I am so tired of these disingenuous comparisons about government action during the pandemic causing depression/mental health issues It is impossible to causally link a single case of depression to government action 1/nhttps://twitter.com/GidMK/status/1278949837606543360 …
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3/n The problem is twofold: 1) How much has government action impacted mental health? 2) How much would the government NOT taking action impact mental health?
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4/n The first question is INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to answer, despite the fools online trying to oversimplify it The best we can do is compare mental health before, during, and after government action at this point
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5/n For example, we have studies like this, that looked at things related to mental health during the Italian lockdown BUT was this caused by government action or would it have happened anyway?pic.twitter.com/EKZrPdT0Hl
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6/n With no adequate control group, all we can say is that during a massive pandemic, people's sleep quality and mental health declined ...but that's pretty much expected no matter what the government does
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7/n This study of China nationally (including places that never "locked down") found significant impacts to mental health neverthelesspic.twitter.com/Xdo5jvKg2F
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8/n Without at the very least a control group, all we can easily say about the impact of lockdowns/govt measures is that they are associated with mental health issues BUT SO IS THE PANDEMIC
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9/ Now, on to problem 2 One thing we are VERY sure of is that actually getting COVID-19 is likely to be causally related to mental health issues
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10/ Being admitted to the ICU, for example, is strongly linked with really bad mental health outcomespic.twitter.com/CR5m6Ls9Lc
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11/n So NOT locking down and/or implementing other government measures might be associated with MORE mental health issues (if more people catch COVID-19) The opposite of what many people have said!
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12/n This is the challenge. We really can't say yet whether government action has CAUSED mental health problems By and large this argument is just a talking point for people who don't like what the government has done
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End of conversation
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