On 6 August, Medical News Today reported on a new U.K. study showing significant mental health deterioration as a result of the coronavirus lockdowns. The study, conducted by two leading psychologists at the University of Bath, stated in its introduction/abstract: “Sampling over a 10-day period in the early ‘lockdown’ phase of the pandemic showed around a quarter of participants demonstrated significantly elevated anxiety and depression, with 14.8% reaching clinical cutoff for health anxiety.”
The devastating mental health effects of lockdown impositions have been predicted since the early months of the coronavirus spread. The Medical News Today article cites a report on 15 April, published in the highly regarded medical journal The Lancet, “The team concluded that a significant negative effect is an expected consequence of the various lockdowns that governments have implemented around the world.”
The mental health crisis caused by harsh government-imposed lockdowns are summed up by the lead author of the University of Bath study, Dr. Hannah Rettie: “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused global uncertainty, which has had a direct, detrimental effect on so many people across the U.K. and around the world. People have been unsure when they would see relatives again, job security has been rocked, there is an increased threat to many people’s health, and government guidance is continuously changing, leading to much uncertainty and anxiety.”
On 9 April, the World Economic Forum published an article by Dr. Elke van Hoof, a renowned clinical psychologist and leading expert for the European Parliament. The article was titled, “Lockdown is the world’s biggest psychological experiment – and we will pay the price.” Dr. van Hoof noted three main points:
- “With some 2.6 billion people around the world in some kind of lockdown, we are conducting arguably the largest psychological experiment ever.
- This will result in a secondary epidemic of burnouts and stress-related absenteeism in the latter half of 2020.
- Taking action now can mitigate the toxic effects of COVID-19 lockdowns.”
TRENDPOST: When the COVID War began, we had noted that just as with all other wars started by politicians, the implications are ignored and exit strategies do not exist. The long-lasting effects the COVID War, as with all the other wars launched by them, will be devastating to billions of people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed.