Page 175 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

inherent in the response to the coronavirus (lockdowns, isolation,
anguish) will be exacerbated. Some will weather the storm, but for

certain individuals, a diagnostic of depression or anxiety could
escalate into an acute clinical episode. There are also significant
numbers of people who for the first time presented symptoms of
serious mood disorder like mania, signs of depression and various

psychotic experiences. These were all triggered by events directly
or indirectly associated with the pandemic and the lockdowns,
such as isolation and loneliness, fear of catching the disease,
losing a job, bereavement and concerns about family members

and friends. In May 2020, the National Health Service England’s
clinical director for mental health told a Parliamentary committee
that the “demand for mental healthcare would increase
‘significantly’ once the lockdown ended and would see people

needing treatment for trauma for years to come”. [154] There is no
reason to believe that the situation will be very different
elsewhere.

Domestic violence has risen during the pandemic. It remains

difficult to measure the precise increase because of the high
number of cases that remain unreported, but it is nonetheless
clear that the rise in incidences was fuelled by a combination of
anxiety and economic uncertainty. With the lockdowns, all the

requisite ingredients for an increase in domestic violence
coalesced: isolation from friends, family and employment, the
occasion for constant surveillance by and physical proximity to an
abusive partner (often themselves under more stress), and limited

or no options for escape. The conditions of lockdown magnified
existing abusive behaviours, leaving little or no respite for victims
and their children outside of the home. Projections from the United
Nations Population Fund indicate that if domestic violence

increases by 20% during periods of lockdown, there would be an
additional 15 million cases of intimate partner violence in 2020 for
an average lockdown duration of three months, 31 million cases
for an average lockdown of six months, 45 million for an average

lockdown of nine months, and 61 million if the average lockdown
period were to last one year. These are global projections,
inclusive of all 193 UN Member States, and represent the high

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