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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Clea Skopeliti

‘I struggled to cope’: over-50s in UK describe Covid’s toll on mental health

Signs in the window of a house in West Bridgford, Nottingham, during the first Covid lockdown in March 2020
Signs in the window of a house in West Bridgford, Nottingham, during the first Covid lockdown in March 2020. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA

As UK society began to shut down in March 2020, the uncertainty around the future began to get to Tina Flintham. “I felt totally not in control. You just didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Flintham, 61, from Rotherham, is one of many who found the pandemic brought mental health challenges. She experienced high levels of anxiety, especially as she had elderly parents in poor health. “Every morning I would wake up stressed, wondering if I, my partner or parents would get Covid or die,” she says. “A very close friend’s husband died with Covid [early on] – it really brought home how bad it was.”

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