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Amira Hayat said the confinement made it more difficult to live with anxiety.
People of minority ethnic origin in Wales have been “forgotten” during the coronavirus pandemic, two charities said.
Diverse Cymru said that Covid highlighted existing social inequality and that BAME people faced a number of obstacles that hampered their access to services.
A Mind Cymru poll found that the lockdown had a “disproportionate” impact on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
Mind has called for mental health to be prioritized in the Senedd election.
Amira Hayat, a 20-year-old Muslim from Cardiff, lived with stress and anxiety before the coronavirus, but the lockdown took away her ability to keep busy and meet friends.
“Once it all stopped, that’s when I realized I had some kind of mental health problem and anxiety was definitely the biggest one,” he said.
“I had minor anxiety attacks, so I would switch off and stay in my room in my own space.
“I really didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had very bad headaches. Sometimes it was very emotional.”
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She has asked for more help for people of BAME origin: “If I am going to open up with a person who, for example, is not Muslim or does not have a cultural background when I talk about certain things, it will not make sense. I know that we cannot meet in common ground.
“So I think the main thing I want to raise awareness about is that we need people of color and people of religion to help people like us.”
Samira Salter said the people of BAME have been “forgotten” during the coronavirus pandemic
Samira Salter of the equality charity Diverse Cymru said that the people of BAME “have been forgotten during the pandemic and before the pandemic.”
“Poor housing, education, employment. Covid has just highlighted the inequalities that have always existed,” Salter told BBC Politics Wales.
She said cultural factors also played a role, with a language barrier often making it difficult for BAME people to access support services.
Covid ‘sharpened focus’ on inequality
Mind’s report found that 74% of young people ages 13-24 and 60% of those over 25 said their mental health worsened at the beginning of the spring shutdown.
The charity’s report stated: “Historically, people in BAME communities have had difficulty accessing mental health support services in a timely and effective manner.
“The issues related to this predate the pandemic, yet the situation in recent months has sharpened the focus on these inequalities.”
Mind Cymru’s Sara Moseley has asked all candidates running in the 2021 Senedd election to make mental health a priority
Charity Director Sara Moseley said: “We know from talking to people in Wales that a lot of people behind closed doors have been having a pretty tough time.
“There are a lot of people who are really not very well and are not asking for help or are not receiving it, and it is absolutely crucial for our future that that help is available.”
Mind Cymru has launched a campaign urging all political parties and their candidates for next year’s Senedd election to make mental health a priority.
“We are absolutely determined that mental health does not slide down the agenda and that it should be central to the next administration’s agenda because it touches all aspects of our life,” added Ms Moseley.
- Politics Wales, BBC1 Wales, 10:15 BST, October 11
