Good mental health key to fight coronavirus, say experts By Manisha Rege

Mumbai, Apr 9 () While living in unprecedentedtimes, people are not only battling the fear of coronavirus,but are also gripped with anxiety and worry of losing theirsource of income amid the economic crisis due to the lockdown.

Mental health experts say taking less stress over theviral disease, spending quality time with family and indulgingin creative activities can help overcome the feeling of beingdepressed and vulnerable during this time of crisis.

The lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreakhas twoextreme reactions - fear and worry over an uncertainfuture, and careless attitude and ignorance about theprevailing threat of spread of the virus, Mumbai-basedpsychiatrist Rajendra Barve told .

"The second kind of people are in a denial mode. Weare cornered from all sides by this virus. The confusion cutsacross caste, religion, region barriers. The only silverlining for us is that symptoms (of worry and anxiety) aremild and there is no morbidity," he said.

Every aspect of our life, be it health, financial orrelationships, has been affected, he said.

During the lockdown, social media is helping people tobe happy as some have been posting pictures of theiractivities which they did not do on other days, like cookingor cleaning the house, he said.

For people from lower rung sections who are facing anexistential crisis, Barve gave tips like "don't change yourroutine and spend quality time with the family. If you arespending more time with family, don't waste it on raking upold issues and creating disputes. Have better and mutualunderstanding in relationships".

In stressful times, immunity levels can go down, hesaid, adding people need to have confidence in themselves.

"If you have a feeling of gratefulness, you will becalm. Focus on what you have and not what you don't," he said.

Referring to jokes circulating on social media, hesaid humour is good way to handle stress but one need not gettoo personal with such posts nor go far from reality.

He feels clapping, clanging plates and lighting lampsare good strategies to keep people united when people arestaring at uncertainty.

Psychiatrist Anand Nadkarni from neighbouring Thanesaid there are two types of stress- eustress, which isnecessary and distress, which is exaggerated.

"Both are universal conditions. Eustress is necessaryand optimum tension required to cope with the situation whiledistress is exaggerated unnecessary tension which harms copingwith the challenge.

A goal-related thinking is always with eustress, whilegoal-deviated thinking is distress, even though the thoughtmay not be wrong, he said.

"If my mind works on possible consequences andgenerating alternatives then it is eustress, it focuses onfactors within control and differentiates between factorswithin and beyond control," he said.

The factors within our control at present are oursecurity and that of our family. "When you think of factorswithin control, the emotions are of concern and factors beyondour control generate emotions of anxiety," he said.

He said in the present situation, even if oneautomatically goes in distress, it is in self-interest thatthe person consciously brings himselfon the eustress track.

"When circumstances are difficult, people are likelytobe pushed towards distress. It depends on how the humanmind looks and evaluates these circumstances," he said.

Radhika Nadkarny, a Pune-based behavioural learningand development professional, said during stress, the best todo is accept/acknowledge the stress, pause and reflect on bothmental and physical health.

"Make time your ally, learn to relax, recharge andplan it wisely...focus on both people and solitude," she said.

"In times of stress, the best thing we can do foreach other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to beassured that our questions are just as important as ouranswers," she added.

Goa-based architect Rohit Hede said he is using thelockdown time to indulge in activities like painting.

"I have an incomplete painting which I started sixyears back. But, all these years I was so busy with work thatthe canvas remained incomplete," he said.

But thanks to the lockdown, he completed it in justone-and-a-half hours. "Now, many other items on my to do listare getting done," he said. MRGK GK