Mental-Health Crisis From Pandemic Was Minimal

About

Mental-Health Crisis From Pandemic Was Minimal refers to a series of personal anecdotes shared on Twitter contradicting a scientific study claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negligible impact on people's mental health. The trend gained virality online in March 2023 after BBC News tweeted an article about the study, prompting humorous reactions and memes in the quote tweets.

Origin

On March 9th, 2023, the Twitter^[1] news account @BBCWorld tweeted an article reporting on a study of mental health symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The study concluded that the "mental-health crisis from pandemic was minimal." The tweet gained over 530 retweets, 44,000 quote tweets and 4,500 likes in four days (shown below).

A user later added additional context for the tweet, clarifying that the study did not focus on those likely to be affected by mental disorders.

Later on March 9th, Twitter^[2] user @soapyhnnh quote tweeted the post, writing, "sorry but literally everyone i knew went insane." The tweet (shown below) gained over 14,000 retweets and 115,300 likes in four days.

Later that day, Twitter^[3] user @Williesillie quote tweeted the post with photographs of their dog and cat wearing wedding outfits, writing, "I had a wedding for my cat and dog." The tweet (shown below) gained over 11,700 retweets and 138,000 likes in four days.

Spread

In the following days, multiple users on Twitter quote tweeted the article with personal anecdotes of eccentric behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, on March 10th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @H2KaiO tweeted a photograph of a king made out of sticky notes whom they stated that they talked to during the pandemic, with the tweet gaining over 700 retweets and 18,000 likes in three days (shown below, left). On March 11th, Twitter^[5] user @adamjamesdavis_ tweeted images of Preston Bus Station in Lancashire, England recreated by him in Minecraft, with the tweet gaining over 1,800 retweets and 28,700 likes in two days (shown below, right).

The trend maintained its virality on Twitter until mid-March 2023, with the original tweet by @BBCWorld accumulating over 44,300 quote tweets by March 13th.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References