Research from Curtin University in Western Australia has unveiled that lockdown loneliness, and its negative health outcomes, has cost the country $1,565 AUD per socially isolated person.
There was a large increase in the number of people experiencing psychosis over the past two years of lockdowns and social isolation in England, matching an increase in anxiety and depression around the world.
As the mental health crisis deepens and patients struggle to access face-to-face GP appointments, more than 300 people a day are attending A&E departments complaining of depression.
There has been a more than 50% increase in the number of children going to A&E with serious mental health problems since the beginning of lockdowns and almost 30,000 are being prescribed antidepressants each month.
The provisional rate of suicides for 2020 is lower than that of 2019 – but this may be due to delays to coroner inquests caused by Covid and lockdowns, meaning the real figure could be much higher, according to the ONS.
The loss of in-person treatments has made mental health patients feel they "were missing out on care" over the past year of lockdowns, according to new research. For some patients, video calls made matters worse.
England is "in the grip of a mental health crisis" because of lockdowns, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists – and under-18s are "bearing the brunt".
Psychiatrists at Cambridge University have drawn attention to the impact of lockdown on young people. They demand urgent action "to ensure that this generation is not disproportionately disadvantaged by Covid".
Can we trust the Government ever again? Lockdown Sceptics regular Jonny Peppiatt asks whether the people's damaged relationship with the political class can ever be restored, given what's happened over the past 12 months.
