Third wave coming? Worry strikes, college students seek psychological help

News of an impending third wave in the pandemic is seemingly creating havoc in the lives of college students. Delhi-NCR based psychologists say each time there are talks of a third wave of Covid-19, they tend to receive more calls from youngsters vis a vis last year.

Although the second wave has subsided, and the number of Covid-19 cases in the Capital has reduced, yet the news of an impending third wave seems to be creating havoc in the lives of college students. City-based psychologists share that every time there is news of a third wave coming, the number of calls from college students increases and so does their anxiety and stress level.

Third wave of the pandemic, and any news around it is creating heightened anxiety among college students. (Photo: Shutterstock (For representational purposes only))

“Anytime there is news of a third wave, I feel like I’ll never go back to college! We were sure by now that we would be back to offline campus, but that hasn’t happened yet. All this just adds to our isolation,” says Viveka Goswami, a student of Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, who is waiting for her final year classes to begin. She adds: “We thought once we are vaccinated, things will be better. Whenever we talk to our parents, or anyone for that matter, they always talk about how they did this or that in college. And we feel we are already missing out on so much, and then if a third wave has to come, then will we even see or be in college again?”

Psychologists say that this year they are getting more calls from students than last year. (Photo: Nikolay Doychinov/ AFP)

“It is almost instant. Any time there is news of when the third wave will hit, or anything about it for that matter, I start getting so many calls from students; definitely more than what I get usually. They react to the fact that the pandemic seems to be a never-ending phenomenon,” says Anu Goel, a Delhi-based psychologist sharing how she often has been attending multiple calls from anxious students.

“Last year in fact we weren’t getting that many calls from students. But this year, the number has certainly gone up,” says Delhi-based counselling psychologist Anvi Grover Jain, emphasising how the news of third wave is playing havoc with the mental health of youngsters. “One of my patients finished her graduation, and was so excited to do her masters in college. She even got through Jawaharlal Nehru University. But the fact that she can’t go physically to the college is making her so anxious. The youngsters feel that they are missing out on career opportunities because they can’t go to college,” adds Jain.

Imran Noorani, associate professor and consultant chief psychologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, says that many of his young patients are also distressed because they took a gap year. He explains: “Some college students skipped college because they didn’t want to attend it online in the pandemic stricken world. And now, they are distressed because they feel that they won’t be able to join college anytime soon because of the third wave, and they have already lost one year.”

Author tweets @anjuri

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter