Ongoing Shanghai Covid-19 lockdown has become mental health disaster for Chinese city’s most vulnerable

People with mental health issues have struggled to access medicine, and psychiatrists have become difficult to meet

Professionals say people who had recovered have found old problems re-emerging

Reading Time:3 minutes

A worker in a protective suit locks a barrier outside of a residential complex in Shanghai, China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00am, 15 May 2022Updated: 1:10pm, 31 May 2022

For Mel Li, who has a passion for baking, Shanghai’s continuing lockdown has transformed an ongoing battle with depression into a mental health disaster.

“Even if you are a mentally healthy person, you are probably in a bad place by now, let alone people like me,” she said. “Every day is a struggle.”

Li, who lives alone, has been stuck at her home for two months because of a strict lockdown to control Shanghai’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began in 2020.

The lockdown has no end in sight, and vast parts of Shanghai have yet to ease restrictions amid thousands of newly reported cases every day.

For Li, the rules have meant that the safety nets that helped her manage her severe depression have been yanked from under her feet.

“I am severely depressed … and I have to manage suicidal thoughts two or three times a year, and it has got worse during the pandemic,” said the 27-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with depression in 2017.

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