peolelikeme-blog

[peolelikeme-blog]

The psychosocial impact of Covid-19 virus lockdown.

COVID-19 pandemic and the situation of lockdown have brought about a sense of fear and anxiety around the globe.

Sometimes I feel that with 7.9 billion people across the world, and more than 2.9 billion people in lockdown, we are knowing or unknowingly conducting arguably the largest psychological experiment ever!

While reading multiple articles, watching news broadcasts and through regular conversations with people that I know and acquaintances, the common concern of all that I can draw is the current pandemic has led to a short term as well as long term psychosocial and mental health implications for all age groups and gender -be it a male or a female, children, adolescents, or elderly.

The quality and magnitude of the impact of lockdown on various age groups and the section of people with different orientation differs and can be based on vulnerability factors like developmental age, pre-existing mental health condition, educational status, being economically underprivileged, absenteeism from work/ job layoffs, or the fact that they are quarantined due to infection or fear of infection.

It also saddens me to know that many reports of increased number domestic violence and women abuse have been reported 'globally' during this pandemic. Facts floating on various platforms suggest that more than two-fifths of the people are experiencing depression and anxiety, due to lockdown and the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, at-risk groups for long-term mental well-being issues will be our healthcare workers who are fighting this pandemic on the frontline, a young generation under 30 and children, the elderly, and those already in precarious situations, for example, owing to mental illness, poverty, and disability.

On the other hand,

My heart jumps with joy to realize that people have also a marked improvement in their relationships with their partners, parents, with their children, and even with their neighbors and colleagues after the beginning of this lockdown period.

Chiara Servili, the focal point for a child and young mental health in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the World Health Organization said that the challenge the young people currently face is the doubt of the impact of the epidemic on their lives and their families lives and their life projections and trajectories. They may be impacted by the influences of COVID-19 already e.g., lost jobs, etc. but young people have stepped up and raised their voice to have their mental health needs. They have underlined the challenge and the opportunity. They will have an increasing role in advocating for increased investment and accountability on mental health systems. This is an opportunity to promote and support mental health. And we have seen the capacity of young people to react quickly and support people, relatives, and colleagues who are struggling with the effects of the pandemic.

There is an urgent need of expanding and extending mental health services to each and everyone, need to launch websites with validated content to address psychosocial issues, parents spending good quality time with their children and planning daily engagements, need to educate people about the expected psychological impact and related reactions to trauma and that it should be discussed, is normal, and nothing to be ashamed about!

A positive attitude, patience, acceptance, and a sense of responsibility towards one's family and society will be the cherry on top!!

Believe that things will be fine soon!!

Believe in these challenges that can be overcome!!

Believe in Him!!

Believe in yourself!

[peolelikeme-blog]

Wanderings of a Learner

Be it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or even Sunday, or a rainy day, a sunny day, or as it mostly is here, a cold or snowy day, there is one specific thing that is common in all these days.

Any guesses??

Every day is a Learn-Day!

You may learn something frivolous that you may never utilize or something that you may bring in practice, or a piece of information that you cannot inculcate in your progress or for your entertainment. There are days when you learn more, there are days when you learn a little lesser and it is all assembly-line, routine work for you. Still, you do learn!

What all I learned today, was all the three mentioned things.

The first thing that I learned was, that I am a good person. A better person than what most people encounter in their daily lives or maybe I am great at acting well. If any of these are true and be it any case, I still win battles on most of my good days.

The second thing that I learned was that I am wasting my time in doing things that change nothing and will make no sense in the longer run. The things that I am doing today, I would not like to listen in my eulogy in the hope, very later future. I mean, who wants to listen in their death beds as being those who made the best MS Excel dashboards or put enigmatic spreadsheet formulas?! Nothing wrong with it. But that person is not me. I am an explorer, I revel in food, and live for a good time with few good friends.

The third thing, that I cannot do anything about was the plight of things in India. This through the eyes of a daily wage-earning driver, who had driven my sister to work in these tough Covid-19 times and interested her in a much-needed conversation. The past week, she said that the times are not as good as they seemed to be, and as there are retrenchments everywhere, there is a lot of stress for the newly employed. So, after an awful week, the Gods did their little trick and reminded her, that there are bigger problems needing solving. Much on the lines of the famous Hindi Film Industry song:

दुनिया मे कितना ग़म है,

मेरा ग़म कितना कम है.

Which simply means,

'There is so much pain in the world, that when I compare my pain to others, mine always seems lesser'.

It got me thinking. A few months back, I was complaining about the Canadian cold and yet having to work and study without any respite. Now I remember what I used to think before I started thinking about my problems. I have always wanted to change things around me using my learning from school, college, and life. I am almost 24 now.

If not now, when will I change anything?

Or will I ever change anything?

But, today, while my mind wanderers and picks up my learning from the past, I know, that this battle is the one where I will win, again!