to school and others on the brink of school refusal. These children were expressing feelings of terror about bringing home the virus from school or the shops, etc. and infecting vulnerable parents or themselves. There has been a rhetoric of real fear about losing a vulnerable but functional and loved parent to Covid.
The fear of losing a primary caregiver and the sense of powerlessness that living with the situation brings has caused turmoil in many young minds. Locked up with this fear, these children have in many cases internalised their deepest thoughts. Over time the bottling of these emotions has resulted in anxiety spikes, depression and in some cases self-harm and suicide attempts.
Many of these children are also young carers shouldering a disproportionate level of responsibility in their young lives. In most cases the very last thing they will do is burden a parent with their fears.
During the last two years, we could help providing child focussed CBT. Looking at the safeguards that were in place could and did offer some much needed comfort to them. Safeguards such as masks, free LFT’s, PCR tests and the parent’s ability to work from home helped reframe their fears. We could work with these children to gain an accurate appraisal of risk and shift their negative thinking to a more helpful process of coping better.
With the imminent lifting of all restrictions, we have very few tools to help these children through their very real fears. To provide false security is nothing more than gaslighting. Being told “Covid is over and let’s move on” as was the experience of one 10 year old patient in the clinic is deeply traumatic.
These vulnerable parents and children are facing an increased risk with the lifting of restrictions and no amount of CBT will alter their real and proportionate fears. The offering of a continued booster vaccine is little comfort to those who medical status has in many cases led to a poor antibody response after one, two, three or even 4 vaccines. These families fears must be heard and addressed. We need to be able to bring down their adrenaline levels by allowing them to wear masks in school if they choose. They must have access to free LFT’s and PCR’s. Many are in receipt of Universal Credit and PIP and could not afford to pay for a necessary test. It is appropriate to press for Hepa Filters in some public places and to accommodate the clinically vulnerable in sensible work placed adaptions.
Sensible precautions, adaptions and compassion will allow us to stem a tidal wave of potential long term mental health problems and learned helplessness in this group. It will ensure increased freedom and access to lives and livelihood for ALL. Let’s do more than talk about mental health.
Written by
Dr Chrissie Tizzard Chartered Consultant Psychologist and Chartered Scientist
Clinical Director CTP and Lighthouse IRL. www.ctpsy.co.uk