It can be difficult to keep your mental health in check while in quarantine, here are some tips to protect your mental health amid the Coronavirus Lockdown.

The number of patients with coronavirus is rising at a rapid rate and people may face a lot of challenges during the lockdown days and this, in turn, can snatch away their peace. People may get anxious, scared, panic, paranoid, depressed and even suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To help people enhance their mental well-being, listed below are some important strategies. Here are some tips to Protect Mental Health During the Lockdown by Dr Sonal Anand, Psychiatrist, Wockhardt Hospital, Mira Road.

Tips for protecting mental health amid Coronavirus lockdown

What people may experience during coronavirus?

  • Panic attacks: With the news of the novel Coronavirus, people are suffering from panic attacks. When people get anxious they tend to suffer from panic attacks.
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): It is an anxiety disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively. There are two vital things when it comes to OCD, one – people already being diagnosed with it and may have re-emergence of an old problem. They may be fine before the COVID-19 outbreak. Likewise, new OCD cases have also emerged owing to the fear in the minds of people. They feel that even they may get infected by coronavirus if they do not wash their hands, disinfect their house or step out of the house.
  • Psychosis: It can be described as a condition that affects the way your brain processes information. One might see, hear, or believe things that aren’t real. It is a symptom and not an illness. This may happen when one stops taking medications that lead to reemergent of psychosis. Also, new psychosis cases can also emerge because of anxiety.
  • Depression: Since, staying at home and social distancing is recommended, people are living a mundane life now and are unable to disclose their feelings to anyone. This may trigger a depressive episode and people may end up feeling lonely as well.