International Burch University

Faculty Of Education and Humanities

Department Of English Language and Literature

Writing an op-ed

A story about how COVID-19 lockdown has affected the mental

health of many

Alma Dogan

Mentor
Elma Dedović-Atilla

Ever since March of 2020, people all around the world have been introduced to a ravaging virus
known as COVID- 19. A virus, whose origin is so speculated that it became a conspiracy,
attacks the healthy cells in your body, especially focusing on lungs. Many people have gotten
infected, a lot of them even succumbed to the disease. This is not one of those diseases that
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only affects people on the other side of the world, this virus surrounds us, and we don't have the
luxury to be ignorant about it.

The danger and fear of COVID-19 made governments around the world set up multiple
lockdowns. A lockdown is something that some generations never had to go through, so
understandably, it wasn't easy on them. Lockdowns differed from country to country – some had
24 hour lockdowns, some just restricted movements and brought down the contact between
people to a minimum. In any case, it meant that people were going to be spending a lot of time
indoors, trapped in their own homes, without any contact with the outside world. It goes without
saying that lockdown, also known as quarantine, made a lot of people angry, sad and tired. A
quote from “The Hearing Journal” article on this topic, says: “The fear of contracting the virus,
food insecurity, permanent and temporary layoff, relationship struggles, loneliness, boredom,
and lifestyle changes (e.g., working from home, homeschooling) have had an enormous impact
on the psychosocial and economic well-being of the general population.“
It is scientifically proven that depression, substance use, suicidal thoughts and stress levels
have gone increasingly higher. Not going out and not seeing your friends might seem as a 'first
world problem' to some but in reality it takes a huge toll on your mental health. Imagine all the
fear, stress and a feeling of impending doom a worldwide pandemic brings, and you're unable to
talk to your friends, take a walk or do anything that might relieve those feelings. Of course it is
going to end up badly for your health.
A quote from a Guardian article says: „While the fear of catching the virus was likely key to
those with underlying health conditions, young people and women may have felt more distress
through work insecurity, loneliness and more domestic violence.“ Often when we think about the
consequences of COVID, we look over a lot of problems, they just fly over our heads. One of
those problems is domestic violence. As the article says, lack of work and domestic violence
also play a huge role in worsening people's mental balance. Imagine being locked up in your
home along with your abuser, unable to get out or get consoled by a friend. This, as you can
imagine, can worsen and perhaps fatally influence one and their mental health.

In my opinion, governments need to find a better way of protecting their people, other than
locking them up. Rules need to exist and need to be followed but mental health can not and
should not suffer. I think that the mental consequences COVID is going to leave people with, will
be more difficult to cure, than those physical ones.Generations of people will be left with scars
from a battle against an invisible enemy. If your troubles ever become too overbearing and you
start to lose your footing, don't be ashamed to contact professional help. Mental health hotlines
are available to those in need 24/7 .

Bibliography:

The Hearing Journal article:

https://journals.lww.com/thehearingjournal/fulltext/2021/03000/impact_of_covid_19_pandemic_o
n_mental_health_and.10.aspx

The Guardian article:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/16/stress-anxiety-and-depression-levels-soar-
under-uk-covid-19-restrictions

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