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Mental health costs of lockdown compliance still being felt, research shows | Bangor University
In an academic revelation that will shock nobody on the planet, it has been discovered that the the more you complied with the lockdown regulations, the more you are likely to have suffered from mental health problems
These results come from a study of the behaviour of around 1,700 people during the Covid restrictions in relation to their personality traits and their post-pandemic recovery led by Dr Marley Willegers, Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance (IPEP) at Bangor University in Wales.
He summed up his research by saying, “The more individuals complied with health advice during lockdown, the worse their wellbeing post-lockdown”.
The study’s prime purpose was to find out the mental health impacts of compliance with pandemic legislation and was supported by the Welsh Government (a government that put ‘keep out’ danger tapes over the bookshelves in supermarkets to stop people buying unnecessary contraband during the lockdown).
It asked three questions: who follows health advice, what can be done to improve compliance; and what are the costs for those who comply? Basically, what should the Government do next time in order to ensure greater compliance with their dictat?
It suggests when it comes to compliance there are two sorts of people, the agentic and communal, or more simply. Those who value their own agency or those who are characterised by nurturing and cooperative behaviours.
We have the Mars and Venus personalities being highlighted here, similar in approach to studies that show that those who are more empathic, more sympathetic, are likely to be liberals, just as those who are more intelligent are more likely to vote democratic [freedom] or in the case of the UK, to be pro Brexit.
Essentially those who believe in personal autonomy are perceived as stupid, uncaring and generally somewhat discreditable. Yet, yet this study shows us something that is of huge value.
By demanding agency over their lives, by resisting and ignoring Government pandemic advice they come out of the pandemic healthier, well at least mentally. Meanwhile those who did what they were told have been left anxious,
The authors of the study put it this way,
“Specifically, people with higher Communal traits are likely to still be suffering from the effects of the lockdown period for some time after restrictions end. Without guidance, these people are more likely to maintain the infection prevention behaviours recommended during lockdown, which may undermine their psychological recovery post-lockdown”.
Not only do they continue with the lockdown restrictions, but they are unable to recover from it without further governmental intervention.
The simple fact is that the government's deployment of fear, often knowing it to be based on falsehoods, increased compliance, but has had the effect of damaging those who supported them, rather than those who trust themselves and their own networks over those provided by the authorities.
Interviewed in the Guardian about the findings, Andy Bell of the Centre for Mental Health thinking tank commented,
“The finding that people who complied with pandemic restrictions are more likely to have poorer mental health three years on is deeply disturbing.
“The fear, loss and trauma created by the pandemic are having a lasting impact on many people’s mental health”.
But rather than criticising the Government for lying and creating faux fear to get its way, no, of course not, he finds a way to blame those who rejected the bullying tactics for the problems faced by the weak willed (but no doubt very intelligent).
“For some, this may have been exacerbated by the loss of social solidarity from seeing others not complying with the same restrictions.”
Another charity boss banged the same drum, that of the moral superiority of the compliant and now mentally compromised, Mark Winstanley, the chief executive of the charity Rethink Mental Illness,
“It’s important to recognise that those who took the greatest steps to protect themselves and others have seen an enduring impact on their mental health.”
The evidence tells us believing the Government is bad for your (mental) health. The experts basically say that it doesn’t matter, but more taxpayers money should be spent looking after their suffering allies.
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