Cases of depression, anxiety have gone up during pandemic, say experts

About 20-30% of the people, who have been affected with Covid, are found to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety

Cases of depression, anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder have gone up manifold among people of all age groups during the pandemic, said doctors.

Experts said that pandemic has made us all realize that depression and anxiety issues are real and everyone faces them at some point in their life. ((Pixabay))

“Students have got addicted to screen and have shown changes in behaviour much to the dislike of parents. Now, parents have to play a greater role in diverting the child’s energy into activities that give similar kick to the brain as does mobile phones,” said Dr Mohd Aleem Siddiqui, addressing a press conference on “mental health in an unequal world” at IMA Bhavan on Saturday, a day before World Mental Health Day.

He added that during the first and second waves of Covid-19, many people lost their kin and many are still facing financial crises.

“Even after the Covid period, people have been suffering from sleeplessness, irritability. We get frequent calls from such people,” said Dr Siddiqui.

Dr Omar Musheer, consultant psychiatrist at Apollomedics Superspeciality Hospital said: “About 20-30% of the people, who have been affected with Covid, were found to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. People are unable to sleep properly because of stress.”

Also during the day, King George’s Medical University organised a webinar on the topic.

“Among elderly the key issue is loneliness. During pandemic they were virtually locked up inside their houses and even today the risk of getting infected is keeping them restricted from walking in parks or open spaces. With a long spell of isolation the impact upon mental health has been tremendous,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, head of Aastha Geriatric Centre.

Dr Shantanu Bharti, psychiatric consultant, Medanta Hospital, said: “The pandemic has made us all realize that mental health issues are real and everyone faces them at some point in their life. It is very important to take care of your brain just like it is important to take care of other body parts.”