Study Claims The Mental-Health Crisis During The Pandemic Was Minimal, People Share The Most Unhinged Things They Did In Response (50 Tweets)

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented time in history. Never before had the world been forced to shut down on such a global scale, requiring education, jobs and countless other events to turn to digital alternatives. Companies were rapidly closing while millions worldwide were dealing with devastating health issues and the loss of loved ones, meanwhile, the rest of us were just trying to figure out how to avoid getting sick. We were faced with an interesting concoction of fear and boredom all at once, and many of us found bizarre ways to channel our energy and anxiety. Thus, we began making some questionable decisions.

As you’ll see on this list, we all found unique ways to cope with the stress of the pandemic. I, for one, began reading a lot at first, but later found myself dying my hair purple and teal and taking three hour long walks per day, just to get out of the house. I became way too invested in the 90 Day Fiancé cinematic universe, and I started experimenting with the most interesting recipes I could find. I simultaneously had way more energy than I knew what to do with and couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed for hours at a time each day. It was an extremely weird time to live through, so it’s understandable for people to have faced more mental health issues than usual during that period. 

However, this study that the BBC recently tweeted promotes the idea that we somehow managed to emerge from the pandemic unscathed, with little to no impact on our mental health. Forget the fact that we were all frantically baking banana bread and sourdough bread at all hours of the night, right? Let’s just ignore how obsessed we all were with Tiger King, too. In Philippa Roxby’s article for the BBC discussing this controversial study, she does acknowledge the fact that, “Other studies suggest the pandemic increased mental distress for particular groups, such as children, young people and parents in poverty.”

So it is a bit misleading to boldly claim that the pandemic had minimal impact on the mental health crisis. Roxby goes on to note that those who were most negatively affected by the pandemic were people who had previously struggled with their mental health, but there are other studies that suggest the pandemic may have been a catalyst for some people’s struggles. An online NHS survey found that, “As many as one in six seven-16-year-olds and one in four 17-19-year-olds in England had a probable mental disorder in 2022,” Roxby writes. The number of children in contact with mental-health services also increased by almost 30% between 2020-21 and 2021-22. And in another 2021 survey by Mind, mental-health charity, about one third of adults and young people reported their mental health had significantly declined since March 2020.

While it would be great to believe that we were emotionally prepared to face a global pandemic, along with the high unemployment rates and the looming threat of contracting a deadly virus that accompanied, sources outside of this controversial study in question report contradictory results. For example, the World Health Organization explains on their site that, “Plenty of us became more anxious; but for some COVID-19 has sparked or amplified much more serious mental health problems. A great number of people have reported psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress. And there have been worrying signs of more widespread suicidal thoughts and behaviors, including among health care workers.”

What issues impacted individuals the most from the pandemic depended on various factors, including age, gender and economic status. “Faced with extended school and university closures young people have been left vulnerable to social isolation and disconnectedness which can fuel feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and loneliness and lead to affective and behavioral problems,” WHO reports on their site. “For some children and adolescents being made to stay at home may have increased the risk of family stress or abuse, which are risk factors for mental health problems. Women have similarly faced greater stress in homes, with one rapid assessment reporting that 45% of women had experienced some form of violence, either directly or indirectly during the first year of the pandemic.”

Fear and panic were certainly factors that contributed to the decline of many people’s mental health during the pandemic as well. “I have many friends who had relapses in their mental health because of the increased levels of fear and panic,” Esenam Abra Drah, a woman from Ghana who lives with bipolar disorder, told WHO. “It was almost as if fear was contagious.” 

“I myself did not go to the clinic for therapy for an entire year partly because of this fear,” she continued. “I have been privileged to have a good system of support. My pensioner parents managed to make sure my medications were always refilled. But it is not the same for others. Some people could not afford treatment. It was and still is a very difficult time for a lot of people.”  

Many of us were even compelled to make some questionable purchases during the pandemic. So many of us, in fact, that The New York Times even published an article detailing all of the strangest pandemic panic purchases their staff members made. Some highlights from the list are “one tiny rainbow-unicorn pool,” “one handheld travel bidet,” “three webcams,” “five head-to-toe pink outfits,” and “three 12-pound bags of soy curls.” Allen Tingley, an engineering manager, shared with The New York Times, “I will never forget awkwardly walk-sprinting to the nearly empty pallet of Clorox bleach on the floor of the Costco to grab 3 gallons for myself. Why? I don’t know. I couldn’t find anything I needed, so maybe I needed bleach. Now I get to cart it around with me from house to house for the rest of my life, I guess? Is this what Coleridge was talking about?”