‘Island has avoided a mental health pandemic’

While a third lockdown is looking unlikely, the first two lockdowns and the uncertainty of the last 18 months has created problems. States of Guernsey consultant psychiatrist Dr Dominic Bishop said Guernsey coped well with the first lockdown, but the second lockdown was more difficult, with the #GuernseyTogether spirit abating.

‘People are stressed, they’re exhausted, they’re experiencing compassion fatigue and there also appears to be a tendency toward mistrust towards the team that have actually supported us through this pandemic,’ he said at yesterday’s Covid press conference.

‘And that’s despite the fact that actually, if we think about our facts and figures, we’re doing better than pretty much anywhere within the surrounding jurisdictions and Europe itself.’

He said most islanders had been negatively impacted by the last 18 months, but people had reacted differently.

‘Some have struggled with lockdown and isolation and others have found these period really containing, but then conversely have really struggled with easing.

‘We have seen an increase in mental health referrals and those who are presenting to the service are often more severely ill than we normally see. Also of concern is many of them are first presenters and they’re from demographics that we don’t normally see first presenters of illness. However, this not to the level of mental health pandemic.’

Self-isolation caused some big problems, with Dr Bishop saying it was difficult for some.

‘We’ve even had a couple of people admitted to hospital directly from isolation who have had complete breakdowns, so we really do appreciate how difficult that is,’ he said.

He noted that there had been predictions that Covid-19 would cause a ‘mental health pandemic’, but said local services had not been overwhelmed.

‘This truly and genuinely has not been the case in Guernsey or beyond,’ he said.

‘I think people are burnt out. Our staff are also sadly receiving quite a lot of abuse from members of the public and that’s even those in the Covid response teams, who were so revered in the initial stages. This is not normal behaviour from our community and wasn’t seen earlier on. These are the indirect affects of Covid.’

He said it was so important for the community to get back to normal.

‘We cannot continue to isolate ourselves from the world, though it might seem safe and contained and remove some negatives, it also removes all the positives and it’s positives that make our life worth living.’

Social media has fuelled some fears, with calls for testing at the borders and protection for staff from positive cases attracting dozens of comments.

‘Social media, I believe, can be a force for good,’ Dr Bishop said. ‘But I don’t see this to be the case at the current time. I encourage people to have safe, face-to-face contact with people who you care about. Do not recede into an online world of angry opinions and abuse.’