Mental conditions have been on a rise every year, due to several reasons. But the one specific and obvious reason that took a toll on mental health was the COVID-19 pandemic. Right from the fear of contracting the disease to unemployment, financial crisis, future uncertainty, etc. due to the pandemic, all contributed to depression, anxiety and stress in almost everyone around the world. At the same time, people with certain neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Dementia also suffered a lot due to improper medicine supply during lockdowns. Apart from this, cases of marital discord and domestic violence were also reported and people reached out to psychiatrists for help. Therefore, here are some of the mental conditions that greatly affected people this year.
Surge In The Cases Of Stress And Depression
Right from the beginning of this year, as soon as the COVID-19 outbreak began, cases started flaring up and the countries went under lockdown, there was a growing concern among the people about both the health and economic conditions. Also during lockdown, when no one was allowed to step out, people started feeling as if they were trapped in a jail. All this led to a rapid increase in the cases of depression amongst people.
A large number of cases of depression were also seen among those infected with the virus. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India, about 30% of COVID-19 patients suffered from depression and anxiety. Apart from this, since people were forced to live with each other at home, mutual dissatisfaction among them led to domestic violence and family conflicts. This also increased the feeling of stress and depression in people.
Surprisingly, not only adults, children too became victims of anxiety and depression. Closure of schools and colleges, online classes, compulsion to stay home 24*7, resulted in anxiety, restlessness, increased pressure, depression, etc. This situation was so concerning that many state governments took initiative and started online counseling sessions for children.
Increase In Suicide Cases
As per the statistics, almost 8 lakh people in the world and about 2-3 lakh people in our country commit suicide every year. But this year, in 2020, the cases of suicide were almost doubled. The reason was depression, hopelessness and uncertainty, which triggered suicidal tendencies in many people of all ages, including some popular film and TV stars. Seeing the surge in suicide cases, many psychiatrists at the state and national level came together to offer online counselling and psychiatric advice to discourage people from giving up their lives.
Pre-existing Conditions Worsened.
Due to complete lockdown in many countries, people suffering from conditions such as Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia, Dementia and Perkinson's faced adverse situations as there was unavailability of medicines and other medical facilities. In addition to this, shut down of psychiatric institutions and insufficient supply of medicines led to problems in proper treatment of people suffering from mental conditions.
Increase In The Cases Of Insomnia
Due to increased stress at home, workplace and in personal life became the reason for insomnia in people of all ages. According to this year’s statistics, the number of patients of insomnia increased from 10% to 33%, which is more than thrice.
Increased Phobias
This year because of the adverse circumstances, people were more fearful and developed various types of phobias, whether it be the phobia of sanitizing everything before using or fear of stepping out of their homes. People were more scared than ever, since the disease is fatal.
Therefore, this year, almost everyone was a victim of one or the other mental condition, be it mild or severe. People were also obsessed with cleaning and sanitizing things multiple times to be sure that they did not bring home the virus. Even after the restrictions were eased, most of them preferred staying home, which made them feel lonely and lousy. But hopefully, the year 2021 will be rather cheerful.
