(By Aijaz Hussain)
The novel coronavirus has adversely affected the lives of a lot of people. It is because of this reason that people have termed 2020 as the one of the worst years they have ever seen.
To prevent its transmission, governments all over the world imposed lockdowns which even continue till now. This has severely affected the economy of these nations, the sporting fraternity, tourist industries as well as the import and export of goods.
Perhaps the most serious of issues is how this has taken a toll on people’s mental health condition. Being in isolation and not meeting your friends and family and that in such an abrupt style, proved to be a big ask for a lot of people. Humans are social animals, which means they need to meet and interact with others in order to make their minds function properly, especially in a country like Pakistan where this is the main form of recreation for people.
Due to this, people have started spending longer hours on their mobile phones surfing through the feeds of various social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Mental health experts have concluded that this not only contributes to feelings of depression, anxiety, and trauma, but can also cause major damage to the human eye.
Depression has also resulted in causing sleep and eating disorders. Apart from this, studies have shown that this can also lead to a turned-down lifestyle quality. People had to experience post-traumatic stress and growth in aggressiveness because of the way they were made redundant by their firms.
Furthermore, mental health experts have also predicted that there will be a new sort of mental condition in which people will find difficulty with returning to their normal lives after the pandemic is over.
Then there is the ever-lurking risk of contracting the virus which causes the worst form of stress in such circumstances. Old-aged and sick individuals are the ones who are mostly at the receiving end of this. The danger of getting infected and potentially transmitting it to their loved ones can put more strain on the mind.
It is therefore for this reason, doctors and mental health physicians are constantly asking people to take extra care of their mental health during this pandemic. They encourage them to try in engaging activities which may keep them busy so that the impending implications of the lockdowns do not further worsen their mental health situation.
