Skip to main content
Should mental health be getting back to normal?
RUTH HUNT looks at the problems for those whose mental-health requirements were exacerbated by the pandemic — and as it comes to a close, whether there is a possibility of a better way forward, spearheaded by innovative approaches and a new sense of social solidarity
mental health

WITH the restrictions of lockdown ending, the government’s mantra often includes the phrase “getting back to normal.”

Apart from this being an obviously offensive statement for those whose normal everyday lives are isolated, there are other issues to consider about returning to life as it was before the pandemic.

For example, despite the suffering and loss of life, there has also been an evident sense of social solidarity. With this has been more awareness of inequality and the disparity between incomes.

Morning Star call for advertising
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
A woman showing signs of depression
Features / 14 October 2024
14 October 2024
PROFESSOR LINDA GASK spoke to Ruth Hunt from her home in Orkney about her new book, Out of Her Mind: How We Are Failing Women’s Mental Health and What Must Change
scablands
Fiction / 10 August 2023
10 August 2023
RUTH F HUNT recommends a collection of short stories that transform poverty into something that’s often tender and profound
mutual
Opinion / 8 March 2022
8 March 2022
Could the overstretched system for mental health service users be supplemented by day centres? RUTH HUNT considers the options
Police at the scene outside an address in Meadow Close in th
Features / 28 May 2021
28 May 2021
As concerns are being expressed about police involvement in drawing up and delivering mental health crisis plans, RUTH HUNT looks at the troubling facts