There has been a 15% increase in mentally ill patients after the pandemic. Also, most of these patients do not have a history of mental illness in their family. The age group ranges from the elderly and middle-aged to children and adolescents. “The main problems include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and bereavement. In the case of PTSD, we have patients who have been in ICU or in isolation, and they still feel that death is near. There are also patients who suffer from depression due to isolation, as they did not attend social gatherings, including parties and weddings, due to confinement. The main reason for this depression is the uncertainty of life after Covid. Before, if you received 10 depression patients in one day, now the number is 20. The increase is after COVID-19 started,” said Dr. Ranjive Mahajan, head of the DMCH department of psychiatry. “The third type of patients are those who are grieving because they have lost a loved one to covid and they are to blame for not being able to do anything.”
He added that they had also been receiving children with high levels of anxiety.
Ludhiana-based psychiatrist Dr. Anshu Gupta he said that anxiety among children had become common. “We receive many patients with high levels of anxiety. They have seen death up close and feel that life is uncertain,” he said. dr gupta. “In PTSD, the symptoms are vague. They are related to stress or depression, and include abdominal or chest pain, dry throat, shortness of breath, tremors, etc. We advise patients, but we have to give medicine to almost everyone.”
However, there is a positive side. Psychiatrists said these symptoms would likely not be permanent in most cases. “Anxiety has more to do with hopelessness. Some patients, who have family support and are now financially stable, have recovered; but those with little family support and financial problems have not yet done so,” said Dr. Mamta Singla, head of the CMCH department of psychiatry. “Because of anxiety, in every family there are people who are taking sleeping pills. In families there are children who have conduct disorder; they are hooked on the gadgets used for teaching and they don’t want to go to school,” he said. Dr. Singla.
He added that the majority of people (60%-70% patients) who have mental health problems after Covid started, are in the 20-40 age group.
Dr Singla said there was also an increase in alcoholism during the lockdown.
One woman, whose father died during the second wave of covid, said the personal loss took a toll on her mental health. She added that she had severe depression and that she didn’t feel like going out. “I took treatment for depression. I also have medicine for that. Thanks to the support of my husband and family, I have now recovered. I keep myself busy, but I still remember my father many times a day,” she said.
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