The hidden costs of Covid

We do not know what the long-term impact of coronavirus will be on mental health. We are still not through the pandemic, for one thing, which means that many people who have found the experience of lockdown, of losing their livelihood, or of losing loved ones traumatic, have not yet had the chance to process what has happened.

People often don’t process a trauma until they feel safe again, and it’s not yet clear when that will be: we still don’t have an effective vaccine for Covid-19 and Britain’s economy is in recession, with heavy job losses on the way. It could be that in time there is an escalation of trauma-related mental illness linked to the wider social impact of coronavirus. Far from life returning to some kind of normality coming as a relief, it could be the start of a much darker time for many minds.

Then there are the direct effects of the virus itself on mental health.