Everyone is talking about mental illness these days. This pandemic has made everyone realized how paramount mental stability is. It’s not something as new as coronavirus, but we’ve been struggling to accept that mental illness is a prominent issue for decades. Mental health includes psychological, emotional, and social well-being. It affects how we think, act, and feel. It also helps us to determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.
I have seen my mental health fluctuate under lockdown conditions with the difficulties of loneliness and lack of routine. I have suffered about intrusive thoughts of depression, where basic tasks became difficult, such as taking care of myself, became nearly impossible.
Although there is some evidence that lockdown has lessened generalized anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, the lockdown has cut down people receiving from essential treatment, salient daily routines, and regular coping mechanisms. Some people who are away from home and stuck alone in another city who suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder, cannot visit the gym or can be hugged by the family. This pandemic has made it strenuous to find help.
For instance, the lockdown has triggered the rise in mental instability among students. Being confined to their hostel rooms or PG accommodation reports depressive mood, the tendency to self-harm injuries, such as face slapping and skin plucking and, sleeplessness.
However, students who are residing at home are going through interpersonal problems, including domestic violence. The effects of lockdown on students are pacing around the room, staying in bed for a considerable amount of time doing, and failing to decide what to do. When accompanied by depressive mood or hopelessness and loss of appetite can lead to the utmost depression.
The lockdown has stripped people away from most of the daily routines and mechanisms to manage the mental condition. People cannot visit their friends or families or visit their therapist in person. Regular pattern, a critical part of well-being, our goals, and future planning, disrupted and replaced with an anxious and uncertain future.
Other aspects of the coronavirus are putting immense pressure on mental health. Loss of livelihood and no strong financial support and where is the next meal coming from are traumatizing vulnerable families.
Around the world, the lockdown has led to an increase in domestic violence and, the mental and physical harm comes with it. Financial insecurity and domestic violence are a force multiplier for the impact of mental health problems, turning manageable problems into crisis. So is the isolation of lockdown. This crisis has led to early signs of an increase in suicides and attempted suicides. It cannot be, stated as a trend.
Coronavirus is not only physically damaging the body but our mind as well. Maybe, the next pandemic crisis is mental health.
Even if an epidemic of mental illness is looming, we are resilient and can strive to protect our emotional well-being. Some of the tips which each of us can follow:
- Decide your goal for the day.
- Make sure to eat and sleep well.
- Limit yourself from news and social media.
- Try to stay socially connected, even if you can’t see others in person.
- Engage yourself in your hobbies.
- Do yoga and exercise.
All we have to remember is we all are facing the same condition. You are not alone. We all have to change our perspective. We, humans, tend to be drawn to the negative. We can shift our thinking to look at the positive because neurons that fire together wire together.