Mental Health and COVID-19 – 50% youth subjected to depression, anxiety during COVID

Mental Health and COVID-19:The present unpredicted times have called for changes that we had to accept which we were unprepared for.  Apart from taking an immense toll on our daily livelihood, global economy, business, jobs, travels, education and what not, the COVID-19 had a very serious impact on our mental health. 2020 is reported to be the year with very high depression and suicide. Mental health of people became bad due to the sudden imbalance in their life. Stress, fear of job loss above that lockdown had a very major impact on human mental health and people slowly slipped to the way of depression.

People around the world have been forced to knot them within the four walls of their homes, a situation which they never been used to. Apart from jobless and income cut there had been enough reason for people to fall into clutches of depression. People had a fear of losing their precious time which also made them unproductive. There were thousands of methods circulating to make the time more productive but people utilized this time is very low and majority of them felt the feeling of hopelessness and unproductive. 

Read - Suicide and Depression-Reason for Depression and Suicide 👈

Fear, anxiety and stress are common reactions to perceived or real threats and when we experience uncertainty or anonymity. The fear of contracting a virus in an infection like COVID-19 is a significant change in our daily lives because our movements are limited in support of efforts to prevent and slow the spread of the virus. When faced with new realities such as working from home, temporary unemployment, children's home education and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it is important to take care of our mental, as well as our physical, health WHO has previously pointed out chronic mental health deficiencies even before the spread of COVID-19 , Countries spend less than 2 percent of their national health budget on mental health and are struggling to meet the needs of their population.

Mental Health and COVID-19 Pandemic 

The impact of Coronavirus on human health is well known and even the number of deaths caused by coronavirus is very high. Even we all are aware that the after effect of COVID-19 is very bad and even there are cases reporting tiredness, losing strength, even cases of other long term diseases. Country's health care has taken measures to treat the after effects of COVID-19 very seriously but it will be shocking to know that one out of five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days of COVID attack. 

Anxiety, depression and insomnia were the most common in the recovered COVID-19 patients in the study, they developed mental health problems and the researchers found a higher risk of dementia, a condition of brain weakness. According to research, most COVID-19 survivors are at risk for mental illness, psychiatrists said after a large study confirmed that 20% of people infected with coronavirus have a mental disorder.

According to a new WHO survey, the COVID-19 pandemic has damaged or disrupted critical mental health services in 93% of the world's countries. The survey of 130 countries provides the first global data showing the devastating effects of COVID-19 on access to mental health.

Reasons for discontinuation include inadequate number or reassignment of health workers in the COVID-19 response (30% of countries), blockade of COVID-19 mental health facilities or treatment facilities (in 19% of countries), and inadequate supply. Although 116 (89%) countries reported that mental health and psychological support were part of their national COVID-19 response plans, only 17% promised additional funding. The report cites the COVID-19 epidemic as having a major impact on mental health and the well-being of the population worldwide. As the capacity to respond is low, it is unclear how the world will cope with this emerging mental health crisis.

Reason For Mental Illness During COVID-19

Impact of Covid-19 on mental health is very big, one out of 5 patients having mental illness is very high and the number may increase in some countries. The main reason for increasing mental illness during Covid-19 is due to fear, people are living in the fear of coronavirus attack above that they are in the fear of losing their jobs, economic problems, losing all pleasure trips and all happy moments and there are so many reasons. 

Lack of freedom was another major factor for increasing mental illness, since humans are social animals they need interaction from society, since they got locked in their house they lost everything, even we were not able to go for any trips or any outing which usually refresh our mind.

Economic impact was also very high, people lost their jobs, except food and medicals all business were shut down and people had nothing in their hand, which eventually affected the mental health of majority of people. 

Studies in Wuhan and Australia have shown a high level of frustration among frontline healthcare workers and people in societies with high infection rates. Such pre-stress and anxiety along with loneliness can affect not only mental health, but also a deteriorating quality of life and ultimately a person’s health choices.

Many people cannot visit a mental health professional or hospital due to lack of movement restrictions and transportation options.

There is also a temporary deficiency of antipsychotic medications for people with severe mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's.

50% youth subjected to depression, anxiety due to COVID

Youth subjected to had greater mental illness or depression, majority of youth had fear about their career and future. Most of them who had just started their career had very high fear of jobless, salary cut in companies is also a major cause. Almost all entertainment points in the life of every youth was locked down during the COVID-19.

The last eight months (and the rest) have been unprecedented and challenging in many ways. Fear of catching COVID, health problems, stress, interruption, social loneliness have become burdensome. Lockdown has forced many to lose their jobs, extended work long hours in ways they do not use, stay away from friends and family and live life differently.

For the survey, more than 12,000 responses were received from 112 countries, mostly educated youth and those with Internet access. The survey included people aged 18-29 who were asked to talk about topics such as employment, education, mental health and social welfare.

In their 20s and 30s, job losses, damage to anxiety issues. Working from home, increasing working hours, and extra responsibilities as well as burnout symptoms can lead to a serious mental health crisis.

Nearly 50% of students have the fear of delay in their education and at least 9% had fear of failing in exams, even we saw cases where students commiting suicide due to the fear of failing. 

As Corona cases increased world wide, the concern of mental health and COVID-19 also increased, now WHO and other world organizations are considering the importance of mental health during covid-19, they started a process and plans to help people with mental illness.