Stephen Fry

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr "anxiety and stress are almost as virulent as this coronavirus".

Yes Stephen, but you have less chance of dying from anxiety

And that is no detraction from people genuinely suffering from stress, anxiety, depression etc, I think Mr Fry should rethink his comments

 

If I remember correctly I think he was speaking due to personal experience.

 

Suffered from depression all his life. Virulent doesn't mean life threatening, just widespread.

 

Let's not forget 6,500 people died in the UK from suicide in 2018, too. That's likely to be much smaller than this death toll but it is still a very important national issue.

 

I don't.

 

Talk about dashing to remove context and pick a fight.

the point of having the discussion is OBVIOUSLY to help the millions of people who are going to be struggling with their mental health at this time. Isolation is going to be a killer for many, particularly when you add in the financial pressure many will be under.

have a think about that.

 

He suffers from depression and has tried to kill himself previously. I don't think he is trying to downplay the threat of Covid19 I think he is trying to help people who will spiral into depression as a result of it.
But by all means have a dig at him for trying to help people. How very dare he.

 

He has bipolar disorder. It can be very risky when this is not properly controlled by mood stabilisers, as they go from severe depression to periods of mania/elation/psychosis.

 

He was a million miles away from trying to downplay Covid 19.
He was there to discuss the added mental health challenges that Covid 19 will bring.

 

Thanks both i haven't seen his comments but I was confident he would be trying to help people as that's the kind of guy he is.

 

Eh up mate , think your being a bit ignorant in this instance.

 

The UK population are in for a rude awakening. The coronavirus will show that our health, social and national / personal financial systems aren't up to scratch.
It will also expose our failings on issues surrounding mental health and illnesses. 25% of the population will suffer at any one time during their life. This will cause issues, financial worries, isolation anxiety, substance and alcohol abuse and relationship issues.
We're all about to learn a lot more about each other. I'm praying we're as good a nation some of us believe we are, however 2 weeks in all I'm seeing is a lot of panic and selfish behaviour.
We're a nation built on wars, we come together when we have a visible enemy to aim our efforts at. This is going to take us to be responsible in every part of our lives. We can't bomb the enemy, we can't physically get together as a community to rally around. We need to trust that each of us is doing their part. Scary especially after the way the country has been so divided in the past 10 years due to austerity and numerous bloody elections and the EU debate.

 

Yet another sensationalist ill thought out post just for the sake of it, social media is full of it

 

I think you taken the wrong end of the stick here.

 

Have always admired Stephen Fry -
what he says about anxiety and stress re CV is spot on.
Not only is there a massive health risk with the CV the consequence of the economic problems that will follow are going to affect people massively.

 

agreed, too much hysteria and scare mongering. Of course its a bad situation, but people are being driven to panic by the media. They are telling all about the infected and deaths, but not about how many have recovered, and the percentages of both world wide.

 

I don't know where you've come from but you can fvck off right back there .
Idiot !

 

I have suffered with anxiety for over 25 years, often acutely so. I have had to take myself off all my social media outlets because they are increasing my anxieties. Not because i am in fear but because of all the idiocy i have been seeing on there: the fake news, the mis-information and the conspiracy theory.
I have had to support a patient today who told me she felt responsible for the virus (symptomatic of their mental health diagnosis). She then said "what if it kills everybody?". Wow! I think i did a good job trying to rationalise this with her and i believe the reassurance i offered was accepted (hoping).
This will have a huge impact on the mental health of this nation, it truly will.

 

I would suggest Stephen Fry has a much higher chance of his mental health killing him than Coronavirus.

I think you should rethink your comments. And attitude.