Lockdown Menace

Though extension of Lockdown due to outbreak of COVID 2019 virus is an essential step towards safety of citizens, it may give mental health issues to a lot more.

I have been counseling 3-4 people daily and each day I hear them to understand about effects of Lockdown on their lives

a) how and why they are getting into depression with uncertain state of affairs

b) how and why they have started having anxiety issues

Out of 109 people who called during the Lockdown

42 spoke about financial crisis they are facing with slashed salaries / No salaries / no business income and yet paying EMIs pertaining to business loan, home loan, vehicle loan, rentals for home /business , school fees, grocery expenses, fixed expenses like electricity bills, maintenance charges, salaries to their office staff, Internet, Cable, phone bills, medicines. 2 Startup owners who began their journey last year and were thinking to break-even in few more months are finding difficult to even sustain for next 2 months.

37 spoke about employment related issues – on one had there are few employees with too much work pressure with deadlines with continuous monitoring & evaluation and on other hand employees having very less workload which has indicated management how less important their job profile is and they may lose their jobs soon. A few associated with essential services like Electricity department, Logistics,Banks,Water and Sanitation Department, Hospital Staff, Police and other Security personnel are feeling too much exposed to the infection than others as they cannot Work From Home. These frontline workers find themselves different from rest of the crowd as they have to perform duties with highest degree of responsibility and accountability with limited resources.

13 students spoke about uncertain career path – whether they have selected correct course, what job avenues will be available, future of competitive exams and other selection boards, whether they will land in good jobs during campus recruitment ,a few shared that regret letters from the companies owing to changes in business plans

12 spoke about getting mentally disturbed and distracted as they have been actively participating in various social media groups having political debates, communal discussions, getting exposed to fake news items, hate speeches almost everyday. Some of them even shared that they lost their friends and have started experiencing distance from relatives for sharing their opinions on public platforms.

2 spoke about health issues like gaining weight due to excess eating and sleeping. Their bodies are getting accustomed to rest for hours. Quantity of sleep has increased by 2 hours as they cant keep themselves productive.

2 social media influencers spoke about feeling too low and losing their Followers as they don’t have much of content to share. One of them is into Travel blogging and other one is a Food Blogger. Both of them shared that how they got used to high affiliation (collaborating and partnering with brands) and used to engage with 100s of followers (Likes, Comments, Shares) on all social media platforms.

1 spoke about domestic violence due to increased frustration of their spouse as they are facing a lot of financial crisis being in the category of freelancers, daily bread earners who had no fixed income and were dependent on their skills. Now without income they are struggling with routine expenses and not able to fulfill basic daily needs.

It is said “When in Doubt, Coach it Out !”

As a Counselor I take my job very seriously and I ensure that when I talk to callers from different walks of life I listen to them patiently because each of them have different situations. There are no tailor-made solutions to problems.

Many times we need to understand what went wrong from the perspective of an unbiased person and due to structured thinking many of us are not able to see possibilities ahead.

As a Counselor I work with individuals, groups and communities to improve mental health. I encourage people to discuss emotions and experiences so that I can offer on-time guidance which enables them to deal with issues that can affect their mental health and well-being.

Feel free to connect with me if you have similar experiences to share and if you wish to know best ways to sail through this phase.