The lockdowns during the #COVID-19 #pandemic had a significant effect on levels of #suicidalideation, a new study finds. The research, published in De Gruyter's Open Medicine, was conducted in a Serbian psychiatric clinic shortly after a nationwide lockdown.

For people with serious #mentalillness, the #COVID-19 #pandemic was particularly challenging. During lockdown, loss of social contacts and employment, economic worries, fear of illness, feelings of #isolation and reduced access to psychiatric treatment all acted as stressors that could exacerbate a #mentalillness or even prompt such illness in previously healthy individuals.

To study the effect of lockdowns on serious #mentalillness and one of its most serious consequences, #suicide, lead author Suzana Tosic Golubovic of the University of Nis in Serbia and colleagues examined #patient records in a psychiatric clinic in Serbia and asked #patients about their experience of the #pandemic.

The researchers investigated #patients who were admitted to the clinic between May and August 2020, which was just after Serbia had come out of a lockdown. They then compared these #patients with #patients who were admitted during the same months in 2018 and 2019.

#Suicidalideation, which involves someone thinking about or wishing for their own death, was significantly increased in the 2020 post-lockdown #patients compared with the 2018 and 2019 #patients. #Suicideattempts also increased in the 2020 #patients, although this trend was not statistically significant.

The 2020 #patients also showed higher levels of adjustment disorder, in which #patients have a hard time adjusting to a stressful situation or event in their life. #Patients who had attempted #suicide in 2020 were more likely to be exposed to information about the #pandemic on #socialmedia and were more likely to present with adjustment disorder and major depressive disorder. Strikingly, 60% of the #patients who had attempted #suicide in 2020 had never received psychiatric treatment before, which was a significantly higher proportion than in the #patients who attempted #suicide in 2019.

The results show the serious impact that lockdown had on vulnerable #patients, and highlight the need to provide protections for such #patients if lockdowns are required in the future.

"#Suicideprevention in the #COVID-19 era is an important and difficult issue," the authors stated. "Further research studies are needed to find out how #mentalhealthconsequences can be mitigated during and after the #COVID-19 #pandemic."

#James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleOrder your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife:From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy
https://standingabovethecrowd.com/2023/03/jamesdonaldson-on-mentalhealth-suicidalideation-may-have-increased-significantly-during-covid-19-lockdown/