Crisis of mental health increased due to lockdown

Crisis of mental health sharply increased due to lockdown and isolation. Photo Courtesy – Bridges to Recovery

There was a 68-day complete lockdown across India to prevent the coronavirus infection. It started from March 25, 2020, to May 31, 2020, only the emergency services were outside the lockdown rule. Crisis of mental health sharply increased among people due to lockdown and isolation from society.

The unlock process started from June 1, 2020, with releasing some sectors in the society gradually. The unlock-process is still going on with releasing some more sectors of the society and industries with transportations gradually, and this unlock process will continue to September 30, 2020.

During the lockdown period, people were locked in homes and everything was stopped. This sudden break in the running life and fear of coronavirus has started to affect the mental health of the people. Meanwhile, there has been an atmosphere of worry, fear, loneliness and uncertainty for people and they were struggling with it day and night.

Read: UK government will reimburse 50% of the bills to revive the hotel industry

What happened due to lockdown?

Many people could not feel the lockdown situation at the preliminary stage. They were elated to spend their time with their family. But, after a period, they started to feel the mental agony and stress due to lockdown. The fear of coronavirus penetrated into their mind gradually, at the same time they became worried about their profession. Nobody knew how long the situation would run continuously. The television channels and internet media had been continuously repeating the situation of the country and the world as well. This situation created a panic among the people and gradually developed the psychological disease.

The whole environment has changed for the people. Suddenly schools, offices, businesses got closed, the government imposed the law not to go out. So, people used to watch the same news of coronavirus throughout the day. It was bound to affect mental health. Because, if you hear or watch negative news continuously, it is bound to affect your mind, and it is obvious that if your mind is affected your body will be affected very soon.

The adverse effects of lockdown

There was panic, feeling energy-less and above all, a crisis of mental health increased. During the lockdown, there was so much uncertainty and confusion about the epidemic. Everyone was under anxiety and stress.

This stress has created a heavy toll on the body, mind, emotions and behaviour. Though, the effect was different on everyone according to their stress-bearing capacity. Some people felt frequent headaches, fatigue and fluctuations in blood pressure, and some people felt anxiety, lonely, helpless and decreased immunity in their body.

Anxiety, anger, fear, irritability, sadness and confusion – these emotional feelings are experienced by many. All the negative thoughts had been driving the mind of people. Some started consuming alcohol, tobacco, cigarettes in such a situation. Somebody started watching more TV or screaming more and on the other hand, somebody became silent.

Read: Social media attachment in the Philippines is focused on the world

Very crucial time for mentally weak persons

People who are already suffering from some mental disease and those who have mentally weak, the crisis of mental health increased in them during this lockdown. Those who have had problems like stress, despair, frustration have increased. People with psychological problems have increased their symptoms.

People having psychological disorder should be under counselling after the lockdown is over. People who use to remain frustrated all the time need to take more care of their mental state. Otherwise, the crisis of mental health will occur to them. During this lockdown period, many people committed suicide out of acute despair. A suicidal tendency has been observed in some people who are mentally very weak.

How to wipe out the stress?

(i) Do not panic. Do not lose your strength of mind. You have to keep in mind that everything will be all right again and the whole world is busy in this effort. Have patience.

(ii) Strengthen your relationships. Do not mind small things. Communicate with each other and take care of the members. Do not attend a discussion on negative things.

(iii) While in lockdown, you cannot come out of the house, but stand on the terrace, or on the window, or on the balcony, or in the garden of the house. Try to spend some time in the morning in the sunlight. It will provide you with positive energy and also make you feel good.

(iv) Do not spend more time on watching the pandemic situation or coronavirus or any negative news continuously. Try to watch good music, good movies, good videos that have a positive impact on your mind or that make you happy.

(v) An important way is to use this time to fulfil your hobby. Choose your favourite work that you could not do due to lack of time. This will give you immense happiness as if an unfulfilled wish has been fulfilled. It will disperse away all the anxiety and stress from your mind.

(vi) You have to express your feelings during this time. If there is fear, sadness, do not hide inside yourself, share it with family.

(vii) Even if you are staying at home with family, still take some time for yourself. Music is such a tool that can wipe out all your negative feelings, frustration and anger within moments. Try to listen music as much as you can.

(viii) The biggest thing is to look at the good sides even in bad times. Try to think in this way – there was an epidemic, there was a lockdown but in the meantime, you have plenty of time to spend with your family and to fulfil your hobby.

(ix) In this period of unlock-process, health clubs have started operating. You can spend your time going there and have some workout for around 45min to 1 hour. It will definitely improve your physical and mental health.

(x) Those who use to do yoga can practice it more minutely in this time. Yoga is the best process to wipe out any kind of negative thoughts from your mind.

Never indulge any negative thought in your mind. The unlock process has already been started, life is becoming normal gradually. People will gradually be engaged in their profession within a couple of months. So, you have to keep patience and wait for the proper time to come.