ISSN: 2456-8090 (online)

DOI: 10.26440/IHRJ/0505.08446

 

COVID-19: A Long-Term Tale of Mental Health Extortion

VIBHOR DUDHRAJ1 , J. SWAMINATHAN2, RAJINI CHAWLA3, ARTI BAHL*4

 

Cite this article as: Dudhraj V, Swaminathan J, Chawla R, Bahl A. COVID-19: A Long-Term Tale of Mental Health Extortion. Int Healthc Res J. 2021;5(5):LE1-LE2. https://doi.org/10.26440/IHRJ/0505.08446

Author Affiliations:

  1. BDS, MPH, Department of Public Health, School of Allied Health Sciences, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University (DPSRU), Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Pushp Vihar, New Delhi, Delhi-110017 (https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-9661-1030)
  2. Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, School of Allied Health Sciences, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University (DPSRU), Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Pushp Vihar, New Delhi, Delhi-110017
  3. Clinical Psychologist, Department of PMR, Lady Harding Medical College & Kalawati Saran Children’s Hopsital, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi-110001
  4. Joint Director, Div. of Epidemiology National Centre for Disease Control Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, 22, Sham Nath Marg, Civil Lines, New Delhi, Delhi-110054

Contact Corresponding Author at: artichitkara[at]gmail[dot]com 

 

To the Editor,

I read with interest the study by Shweta et al. on the Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on the mental health of children and adolescents, which has brought to light a situation that is causing alarm among all.1,2 I aim to share my views about the difficulties and challenges that children and parents encounter at the Department of PMR at Kalawati Saran Child Hospital, which is affiliated with Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi. The psychological stress of being confined in homes and institutions may be worse than the virus's physical torment. School closures, a lack of outdoor activity, and irregular eating and sleeping habits are all likely to disrupt children's typical patterns, leading to monotony, discomfort, agitation, aggravation, and a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms. The Covid-19 outbreak had a significant impact on these children, making them more aggressive and less social. Despite the fact that most children have extra time to connect with their parents as a result of the lockdown3, but SARS-CoV2 is more likely to damage unattended children with intellectual impairments and problems, such as autistic spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

In the statement, it is said that children's appropriate well-being is dependent not only on dietary and medical treatment, but also on good parental companionship, as the notion of nuclear families has posed a threat to their mental well-being in recent decades. A vicious cycle of psychological stress, forced home-stay due to a pandemic, and lifestyle changes will compound the detrimental effects on a child's overall health.4 

Children confined during pandemics, according to Sprang and colleagues, may acquire a variety of symptoms linked with psychological stress and disorders,   such    as   anxiety, acute   stress  disorder, adjustment disorder, and post-traumatic stress symptoms.5 Children with intellectual disabilities, as we all know, require particular care and attention from an early age. A child's physical and cognitive maturation occurs when he or she develops from 3 to 10 years old.6 

To reduce the psychosocial effects of COVID-19 on children and adolescents, proactive and focused therapies may be given. Parents, doctors, psychologists, social workers, hospital managers, government officials, and non-governmental organisations all play important roles in the mission's success. Teaching children how to manage with anxiety and other mental health issues may help them grow into confident and resilient adults, making our society a better place for everyone. In order to recognise early indications of mental health concerns, caregivers and instructors must be educated about the possible mental health challenges of children and adolescents in the aftermath and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We acknowledge the enormous sacrifice of our children and family that gives us the strength to continue our tireless effort to combat this pandemic. 

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES

  1. Singh S, Roy MD, Sinha CP, Parveen CP, Sharma CP, Joshi CP. Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations. Psychiatry Research 2020:113429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113429
  2. Gautam A, Dhara B, Mukherjee D, Mukhopadhyay D, Roy S, et al. A Digital Survey on the Acceptance and Affordability of  COVID  19  Vaccine among the People of West Bengal, India-A Survey Based Study. medRxiv. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.13.20229534
  1. Ghosh R, Dubey MJ, Chatterjee S, Dubey S. Impact of COVID-19 on children: special focus on the psychosocial aspect. Minerva Pediatrica. 2020;72(3):226-35. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0026-4946.20.05887-9
  2. Wang G, Zhang Y, Zhao J, Zhang J, Jiang F. Mitigate the effects of home confinement on children during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet. 2020;395(10228):945-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30547-X
  3. Sprang G, Silman M. Posttraumatic stress disorder in parents and youth after health-related disasters. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness. 2013;7(1):105-10. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2013.22
  4. Dubey S, Dubey MJ, Ghosh R, Chatterjee S. Children of frontline coronavirus disease-2019 warriors: our observations. The Journal of Pediatrics 2020;224:188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.05.026

 

© Vibhor Dudhraj et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY-NC 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the use is not commercial and the original author(s) and source are cited.

Submitted on:  02-Aug-2021;  Accepted on: 26-Aug-2021