Fayaz Ahmad Paul
COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2. It is different from usual corona viruses responsible for mild sickness such as common cold among human beings. More than 350,139,772 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported in 198 countries and 5,570,163 deaths, reported Worldwide including 38,566,027 COVID cases in India. Among the worldwide infected cases, 278,583,433 patients have been recovered and discharged from different hospitals till 23 Jan 2022.
Pandemics 2019 has affected all over the world and country like India also came into the grip of Covid 19, Containment measures, including Strict lockdown, employed in various countries have led to drastic changes in the day-to-day lives of people. Although these changes are requisite to deal with the spread, it is accompanied by certain unintended negative outcomes. Psychiatric Social workers and other mental health professionals play an important role to curb the consequences of the lockdown on mental wellbeing among the population.
During any outbreak of an infectious disease, the population’s psychological reactions play a critical role in shaping both spread of the disease and the occurrence of emotional distress and social disorder during and after the outbreak. Despite this fact, sufficient resources are typically not provided to manage or attenuate pandemics’ effects on mental health and wellbeing. While this might be understandable in the acute phase of an outbreak, when health systems prioritize testing, reducing transmission and critical patient care, psychological and psychiatric needs should not be overlooked during any phase of pandemic management.
The COVID virus infection spreads, the depression, anxiety and stigma associated with it also proliferates. Therefore, it is important that mental health professionals explore ways in which people react to this stressful situation. Anxiety, sleeplessness, fear of contracting the virus, frustration and irritability are some effects of long-term lockdown during pandemics. Misinformation and sharing of fake news through social media are some factors that cause anxiety and stigma among people. In this view, the uncertainty adds to an individual’s sense of unease, leading to loss of hope and initiative.
People who have active symptoms of the disease hesitate to disclose or seek help as they anticipate stigma from the society. Fear and unawareness about health promoting strategies can lead to uncooperativeness towards health workers and governmental instructions. Psychiatric Social workers should provide awareness about the different stress reactions and provide them with authentic and relevant information about the pandemic.
The fear of contracting the pandemic could be more destructive than the Covid pandemics itself. Therefore, even the uninfected population must be educated about propagation of fake news and should be provided with hope and optimism intervention.
Due to 2020 lockdown there is an opportunity for families to strengthen family bonds. However, various research studies conducted all over the world shows that during the COVID time, there is an upsurge in domestic violence cases, lack of personal space in the family and boredom.
Home-makers might be burdened by shortage of supplies and the sudden need to care for the entire family. Parents might be stressed by the thoughts about the future of their own jobs as well as the education of their children. Spending more time inside the house can lead to physical inactivity and delay in milestones among all family members. Therefore, parents should be educated to encourage their children to engage in more creative activities including Chess badminton, board games, gardening and drawing. Parents should find time to play with the children and engage in daily rituals which strengthens the family relationship and helps to pass time.
The lockdown in March provided people with more free time. Some people use this time creatively for self-care, picking up new hobbies and acquiring new skills. On the other side, some people may get bored and frustrated. This leads to unhealthy daily routines.
These include unhealthy sleep habits, extended screen time and lack of self-efficacy activities. Not knowing how to utilize the time effectively can also lead to over-thinking, ruminating and losing hope.
These unhealthy cognitions could turn into habits which might be carried forward even after the containment of the virus.
Therefore, it is advised to prepare a timetable by scheduling time for sleep, exercise, leisure, online socializing and relaxation.
Quarantine laws and lockdowns pose threats to certain vulnerable communities. Individuals with substance use disorder are one such vulnerable section that often goes unnoticed. In addition to the higher risk for contracting the virus due to poorer health and immunity, these individuals might also experience withdrawal symptoms.
As restrictions made on travel and the market would lead to unavailability of substance, some individuals with substance use disorder might engage in hazardous activities including self-manufacturing of the substance and committing suicide. It is hence important that Psychiatric social workers ensure that such individuals are provided with the access to de-addiction centers or help lines that can treat and guide the individual in the required manner.
There are various steps that mental health Professionals can and should be taken to minimize the psychological and psychiatric effects of the pandemic. First, while it might be ostensibly attractive to redeploy mental health professionals to work in other areas of healthcare, this should be avoided. Such a move would almost certainly worsen outcomes overall and place people with mental illness at disproportionate risk of deteriorations in physical and mental health. Secondly, we recommend the provision of psychosocial interventions for communities affected by pandemic 2019, particular supports for people at high risk of psychological morbidity, enhanced awareness and diagnosis of mental disorders especially in primary care and emergency departments and improved access to psychological interventions.
The psychosocial impacts of the Pandemics lockdown will continue for an indefinite time.
Therefore, it is important that mental health professionals closely monitor all these areas to provide specialized intervention. Psychiatric Social workers should ensure that awareness programmes are integrated with Psycho social intervention to help not only the infected but also their family and other vulnerable communities in India and rest of the world.