UK study challenges use of mental health impact to justify ending COVID-19 lockdown Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic there have been repeated alerts about an escalating mental health crisis. Psychiatrists’ warnings from last May of a potential “tsunami of referrals” after lockdown were seized on by the right-wing media to fuel demands for a return to work. Ongoing research by the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) paints a more nuanced picture of the mental health crisis, and suggests a more rational response that protects both physical and mental health. C19PRC is an international multidisciplinary team of clinical and research psychologists centred at Sheffield University, studying the psychological, social, political and economic impact of the pandemic. Their research points to interpersonal trauma as having a more damaging effect on mental health than collective trauma.