With almost 50 shops a day closing on Britain’s High Streets and supply shortages affecting our supermarkets, Covid-19 has exacerbated many of the issues we were facing as a nation prior to the first lockdown in March 2020. However, these issues pale in comparison to the mental health crisis that Scotland has been facing for the past decade, and the impact that the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns has had on the mental health of those who are struggling to cope. Research by Glasgow University, Policy Scotland, and the BBC has found that the mental health crisis has impacted those from a BAME background more than those from a white background.
In a study by the Adam Smith Business School of the University of Glasgow and Policy Scotland, it was discovered that BAME men reported a 14% deterioration in their mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic, while white males saw a 6.5% deterioration in their mental health. This data was collected using a study of 14,289 individuals interviewed between 2017 to 2019, then again in 2020. In addition to their overall findings, the report also found that Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian Men had the largest decline in their mental health during the first initial lockdown, showing an average increase of 23% in mental distress.
In response to the report, consultant psychiatrist Professor Sashi Sashidharan called on the Scottish Government to do further research into the effect the mental health crisis is having on BAME individuals in Scotland. He stated that: “You can’t really respond to a problem unless you know what the problem is”. He also expressed his frustrations at the Scottish Government, asserting that:
“There is no attempt to try to understand the experience of BAME communities in Scotland in relation to the NHS at the moment… There seems to be a reluctance to push this forward”.
This issue is not just impacting BAME adults but BAME children as well. An investigation by The i newspaper found that the closure of schools disrupted young people’s routines, caused increased uncertainty and worsened anxiety and depression through a lack of contact with friends and peers. The investigations also found that Chinese and South Asian children were much more likely than white children to be affected by depression and anxiety as a result of school closures.
In an earlier report by the BBC, they found that BAME individuals are more likely to receive a worse mental health service than white individuals. This was found to be down to a number of factors, one of which being a lack of targeted support for the BAME community which has caused real difficulty in achieving the same level of treatment as white British born individuals. In addition, the BBC found that cultural issues and stigma has become a real barrier when it comes to BAME males asking for help. Dr Asif Khan, a Glasgow GP, stated that when BAME individuals do finally come forward and ask for help, they end up receiving harsher psychiatric diagnoses and being over-treated, often resulting in being sectioned.
In order for Scotland to rebuild itself from the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot focus just on tackling the crises caused directly by the pandemic, but also deal with the problems that have gotten worse. Scotland’s BAME population deserve to be listened to and supported.