BENGALURU: After the traumatic second wave of Covid 19, the biggest concern now is about how people cope with grief and fear.
During the panel discussion on ‘Surmounting the Second Wave — Pandemic Lessons on Dealing with Grief, Loss and Fear’, organised by the Bangalore International Centre, experts said many people may suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and there’s a need for innovative methods that spark hope and policy shifts.
Rohini Nilekani, writer and philanthropist, said grief, loss, and fear had rarely been encountered together by so many people all at once in the country.
“The Nimhans helpline received around 4.5 lakh calls, mostly from people with no history of clinical mental illness.
The psychosocial crisis was observed because of the fear of death, fear of not finding beds and oxygen shortages,” she said.
Another study cited by Nimhans showed that PTSD had gone up by 7-9% among those living in areas with more Covid cases.
She added that a shortage of mental health professionals was an issue, with just 9,000 certified psychiatrists for over 1.3 billion people.
Prabha Chandra, professor of psychiatry, Nimhans, said there was a shift in concerns haunting people.
While in the first wave, it was the stigma around the infection and economic losses, in the second, it was all about loss, grief, and death.