Impact of Covid-19 on Human Psychology

Covid-19 is a very dangerous virus which is spreading very rapidly across the globe. There is a natural and normal reaction of fear and stress to the changing and uncertain situation that everyone finds themselves in. Lockdown is only a preventive measure to avert community infection, wearing masks, maintaining social distance, washing hands with sanitizer, enhancing immunity power, and the following hygiene should be taken to save ourselves.

As we know, due to Covid-19 people are living together with their family members, but the other side of the coin is they are fade up with each other because of the lockdown. They want to escape from their near and dear ones. Although all children perceptive to change, young children may find the changes that have taken place difficult to understand, and both young and older children may express irritability and anger. Covid-19 engirdles children into four walls. Therefore, their child’s play, childhood, hide and seek play are disrupted due to confinement under adverse circumstances. Their blooming portal will be obstructed at the outset. On the other hand, their mental strength will be concentrated hygienically with their studies without parental care.

The psychological impacts on older people include anxiety and feeling stressed or angry. No doubt Covid-19 is killing people daily worldwide and its effects on the body are known to one and all. But people will also die because of its psychological impact, slowly and silently, and that will not make any headlines. Although all age groups are at risk of contracting COVID-19, older persons are at a significantly higher risk of mortality and severe disease is following infection, with those over 80 years old dying at five times the average rate. An estimated 66% of people aged 70 and over have at least one underlying condition, placing them at increased risk of severe impact from COVID-19. Today everyone is busy ascertaining the effects of the disease on people’s physical health, the economy and the nation at large. Therefore, World Health Organization (WHO) had issued guidelines for managing the problem from psychological point of view. Let me share my experience with you. In the third lockdown the state government has given permission to those who wants to go their houses. For that the passenger should have to upload his or her physical fitness along with the online application form. When I went to the Civil hospital with my mother there was huge queue for taking swab test. The civil doctor has taken the test through the swab machine and very surprisingly asked me a few questions and said wait for a while. My mother’s test was normal. A few minutes later the same doctor called me and took the swab test and said now it is ok. During this five to ten minutes, me and my mother was in a shocking and in a tense mood that I am a Corona positive person. It means the same swab test increased my fear and stress and disturbed my psychology.

The worse impact of Covid-19 is on middle class people. The reason is that, their bread and butter are depending on their small occupations which are totally stopped by the government due to Corona virus. These people are eagerly waiting for stop the lockdown. Their dreams are cut into pieces. Even in this time of physical distancing, it’s critical to seek social support and connection with others. It’s also important to know the signs of anxiety, panic attacks, depression and suicide so you can easily identify them, not just among your family, friends and neighbors, but for yourself. Many of these young people had migrated to, or had families who already lived in, urban areas. This move is linked with smaller family sizes and higher female literacy. So, more and more people aspired to and attained Levels 3 and 4 in these economies, increasing the numbers of consumers (i.e. people who are able to buy goods and services).

Many countries implemented quarantine or isolation method to the people for controlling the pandemic situation. People considered it as a psychological burden. Apart from physical sufferings, the consequences of this quarantine on the mental health and well-being at personal and population levels are many fold. Quarantine situation applied to nationwide and it produces mass hysteria, anxiety and distress, due to factors like sense of getting cornered and loss of control. It can be intensified if families need separation, by uncertainty of disease progression, insufficient supply of basic essentials, financial losses, increased perception of risk, which usually get magnified by vague information and improper communications through media in the early phase of a pandemic. Previous outbreaks have reported that psychological impact of quarantine can vary from immediate effects, like irritability, fear of contracting and spreading infection to family members, anger, confusion, frustration, loneliness, denial, anxiety, depression, insomnia, despair, to extremes of consequences, including suicide. Suspected isolated cases may suffer from anxiety due to uncertainty about their health status and develop obsessive-compulsive symptoms, such as repeated temperature checks and sterilization. Effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder have been reported, symptoms of which have been positively associated with the duration of quarantine. Post-quarantine psychological effects may include significant socio-economic distress and psychological symptoms due to financial losses. Another very important aspect is stigmatization and societal rejection regarding the quarantined cordon in forms of discrimination, suspicion and avoidance by neighborhood, insecurity regarding properties, workplace prejudice, and withdrawal from social events even after containment of epidemics. HCPs are also likely to perceive greater stigmatization than the general public for being quarantined and consistently more affected psychologically. Children who are (or suspected to be) infected with COVID-19 and need isolation or quarantine might require special attention to meet their fear, anxiety and other psychological effects.

According to Dr. Krystal M. Lewis, who is evidence based clinical psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health NIMH (USA), which is the largest research organization in the world specializing in mental illness, “Covid-19 has caused increased anxiety and panic given the health risks. Those with anxiety around health and wellness, contamination and germs, safety, and separation from family members and loved ones may experience increases in mental health difficulties.”

Thus this trauma of pandemic will hang the humans psyche for a long time.

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Dr. Sambhaji Vaman Narute, Assistant Professor of English, S.S.V.P. Sanstha’s Arts and Commerce College, Dhule (MS)