Lockdown: 5 lasting impacts upon mental well-being

I’ve been reflecting on how our world changed dramatically when Covid hit. There was a time B.C: Before Covid. That all changed on 23rd March 2020 with the first UK nationwide lockdown. In the grappling to manage living with the pandemic, society shifted and changed. And a lot has happened since. 

I wanted to reflect on the patterns I spot in my client work around the lasting impacts of the lockdowns on our mental health and well-being. These thoughts are based on my musings and anecdotal observations, scattered with some facts and figures to underpin my thoughts. 

When I reflect on themes I spot in terms of the lasting impact of lockdown on well-being, five things come to mind. I see the following five areas as ways that the pandemic continues to impact our mental health and well-being:

1. Increased loneliness.
2. Existential angst.
3. Decreased trust in authority.
4. Economic uncertainty. 
5. Increasing openness around mental health. 

Let’s unpack each one of these five lasting impacts of COVID-19 in more detail:

1.    Increased loneliness

Lockdown forced us to isolate from friends, family and others in our neighbourhood. I remember when an hour’s walk outside was the highlight of the day – a chance to peek beyond the four walls of home and connect (albeit at a distance) with others. During the lockdown months, for many people, particularly older people and people advised to shield, isolation and loneliness became common (The British Academy, 2021).

And yet, despite lockdowns being in our rear-view mirror now, we’re still impacted by isolation and loneliness as a nation. Interestingly, ONS research has been tracking people’s responses in the UK to the question: “How often do you feel lonely?” for some time. When we look at the data, there was a sharp increase during the first pandemic in the number of adults in the UK reporting they felt lonely. That’s understandable – isolation was being imposed on us.

However, there’s been an overall upward trend in the number of UK adults reporting they feel lonely “often, always, or some of the time”. In the first two weeks of the initial lockdown in 2020, 23% of people reported feeling lonely. During 2024, the average percentage of UK adults who reported feeling lonely was over 26% according to the ONS data. In other words, we’ve become lonelier since the end of the lockdowns than during them.

The data shows a clear trend towards increasing loneliness. And that is backed up by my anecdotal experience of listening to others in the therapy room. I’ve learnt not to be shocked when I hear of university students who don’t know the names of everyone they live in shared accommodation with. I’ve increased my sense of empathy towards the clients who work from home all week and then head out to their therapy appointment – where their connection with me ranks alongside the weekly supermarket trip as their only social contact. I’m not able to be clear on the reasons for this increasing isolation – but I do see it. I suspect that our moves towards all things online have a role to play. This is just one of the reasons that I prefer to see clients for face-to-face counselling and psychotherapy whenever I get the chance. Yes, online is convenient and accessible, but I wouldn’t want it to replace that human-to-human in-person contact which is vital for our well-being (Stieger, et al., 2023; Newson et al., 2024).  

2.    Existential angst

The pandemic brought us face-to-face with the uncomfortable truth that there is nothing certain in life, other than death. We were forced out of any comfortable denial we’d found ourselves in around life’s uncertainty or our fallibility and mortality. COVID-19 rudely imposed on us an acute consciousness of our transient existence. For me, this existential angst was aroused by a family member’s rapid decline and death from COVID-19 – days after they’d previously been fit and well and celebrating (virtually) with loved ones their milestone birthday. There was no getting away from the fleeting nature of life, or how expeditious this disease was. 

In my client work, I’ve heard tragic and painful accounts of the pain of being denied this human contact as loved ones died. This is a theme identified through the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and the subsequent publication of 'Every Story Matters' Healthcare Record: 

“Many bereaved families and friends faced significant challenges in supporting their loved ones at the end of life. Restrictions on visits meant many were unable to be present with their loved ones. Families and friends highlighted several challenges with end-of-life care, including reduced quality care and a lack of clear communication and transparency about end-of-life decisions, leaving some bereaved individuals with lasting feelings of guilt and difficulty in processing their loss”. 

During the global pandemic, nearly 200,000 people in the UK faced the loss of someone they knew, on top of the usual 600,000 annual deaths from other causes. These deaths were the source of significant amounts of trauma as loved ones faced the terrible prospect of being denied contact with their loved one, or with other family members and friends at their funeral.  Physical comfort in bereavement was limited.

Existential philosophy informs my practice as an integrative psychotherapist. One of the themes of existential philosophy is the prizing of our human freedom to determine our life and our future. Sure, unlimited freedom and possibility can cause angst. However, it seems to me there is another angst we’re facing, with the pandemic seemingly stealing choice, freedom and opportunity.

The economic challenges that are the legacy of the global pandemic mean that many people I meet – particularly younger young adults – question the meaning and purpose of their lives. Will there be any choice for them in the job market, or will they be forced into a seemingly meaningless role to earn enough to pay the rent? What say will they have over the direction of their future? As we returned to a “new normal”, we could no longer live in denial of the limitations that now frame our everyday life. 

3. Decreased trust in authority

A third theme as a lasting impact of the pandemic on well-being is a decline in the trust many people have in authority. 2021 saw the publication of a report by the British Academy on the long‐term societal impacts of Covid‐19. That report highlighted that the pandemic had resulted in unstable levels of trust in governance and a decline in feelings of national unity. The report noted that “declining trust is a major challenge that needs to be addressed because it undermines the ability to mobilise public behaviour for wider social and health benefits”. 

Since then, a report from the National Centre for Social Research has shown how much trust has been eroded since the first lockdown. A record high of 45% of those interviewed now say they ‘almost never’ trust governments of any party to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own political party. In contrast, this figure was just 23% of people in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

It would be difficult not to attribute at least some of this reduction in trust to the role Boris Johnson played in the pandemic. The Parliamentary Privileges Committee's investigation into whether Johnson knowingly misled Parliament was published in June 2023. This report concluded Johnson was guilty of deliberately misleading Parliament and further contempt of Parliament after he lied about the Downing Street parties held during the lockdown. 

When we don't feel like we can safely rely on institutions or figures in power, it creates uncertainty and vulnerability. Building trust is at the heart of my psychotherapy work and I know how important it is to feel that you have a “safe harbour”, or reliable and solid base. To feel “all at sea” is terrifying and anxiety-inducing. When people grow up in families where they can’t trust those who care for them to keep them safe, it often has a lasting impact. 

For me, one of the most difficult things to swallow down about the role Johnson played in the pandemic was a “throw-away” comment he made in 2020 via a handwritten note in which he referred to long Covid as "bollocks". I know from my work with people with chronic and enduring hidden disabilities, being believed matters. Being dismissed feels like a terrible rejection. Those in power have a long way to go to regain the trust of the UK public. 

4. Economic uncertainty

We’ve already touched upon the economic challenges that are the legacy of the global pandemic. Brexit, climate uncertainty geopolitical tensions also play a role in the increasing costs of living and employment security.

In the March 2021 budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, warned: “It's going to take this country a long time to recover from this extraordinary economic situation”, and it’s hard to disagree with that prediction. 

What interests me is the impact this has on people’s well-being and mental health. Worrying, research by King’s College London showed three in five people reported a negative impact on their mental health from the cost-of-living crisis (Lawson, et al., 2023). Almost a quarter of people reported problems sleeping because of worries about rising costs. This report showed that the burden upon mental health and well-being was felt more acutely by some groups, with young people, those who are unable to work and parents with existing mental health needs experiencing the most severe impact on their mental health from the cost-of-living crisis.  

Financial worries and economic uncertainty have an impact on our well-being and mental health, triggering stress, anxiety, and depression (Marazziti et al., 2021). It’s hard to make decisions when we’re paralysed by fear. I sense that it is not just a struggle to make ends meet that contributes to this but also the role uncertainty plays – it’s hard to predict reliably what’s going to happen with the economy at the best of times. The pandemic has revealed in many ways that any sense of certainty we think we may have is an illusion, and that applies to finances.  

5. Increasing openness around mental health

The final lasting impact of lockdown on well-being that I observe seems, to me, to be a positive. In recent years, there has been a reduction in the stigma associated with mental health and a growing openness to talking about our mental well-being. In 2021, research conducted by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) found that 90% of people in the UK think mental health has a higher public profile than five years ago. Likewise, 83% of people think it’s more socially acceptable to discuss mental health than five years ago, and 69% of people are more aware of mental health issues themselves than five years ago.

Research conducted in 2024 and published to mark Time to Talk Day showed that 49% of people felt comfortable speaking in some way about their mental health, whereas, in 2014, only 29% of people would have been comfortable enough to speak up. I see it, too, in my client work – with more and more clients being emotionally literate and having a sound understanding of psychological concepts and theory. 

Perhaps the pandemic forced us to be more open about our mental well-being – many people struggled with the isolation and uncertainty COVID-19 brought. And there is still a very long way to go until the resources available meet needs in terms of mental health support. But I believe that a greater openness around speaking about how we feel, and what we’re struggling with is a positive step for better mental health as a nation.  

I hope that now can be a time to reflect and take stock of the experience of lockdown, how society has changed, and how we’ve been impacted. I’ve been putting this blog together over the past month, and this process has given me plenty of food for thought about my own experience. I’ve found this looking back to be a helpful way to make more meaning of the experience. 

I wish you an opportunity to reflect on your own experience during and beyond lockdown and get what you need from that contemplation Counselling can be a really helpful form of professional support in reflecting upon, processing and working through your own experience of the pandemic and the lockdowns.   

References: 

• BACP (2021). Attitudes to mental health are changing, our research finds.
• Lawson, G., Haggar, T., Hewlett, K., Hall, S., Piggott, H., Hesketh, R., Regan, Z., Wojciechowska, M., Dacombe, R., & Morgan, C. (2023). Experiencing the cost-of-living crisis:​ the impact on mental health​. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-15
• Marazziti, D., Avella, M. T., Mucci, N., Della Vecchia, A., Ivaldi, T., Palermo, S., & Mucci, F. (2021). Impact of economic crisis on mental health: a 10-year challenge. CNS Spectrums, 26(1), 7–13. 10.1017/s1092852920000140
• National Centre for Social Research (2024). British Social Attitudes (BSA) report. 
• Newson, M., Zhao, Y., Zein, M. E., Sulik, J., Dezecache, G., Deroy, O., & Tunçgenç, B. (2024). Digital contact does not promote well-being, but face-to-face contact does: A cross-national survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. New Media & Society, 26(1), 426-449. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211062164
• Stieger, S., Lewetz, D., & Willinger, D. (2023). Face-to-face more important than digital communication for mental health during the pandemic. Scientific reports, 13(1), 8022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34957-4
• The British Academy. (2021). The COVID Decade: Understanding the long‐term societal impacts of COVID‐19.
• Time to Talk (2024): https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/uk-hiding-behind-a-brave-face-to-avoid-speaking-about-mental-health/