Tracing the bounds of distress: Mental health and the Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR MENTAL HEALTH First, within the initial conceptual framework entitled ‘Five pillars of the successful fight against emerging infectious diseases,’ mental health is explicitly mentioned in the third pillar as follows: ‘The third is health services: to save the lives of people with the disease and ensure the continuity of other health services, including those for mental health’ [1]. Using general language in this framework (i.e. ‘those for mental health’), one can imagine that the authors are trying to capture the immense variability in mental health resources on a global scale. INDIVIDUAL VS POPULATION-LEVEL CONSIDERATIONS Fourth, the Commission draws attention to potential differences between individual and population-level thinking related to mental health. [...]in cases where an individual living with bipolar disorder is experiencing a manic or hypomanic episode and exhibits core symptoms of this phase of illness (such as distractibility), he or she may not be consistently able to comply with regulations such as the wearing of a face mask. [...]how one might take such a recommendation and put it into practice is an open question that the report does not directly address.