Mental Health During Lockdown

Pooja Pant(Research Scholar,M.B.G.P.G.College,Haldwani,NTL,Uttarakhand)

Dr. Poonam Pandey (Assistant Professor,Deptt.of Psychology)

Lockdown, in present situation is one of the most recommended control

measures which prevents people from leaving an area. The lockdown basically
aims to reverse the growth of COVID-19 pandemic by reducing the number of
cases. But a long term lockdown is really tough.

Life under lockdown brings many challenges. Currently an estimated 2.6 billion
people [one-third of the world’s population] are living under some kind of
lockdown. Managing our mental health right now is a big challenge. This is
causing a sharp increase in the victims of ill mental health. The risk of infection,
fear of becoming sick and losing loved ones, as well as the prospect of financial
hardship are the main reasons behind the ill mental health of people.

People who are under lockdown are very likely to develop a wide range of
symptoms like mental stress and disorder, including low mood, insomnia, stress,
anxiety, anger, irritability, emotional exhaustion, depression and post-traumatic
stress symptoms.

Taking some positive actions can mitigate the toxic psychological effects of
COVID-19 lockdown. In this situation, the WHO recommends protocols like R-TEP
[Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol] and G-TEP [Group Traumatic Episode
Protocol]. But in general, sticking to a routine, making sure we take care of
ourselves and using our creativity in new ways, we can ease the toll on mental
health that staying inside is having on all of us.
Besides it, after the tenure of the lockdown, our all able bodies of government
and society may try to find effective ways to repair the psychological, economical
as well as health related damage of this disaster. Better late, than never, we can
soon expect a new ray of hope and happiness all around.