Rise of different mental disorders during this pandemic

COVID-19 affected many people’s physical health and many people are still safe from its effects. But the one way in which COVID has affected everyone’s mental health. This new way of life, social distancing, quarantine, work from home, no social gatherings, and a lot of free time. Covid- 19 has been disrupting mental health almost all around the world.

Just at the time when mental health was actually getting some attention and people started to give importance to their mental health, this pandemic stole all the limelight and mental health went back to the avoided zone.

So many people who are affected mentally, don’t even recognize their real problem. And even if some people do then they don’t know whom to ask for help.

We, the people of this modern era are used to staying busy especially with our work-life and just resting on weekends. We prefer to go out, attend social gatherings, explore new places, meet people daily, and just not be at one place for too long. But this pandemic made us do the total opposite. Yes, when we look at the bright side, we did get the chance to stay with our family, spend time with them and also to try a lot of new things for which we never had any time.

This all was fun initially but as time passed, weeks passed, months passed, this started affecting many of us. We never spent so much time indoors and we were never restricted to go out. Night curfews, no social gatherings changed the meaning of festivals and rituals and even celebrations.

How all such changes for the first time in history couldn’t affect us?

With increased cases of COVID-19, a lot of mental disorders rose too. People started to have a mood disorder, panic attacks, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and also increased suicide risks. As per the finding of a lot of researches, COVID-19 is associated with an increased odds of having a mental disorder.

Reasons for the rise of all the mental disorders

•  Change in the lifestyle

We people are not comfortable with the change. Change is good but not for a very long time. We will enjoy the change but we will want our normal life back after a while. At the start of this pandemic, people thought that they are finally getting some break for themselves. They can work on themselves and learn a lot of new things which they couldn’t and a lot of plans were made. But over time, these plans started to fail and people wanted their normal routine life back. And eventually, this started to affect their mental health. When they realized that their study-work is getting affected and the end to this pandemic isn’t found yet, depression stepped in, anxiety stepped in too.

• The concern for the loved ones

Where people got the chance to spend time with their family, there were few people who couldn’t get back to their families because of the sudden lockdown. There are few family members who stay away, maybe settled in another country, and couldn’t be with their family members. Especially elderly people who were and still are concerned about their family members started to have certain mental disorders.

• Recession

As I mentioned earlier, we the people of the modern era love their work and we love to work. With this pandemic, almost every country was affected economically s well and that cost many people their jobs. This concern, unemployment or fear of losing their job, not getting paid fully, and having less or no income at all affected people mentally a lot. This also increased suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks among people.

These are undoubtedly tough times with no proper way out. And we need to follow every single safety guideline to be safe from this pandemic but that doesn’t mean avoiding and ignore our mental health. Mental health is as important as our physical health. Everyone has been going through it and we all are affected in one way or the other.

What can we do?

What if I tell you more than any expert you yourself can help others around you and of course you can help yourself.

• We need to be open to the changes, we need to accept them after all they are for our own good.
• To keep our life, we can try to follow a routine like we used to do before this pandemic happened. Just try to have a routine, work during your work hours, and take a rest at the other time.
• Take a break from the news. Yes, the news does provide you with all the information but that is the major reason why your mind wanders on the wrong side, and you think all the negative things. This is what affects our mental health negatively. Take a break.
• Try fulfilling all your weird ideas you always wanted to try. Learn that new dance style, learn how to sing, try that new recipe, or just read a new book. All you need to do is, with your routine try to add these activities as well. Where routine will help you to keep your mind from wandering around, these activities will not only refresh you but will also give you something new and positive to think about.
• Don’t let these situations stop you from giving your 100% in anything you do. You know you can do it and if you fix your mind and heart on that, no one and nothing can stop you.
• Talk to people and also listen to them. Lend an ear and just hear them out. We all need someone to listen to our issues and problems but we always avoid listening to other people. But you can always try to talk and listen, just like give and take.

Lastly, you can always meditate and practice mindfulness. These are all-time activities to calm your minds, keep all the negative thoughts away, and surround yourself with all the positive vibes.

“Be safe, not just physically but also mentally”

-Hardeep Kaur

buddingpsychologists.org