When Richa Srivastava’s husband, daughter and son- in- law testing Covid positive, she stood up to the situation bravely. While her daughter and son-in-law were hospitalised, her husband was in home isolation. Last week, her brother tested Covid positive and within three days, he died. When she got the news, she was stunned. She sat down silently for a few minutes and started banging her head against the wall. She was taken to a hospital where she is under psychiatric treatment.
This is not an isolated case. The spurt in Covid infections in the second wave and news of deaths, struggle to get beds in hospitals and scarcity of medicines et al have left people traumatised. Their anxiety level has gone up reducing them into mental wrecks.
“Mental health is the biggest casualty this time but no one is talking about it. In this edition of corona infection there is five-fold increase in number of people seeking consultation about increase in anxiety as compared to last year and majority of them are doctors, para-medics or other caregivers who are witnessing the mayhem in hospitals very closely,” Dr Adarsh Tripathi  from Psychiatry department, King George’s Medical University in Lucknow, said.
The doctor said that medicos are used to witnessing innumerable deaths but this time the situation has been different because of the prevailing circumstances about struggle to get oxygen and beds.
 “The fear that if this happens to them or their family members they will be able to get beds, oxygen or required medicine. This thought has raised their anxiety level and has started playing with their psyche and slowly pushing them towards depression,” Dr Tripathi said.
The symptoms of mental health disorder are low energy level, sluggish mental fitness and less enthusiasm about their work. They are negative in their thoughts and they talk more about death and fear.
Rajiv Dixit lost his father, younger brother and sister in-law to Covid in a span of 13 days. They visited him during Holi and as the Covid cases skyrocketed, Rajiv asked them to stay. Their deaths have  shattered him. “They died because of me … I killed them,” he told his wife. He was taken to a psychiatrist and is under medication.
The deaths have become the order of the day in this wave of Covid. “Last year, deaths were not this rampant. The number of cases went up gradually and deaths were rare. But this time, cases spiked uncontrollably and deaths became frequent. Every third house in a mohalla reported deaths. Two-three casualties have been reported from many families. People are now talking about the deaths and this has led them to fear psychosis,” medical officer of Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow Dr SK Pandey told this reporter.
Besides, many people are feeling guilty for not being able to support those around them. These factors are impacting people’s sense of self-confidence, positivity and resilience to cope up with the situation.
What has added to people’s anxiety is the continuous flow of news and information from different sources – TV and social media.  “We are living in an age of ‘over information’. Sometimes it is good but at the time of crisis, it is bad as people are exposed to information which is not relevant to them. This leads to thoughts and then dreams which necessitates medical consultation.
As doctors are grappling to control Covid, non-Covid treatment is closed. Tele-consultation is the only option, but it is not feasible for everyone to avail,” Dr Tripathi said, adding that psychological footprints are hidden, subtle and long lasting and are more in number than physical footprints.
The World Health Organisation estimated that 7.5% Indians are affected by mental health disorders. This number must have gone up because of the pandemic because India has 0.75 psychiatrists per 1 lakh population while WHO recommendation is of 3 doctors per lakh population.
“It is difficult to quantify the impact of pandemic on mental health of Indians as this is bound to hit the vulnerable sections more since they have much less access to mental health,” Dr Pandey said.