Call for maintaining human interactions as depression cases surge during pandemic

A mother of three young children, Mrs Khan, who is in her mid-30s woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday while screaming that she was unable to breath and likely to die, which not only frightened her children but also her neighbours, who called her younger brother to take her to a tertiary-care hospital.

She was rushed to a private hospital’s emergency by her brother where doctors diagnosed her with psychological problems .

“They [the doctors] gave her some medicines, which stabilised her and on Monday she was taken to a psychiatrist who said that due to prolonged self-isolation, economic problems and lack of interaction with friends and family, her mental condition had deteriorated,” said Adil Khan, the younger brother of the woman, adding that she had been prescribed medicines.

Similarly, parents of eight-year-old Ashar, a resident of PIB Colony, were extremely perturbed when their son started to talk strangely about subjects such as death, suicide, misery and life after death.

“For two months, Ashar had not gone out of home to play as there were no children on streets. We took him to a psychologist, who said he needed counselling and care to overcome his depression and mental condition,” Ashar’s father told The News on Monday.

But Mrs Khan and the young Ashar are not alone in facing serious mental issues as a large number of people are facing extreme anxiety and depression due to the prevailing conditions in the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to experts, fake news, baseless propaganda, unverified content on social media and conspiracy theories about the pandemic have also played a major role in causing mental issues in the people, especially women and children.

“Fear, anxiety, depression and problems in having sound sleep are on the rise among the people these days due to the lack of interaction with their friends and family members as well as economic worries. Humans are social animals but when they are prevented from socialising, they get mentally disturbed,” said Prof Iqbal Afridi, the head of the psychiatry department at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre as he commented on the surge in mental issues these days.

Dr Afridi said due to bombardment of fake and unauthentic information, lack of interaction and absence of physical activities, people were getting mentally disturbed and if any of them contracted coronavirus, fear and anxiety also hampered their early recovery.

“Fear and anxiety results in deterioration in the immune system and delays the recovery of patients while if psycho-social support is provided to the COVID-19 patients, this speeds up their recovery from the viral infection," Prof Afridi said, adding that a family of seven that had tested positive for COVID-19 recovered within a week due to the psycho-social support given to them.

Another prominent psychiatrist and former head of the psychiatry department at the Civil Hospital Karachi Prof Dr Raza-ur-Rehman also blamed the lack of interaction with friends and family due to the lockdown, economic issues as well as non-scientific and fake information for the increasing anxiety and depression among the people and advised them to remain well informed while keeping their children away from electronic gadgets.

“People should acquire and rely on authentic and scientific information while they should keep their children away from gadgets and video games. They should talk to

their friends and family members regularly, if not physically, then on phone and other mediums to remain mentally healthy,” he said adding that people of all the age groups must also exercise to remain physically and mentally healthy.

Prof Raza said people should follow a routine and live a disciplined life, exercise regularly, share their feelings with their loved ones and friends, and be close to the nature as these activities reduce stress and prevent depression.

Other psychiatrists were of the opinion that in case of any abnormal behaviour and other warning signs, family members of the affected persons should support them and if need be, take them to some trained and qualified clinical psychologists and psychiatrists for help.