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How has the coronavirus affected your mental health?

30 Comments

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The pandemic affected my mental health extremely well.

It became very clear that a twice-daily long commute was unnecessary.

That I could work more efficiently in the comfort of my own home.

That the hours of pointless meetings every week in the office were entirely dispensable, an option chosen by middle management with nothing better to do than create tasks for everyone else in order to "prove" to the board that they were contributing a single thing to the organisation.

And that I didn't need to waste any time making asinine chit-chat during my precious lunch break with people with whom I would not willingly spend a second were I not contractually obliged.

The pandemic has given me a sublime quantity of positive mental health benefits.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Not the disease but the moronic responses to it (overblown or inadequate ) have been insufferable.

The negligence in stopping the spread and the inability of the government to inform and cope with the virus, the mixed messages and lack of science based reporting.

The medical authorities in Japan refusing to treat patients and the local authorities piss poor fakery in relating facts and aid to the populace-a 5 minute telephone interview to collect information by local government doesn’t help anyone.

Appearing to do something whilst wasting huge sums of money?

Losing faith in humanity-cracks begin to appear!

The deaths ascribed to COVID in Japan are not statistically significant.The obfuscation and fear fanning by the media has had a deleterious effect on jobs, social relations, sleep patterns etc.

Yeh, I had an epiphany that raised my consciousness, noting well the above.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If they're so safe and effective, why are there so many breakthrough cases?

Why/how would breakthrough cases show they're not safe?

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

When it's out of clinical trials before being forcefully mandated on the public.

It's out of clinical trials, and not being forcefully mandated on the public. But you're saying it's experimental. Can you explain this discrepancy? And again, what conditions need to be met so that it will no longer be experimental? I want to know what I need to be waiting for before it's safe to take it. Can you please tell me?

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

The covid vaccine is experimental? How? And what would it take to make it not be experimental anymore?

When it's out of clinical trials before being forcefully mandated on the public. Oh, and when the companies making them, especially the mRNA ones, don't try to hide unfavourable clinical results with the help of a corrupt regulator.

If you want to be a guinea pig, go ahead.

Not me.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

unless I submit to an experimental medical treatment 

The covid vaccine is experimental? How? And what would it take to make it not be experimental anymore?

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

As with most posters above, the virus itself has not affected me at all, especially once I realized that for me it is less dangerous than the usual flu, and once I learned of the many things I can do to help my body fight off an infection.

But I found many things rather frustrating, such as the constant, exaggerated, one-sided, deceptive media coverage, as well as seeing how my tax yens were being wasted on ineffective and dangerous meds.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

unless I submit to an experimental medical treatment that isn't even particularly safe or effective. 

Covid vaccines are not experimental (never been considered as such in Japan) and according to the experts they are extremely safe and effective. If anything it is your personal idea that makes you feel unnecessary anxiety against them, in opposition to the evidence presented by health care experts around the world.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

The virus itself wasn't a problem, but the reaction to it by many people around me, and by governments and society at large, has has been pretty rough on my mental health. In one ways it has strengthened me against hardship as my income took a hit due to so much Japanese business slowing down, particularly tourism-related work I did.

The hardest part is not being able to visit family due to my home country's ongoing insane rules that make it extremely difficult and expensive to enter the country, unless I submit to an experimental medical treatment that isn't even particularly safe or effective. And the constant sight of almost everyone still wearing masks indoors and out has me deeply worried about the future of Japan, especially for the kids.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Covid caused many aging martial arts masters to close up shop for good. My teacher was one of them. I found other teachers but they constantly had to cancel training due to Spikes and SOEs. That has led to a slump of martial arts training for me which has led me to drink a lot more and be depressed.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Covid hasn't affected my mental health at all. Neither did the arrival of HIV. Perhaps the hamfisted, deceitful, hypocritical response to Covid, and the consequential acts of fraud, exploitation and manipulation may have done. Politicians used Covid to take down a globalised system that, whilst far from perfect, fed more people than any alternative, maintained a degree of peace and kept the economy functioning. Their replacement - nationalist economics - doesn't work and never has. It will cause millions of additional deaths from poverty, famine and war. It will end any chance we had of transitioning to a green economy and fending off climate change. We had the means to work together globally in an optimised manner to survive. That has gone. If I am angry for the rest of my life at what our politicians have done, and the lives, livelihoods and opportunities they have stolen to do it, it will be a justifiable anger - so maybe not a mental health problem. They have condemned our world to a terrible future in their desire to 'take back control' of their petty little borders, like gangsters protecting their turf, returning our struggling-but-viable global civilisation to dog-eat-dog tribalism.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

My wife has developed a cleanliness OCD, although she had it before.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The virus has not affected my mental health at all as as soon as I learned my chance of being hospitalised is likely 0.00005% I stopped caring.

It may have affected you by causing you to add zeros to numbers.

https://riskcalc.org/COVID19Hospitalization/

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Whilst I have been very frustrated with some of the restrictions - especially toward the latter stages of the pandemic when I felt most or all of them were no longer necessary - I can't say that my mental health has been adversely affected. I have had some wonderful times this last couple of years, not least the birth of my son, and although international travel has been out of the question, I have had some memorable domestic trips with my family.

I don't think I've been particularly fearful of the virus at all throughout the pandemic as even in the early stages, someone of my age and fitness would have been at very low risk. For me, the worst part of it all was the government reaction to it - not so much here, but also elsewhere - vaccine mandates (almost made me regret getting vaccinated myself!), lockdowns, border colosures, Australia, just watching the planet including the people running whole countries descend into a state a mass hysteria and the feeling of being absolutely powerless to do anything about it, not even allowed to say anything against it in polite society - that was and still is to a lesser extent, more scary than the virus itself by far.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

My wife and kids are home more and it drives me nuts.

Me and the FIL slip to the izakaya down the road, we are drinking more. A haze of booze solves anything.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Being exceedingly wealthy negates any financial problems brought on by the pandemic. The "lock down" or in Japan more of a "calm down" meant I spent less time in bars and restaurants, however, I still met friends socially. Almost all my family had covid but only relatively mild cases. So in my case, my mental health hasn't been affected at all.

I'm sure the answer will be very different for people whose livelihoods depended on the entertainment, dining or tourist industries. And also, obviously those who have lost loved ones.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

I assume the question is asking. Has the virus restriction affected your Mental Health.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The coronavirus has little or no effects to my mental health. It's the lunatic and paranoid people around that have some effects on my mental health, not to mention the irrational and impractical government measures that we have to follow here and there!

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

I already worked from home and live away from people in the countryside, so it didn't affect my lifestyle at first. However, my income took a big hit after the first year, and that's been a big concern. Tightening your belt takes a lot of fun out of life.

I must admit I'm getting sick of wearing a mask, hearing about Covid on the news, and my daughter being stuck in her little dorm room at college with the common rooms closed and trips and events downgraded or cancelled. I just want it over with now.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Greatly hurt my mental state... It utterly destroyed my industry, my company and jobs, which ultimately hit me hard. Specially since I've never been unemployed in my 20 something years of work life.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

The initial lockdowns definitely strained my mental heath a bit. I'm a homebody by nature but not being able to leave the house of my pwn volition took a toll. Also getting a bit fidgety from not being able to see family for over two years because they live on the other side of the world.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Not at all.

However the same cannot be said for other people as the media's incessant hysterical coverage of it seems to have broken their brains.

100% agree!

Additional to the media come all the so called and self nominated experts and internet Trolls, who spread nonstop, day in day out, their fear mongering BS.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

did not affected me at all,possible it have affected someone else...

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Just a little anxious because I really wanna see my family again. Except that, I guess I’m fine. I was never infected so I think that helps. I should consider myself lucky.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Please clarify. Are you asking how the virus, itself, has affected MH? Or are you asking how individual / collective governmental actions towards trying to deal with the virus, and the subsequent fallout, has affected MH?

8 ( +10 / -2 )

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