If we rewind to some 10-20 years from now
and think of a situation where the entire country goes under a lockdown, it
would probably sound no less than an unbelievable and amusing situation, of
where one could think of writing a book about. Ironically, fast forward to
current times, this is every bit of reality.
Mental Health has severely shaken a lot of
people in the world. It comes down to this basic psychology I think, that what
is been told not to do, is something the mind desires to do even more. There
are different aspects to it as well, now. It depends on how someone’s situation
is at that point in time. For example, a friend of mine got stuck in a
Naturopathy Hospital in Bangalore, due to the sudden announcement of lockdown.
She is all alone but is positively looking forward and maintaining her calm.
On the other hand, I have a friend who
although lives with her family but is miserable in being caught up in a
situation like this. Reason: Mental Health issue. She is not the only one who
feels that way, there are in-fact a lot of people who have been massively
affected by this entire situation of being asked to stay inside their homes.
Needless to say, that is extremely important also for everybody to do it, and
everyone is abiding by that too; however, it doesn’t make it easy for people to
cope-up with the whole scenario all the time.
“Recent research by the University of
Sheffield and Ulster University observed a spike in depression and anxiety
after the Prime Minister’s announcement of a lockdown on 23 March. 38 percent
of study participants reported significant depression and 36 percent reported
significant anxiety. On the day before the announcement, 16 percent reported
significant depression and 17 percent reported significant anxiety. Rates
remained elevated later in the week, but not as high as immediately after the
announcement, with just over 20 percent on each subsequent day reporting
significant levels of depression and anxiety”, according to the large
representative study of the pandemic’s impact on mental health reported by the
official website of the University of Sheffield.
On the other hand, in India, according to a
recent survey conducted by the Indian Psychiatry Society, there has been a 20
percent rise in mental illness cases. The lockdown has completely changed
people’s lifestyles as their movements are restricted. Isolation, social
distancing, uncertainty in jobs, constant fear of contracting the virus are
causing panic and anxiety attacks among the people. Online consultation at
Practo which is growing at a rate of 100 percent week on week has been seeing a
steep rise in the number of consults coming in for psychiatry.
According to the Practo Health Insights,
Mental health has seen a significant growth among online consult users in
India, not just in metro cities but also for people from non-metro cities
following the lockdown. Online queries for psychiatry on Practo’s eConsult
platform grew by 50 percent in the last two weeks. Most of the queries are
coming from people in the age group of 21-30. There has been a significant
increase in the number of consultations coming from people aged 60 and above.
People in this age group are the second largest group in terms of mental health
queries, only behind people in the 21-30 age group. 74 percent of all mental
health-related consults come from men, while 26 percent were from women.
Queries on mental health grew by 80 percent in the metro cities in the last two
weeks while consultations in tier 2+ cities grew by 35 percent. Most of the
queries related to mental health were from Delhi NCR, followed by Bengaluru,
Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai. In Non-T7 cities, most of the queries
came from Phagwara, Rewa, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. Top
queries discussed were loneliness, anxiety and stress management, and panic
attacks.
If we turn the tables and look at the
#NetflixAndChill part, undoubtedly, it has been a lifesaver for a lot of people
and is efficiently making it workable for them to pass their time. The social
media handles such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and
Snapchat are playing a good amount of role in being the distraction, for the
good mostly. The “meme” business is a cherry on that cake as people continue to
lash these platforms with Quarantine jokes, etc. Another trend that seems to
have occupied the space of mind is the different types of “challenges”,
“nominations” and “Bingo tags” that are being given to each other, which has
till now kept the game strong.
And then there are also people who have
been keeping up their well-being intact by watching a lot of motivational
videos available online on various social media platforms. Motivational
speakers like Nic Vujicic, Jay Shetty, Eric Thomas, Les Brown, Felicia Hatcher
and the likes are increasingly trying to reach out to people as much as they
can, and their videos and messages are also making a good amount of difference
in helping people deal with the negative thoughts that come along with the lockdown.
In these times of testing, what we all
should possibly try and do, is to step up further and enquire about our loved
ones. Mental Health is an immensely important topic that needs to be dealt with
rigorously, and we all should try and garner support to anyone and everyone in
need. Ending this piece with what my PhD Guide, Dr. Nandini Sahay shared with
me a couple of days back that made me more optimistic to help people in need,
is a belief by India’s first female Psychiatrist – Dr. Sarada Menon –
“Compassion and kindness are the languages which the deaf can hear, the blind
can see, and the mentally ill can understand”.
Nadia Ahmad is Sr. Project Officer – Bosco Organization for Social Concern and Operation (BOSCO) & PhD Scholar Amity Institute of Social Sciences, Amity University, Noida