The Guardian reports on the hardships parents face in finding adequate and useful assistance for their children struggling with mental illnesses, strengthened by the unfortunate circumstances due to COVID-19.
The ongoing global pandemic and the quarantine accompanying the restrictive measures have posed several challenges to everyday people and often severe side effects have occurred in cases of children and young adults, including mental health issues such as depression and suicidal behavior. In an average, pre-COVID world, the National Health Service (NHS) offers assistance to those struggling with mental health issues, children included. Nonetheless, now the response ratio of the NHS is extremely slow meaning that after an initial phone assessment and a prescription for antidepressants a six-month waiting period was ahead of the family before the necessary therapy became available.
While the number of cases including self-harm and prescriptions for sleeping pills have increased greatly, the services assigned to help with mental health problems have been reduced. In cases like this timing is crucial and the delay in providing the necessary, and in recent cases, adequate assistance can have shocking circumstances. With more time spent locked up, the number of children with eating disorders and other issues with food has grown greatly. Moreover, anxiety disorder over academic achievements and performance has also occurred and even in the case of young adults without any problems prior to the lockdown. The newly appearing cases call for a constant demand counselling, however, schools face financial issues with providing counselling.
All in all, the general perception of the NHS and mental health services does not seem to live to the expectation of people. Instead of providing relief, the lack of effectiveness resulted in an increased level of stress and feeling of helplessness to families.