Anxiety, loneliness and video chats - Plymouth teenager on her life in coronavirus lockdown

  • Video report by Sam Blackledge

A teenager from Plymouth says life in lockdown has heightened her anxiety - but she is trying to keep in touch with friends online and learn new hobbies.

Katie Harris, aged 13, says it has been hard being cut off from her social circle for the last two months.

Katie has a history of health problems - she had a major heart operation last year.

Thankfully she is now recovered, but the coronavirus has thrown up some complicated feelings.

Katie and Gemma both suffer with anxiety. Credit: ITV News

She says she was worried at the beginning, but now regularly wears a mask to ease her nerves.

She says: "It does make me sort of worried. At the beginning I was like 'I'm just going to stay in, I'm not going to go out because I don't know what new symptoms could come from it, if that could affect me or bring something back from the past.'

"But just wearing my mask makes me feel like this is not going to affect me as much and it's not scaring me as much now."

Katie had a major heart operation last year. Credit: Gemma Harris

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Katie and her mum Gemma both suffer with anxiety, so it has been a particularly tricky few weeks.

"When you have anxiety and you know how it feels to be anxious about certain things, you know when it's coming, you know when it's going to peak and you know what to avoid," Gemma says.

"It's definitely made it worse for us. We have masks when we go shopping, things like that, when we're going to be in close quarters with people and people are not going to social distance. And we're obviously washing our hands pretty regularly.

"[Katie and her friends] all understand that this is something that's out of everybody's control. I think they all understand why, and I think that helps massively when they are processing it."

Katie and Gemma say lockdown has brought them closer. Credit: ITV News

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Experts believe this crisis could have long-lasting repercussions for mental health treatment.

Dr Maria Loades, from the University of Bath, says surveys are already showing the results of increased pressure on mental health.

If you are struggling with your mental wellbeing, there is help and support available.

There's plenty of information on our website, including details of ITV's mental health campaign Britain Get Talking.