UK's former military veteran went from suicidal despair to half-marathons
Although the country is set to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, it has a long way to go and reverse the mental health crisis that has worsened during the pandemic.
In the Welsh borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), surrounded by mountains and valleys where the rivers Dare and Cynon combine, Darren Thomas has just returned from a twelve-mile run. Ten months ago, Thomas, in his mid-forties was on the verge of ending his life.
As a father of four and a former military veteran in the British Army’s reconnaissance unit, Thomas’s anxiety and depression had worsened as his years in the military wore on.
“I was so happy during my relationship but also felt guilty about being happy, knowing I have lost friends in the army,” he said
As he was about to take his life in mid-February this year, the thought of his four children stopped him. He approached the Royal British Legion and Combat Stress, charities providing emotional and financial support to former UK Armed forces’ members, but they were unable to help due to funding shortages.
As the whole country entered lockdown in late March, charities and mental health trusts referred Thomas to his NHS general practitioner [GP] who kept piling on the medication. ”I didn’t want to go down that route,” Thomas insisted.
After contacting the Veterans NHS, he stumbled upon Change Step in March, where he was assessed and diagnosed with complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition common among former army soldiers. Thomas was only able to start his counselling sessions in October.
In the meantime, he took up long distance running which helped him to stay focused and raise £10,500 for Mind, the mental health charity, “I ran 11 miles a day for 46 days carrying 25kg, then 10 half-marathons in 10 days for the same cause.”
With Covid-19 cases spreading ‘incredibly quickly’, the Welsh government has announced tighter social restrictions that will come into effect this coming Friday, just as the UK is set to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Meanwhile, Thomas has started a free boot camp to encourage mental health sufferers to get out of the house every morning and interact.
Even before Covid-19, research by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) estimated that the income of mental health trusts across the UK had been in decline since 2011-2012, after factoring inflation. In September, Health Minister, Vaughan Gething, announced £1.3 million additional mental health support for Wales. Thomas is pleased with the cash injection but thinks the money will go to GPs who will favour medication over alternative treatments like counselling and psychotherapy.
Darren Thomas is a father of four and a former military veteran in the British Army’s reconnaissance unit.
Economic, psychological toll of Covid-19 on mental health and suicides
Since March, mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness reported a 188 percent rise in calls for advice on how to support family members battling suicidal thoughts.
A study by the University of Glasgow and Samaritans published in October, showed that mental health outcomes in the initial phase of lockdown were significantly worse for women, individuals from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those with pre-existing mental health problems.
With two-thirds of UK businesses at risk of insolvency, a rise in redundancies, and an end to job support schemes, middle-aged men with or without families from lower economic backgrounds were also found to be at a higher risk. Of equal concern are young adults [18-29 years] - they are found to be more likely to report suicidal thoughts and higher levels of depressive symptoms.
Also, apart from the pandemic’s economic damage and its associated financial uncertainties, people endure an unspoken pain - from loneliness, the lack of a physical embrace and face to face interaction. Families are haunted by the lonely deaths of loved ones in care homes, and healthcare professionals also sustain increased stress from juggling frontline duties and keeping their families safe.
One of Darren Thomas' running routes in Welsh, UK.
Covid-19 and Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities
Worst impacted of all, according to Public Health England (PHE), are BAME communities who have been disproportionately hit by Covid-19 infections and deaths. Not only are they dealing with Covid-19-related bereavement, isolation and loss, they also face long-standing anxiety over money, housing and unemployment - inequalities that have existed for decades and aggravated during the pandemic.
For Nadeem Ahmed, 41, a customer service advisor at Sigma, working from home does not come with the freedoms he once imagined. “I rarely leave the house. All I do is log into my computer, work, go down and have my meals, and sleep. I don’t see daylight,” said the father of two from his home in Hall Green in southeast Birmingham on an overcast afternoon in late November.
Ahmed, a British Kashmiri, is also a political and disability activist and while grateful to be in full time work, says his depression, anxiety and psychosis has worsened for the first time in 16 years due to the persistent isolation. Unable to cope, Ahmed at one point asked to change his GP. “Not sure if it’s racism, but my caucasian GP did not give me alternative treatments or a referral elsewhere,” he said
Even before the pandemic, BAME groups outlined their dissatisfaction and experiences of discrimination in the NHS in a government report detailing the disparity in treatment between people of diverse backgrounds.
Last week, desperate for interaction, he wrote on his twitter, “I’m struggling with my mental health, if you see this post, please say hi.” In less than 24 hours, there was an outpouring of 30,000 messages from all over the world filled with humour, empathy, encouragement and solidarity.
By speaking up, Ahmed is determined to break down barriers in minority communities in which mental health issues are stigmatised and therefore denied or rarely discussed among families.
Nadeem Ahmed, a British Kashmiri, says his depression, anxiety and psychosis has worsened for the first time in 16 years.
Past pandemics, epidemics and suicides
Research on earlier pandemics and epidemics shows that experiencing physical illnesses and traumatic life events increases the risk of suicidal behaviour. History, though, can never be precise.
A spike in calls to suicide hotlines does not necessarily equate to more people ending their lives. A joint study by the University of Manchester and National Confidential Inquiry (NCISH) found that there is no evidence of the large national rise in suicide post-lockdown that people had feared.
Still, the Samaritans are warning people not to be complacent. Figures from London Ambulance Service show crews attended an average of 37 suicides or attempted suicides a day this year compared to an average of 22 a day the year before. Five years ago the number was 17.
Information is scarce and ambiguous on the exact long-term impact of the Spanish flu on mental health in comparison to the economic aspects. Historians recorded how the Spanish Flu, which claimed the lives of 228,000 people in Britain alone, afflicted some people with a psychosis that led to murder and suicide. These deaths were then documented in newspapers as "delirium during influenza.”
Ahmed, in Birmingham, is calling on the government to increase support groups and centres for people who are suicidal. Back in Wales, Thomas is urging more people to talk. “We need to get rid of the saying 'Man Up' because it’s an illness just like a broken bone or any ailment.”
He is also raising £5000 for 5 individual Welsh food banks by running a total of 465 miles.