This column is all about being human. It is all about you. So this week, I want to start with an email I received from Linda, a reader in her 70s, who wrote to me about mental health in older generations.
“Your article made me think about the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people like me, in their 60s and 70s, who have sat quietly back while the world around them began to disintegrate. Any medical issues were put on hold as we saw the lives of others ravaged by Covid. We would not contact the doctor with small problems to add to a burdened system.
“Those who brushed aside the odd ache or pain are now suffering chronic conditions that can no longer be ignored. My friends and I have accepted there is no alternative to the six to 12-month wait to have a knee or hip looked at, let alone be treated. This has created a situation where a new ailment has come along to hold hands with depression. I have seen previously positive, active people become lethargic, disinterested and imbued with a sense of hopelessness.
“All very minor stuff compared with lives lost, and young people’s education and opportunities ruined – all important issues that absolutely need addressing. But it is heartbreaking to see and hear this from friends who were full of life, but have had the stuffing knocked out of them.”
Oh, how this email spoke to me, arriving as it did as I wrote last week’s column about childhood anxiety. We worry endlessly about the mental health of young people – helplines abound, and government task forces are formed – but what about the not-insubstantial portion of the population who are no longer young, but still have brains?
A dear friend of mine, 71 last month and deeply depressed, told me recently that they feel stuck in their ways and consider themselves “too old” to get help.
I replied that nobody is ever too old to get help, but I acknowledged that it’s much easier to ask for it if you are part of a generation, as I am, that has spent much of its life trying to pull the stiff upper lip wide open.
I called Age UK which, as luck would have it, will this week publish research into the effect of lockdown on older people’s mental health.
It runs a whole heap of services around the country to improve people’s mental wellbeing, from Men in Sheds, which brings together older men who want to connect, to counselling, to singing and exercise classes. You can call its national helpline on 0800 678 1602, from 8am to 7pm, every day of the year, for information on activities near you.
Six years ago, I set up a peer support group called Mental Health Mates, to get myself out of the house and meet people who had also experienced the debilitating effects of OCD, anxiety and depression.
From the beginning, Mental Health Mates has always attracted people of all ages, but particularly those over 60, and I wanted to mention it here because it’s all over the country, offering walks in nature with like-minded people. You can look for walks near you by heading to mentalhealthmates.co.uk/find-a-walk.
Mental wellbeing is not exclusively a young person’s game, and I would love to hear from you about any services or projects you have encountered that have helped boost your mental health.
Like Linda, you can email me at bryony.gordon@telegraph.co.uk, and I will do my best to share your input here.
