key: cord-0865208-f08i5dck
authors: Hiremath, Pavan; Suhas Kowshik, C S; Manjunath, Maitri; Shettar, Manjunath
title: COVID 19: Impact of Lock-down on Mental Health and Tips to Overcome
date: 2020-04-10
journal: Asian J Psychiatr
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102088
sha: e5886321aa449af79ecd3158dcb7aba93201cd6f
doc_id: 865208
cord_uid: f08i5dck

nan

The prime minister of India has declared a three-week nationwide lock-down starting from midnight the 25 th of March, 2020 to the 14 th of April, 2020, explaining that it was an essential and effective measure for breaking the COVID-19 infection cycle. Social distancing is a critical means to break the cycle of infection. There is a significant decrease in growth rate and increased doubling time of cases because of the lock-down [Lau et al., 2020] .

In addition to various psychological problems like depression, anxiety, and panic disorder, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe threats to the lives and physical health of people around the globe. [Qiu et al., 2020] . In response to the problems posed by the pandemic, various public health strategies such as isolation of infected or at-risk persons, reduction of social contact, and simple hygiene like frequent hand wash, have been advised to reduce the risk of infection. Although isolation helps in achieving the goal of reducing infections, reduced access to family, friends, and other social support systems causes loneliness increasing mental issues like anxiety and depression. [Zhou et al., 2020] .

During such stressful situations, the concerned government, hospitals, educational institutions, organizations, and even individuals need to look into psychological intervention and adopt necessary measures. In addition to educating individuals to stay isolated, it is vital to educate and prepare them to face the mental health issues they may endure during the period.

Hence, the following tips provided in the table below helps to overcome the impacts of lockdown on mental health [Banerjee, 2020; Dickerson, 2020; Zandifar & Badrfam, 2020] .

Anxiety  Recognize the fear. Remember that you are not isolated in feeling insecure.

J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f  Planning the daily routines helps in adapting quickly and managing anxiety.

 Divide your time clearly as work and non-work times. Make the same division in your headspace too.

 Identify an activity/hobby that brings you joy and perform it.

 Working in short bursts with clear breaks will help to maintain your clarity of thought.

 Several community teams have developed interactive platforms. Be active in groups you like.

 Spend time with loved ones.

 Be in touch with friends, family, and colleagues over social media or the phone.  Also, very essentially, and in relevance to the topic of this article, a toll-free helpline number "+91-80-45110007" has been launched by the "National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences" (NIMHANS), a Bengaluru based premier medical institution. Hence, this article addresses some of the necessary information regarding the challenges of mental health and the probable quick fixes, go-to points of contact, and other relevant information. It is imperative that every individual take care of their physical and mental health to stop the ongoing pandemic.

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors

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