As the State reels under the coronavirus pandemic for the second time pushing the healthcare facility on verge of collapse, people’s physical as well as mental health is a cause of concern. The Ranchi district administration to address the mental health of people along with Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) has launched a 24 hour helpline number.
The helpline number has three categories — general mental care, child and adolescent mental care and suicide prevention. CIP director Dr Basudev Das said, “The helpline number was launched last year when Covid cases started hitting the country. However, when there was a fall in Covid cases the helpline discontinued, but last month when Covid cases once again getting surge the CIP decided to revive the helpline number with the help and assistance of district administration.”
Das said, “Majority of callers making calls are suffering from mental distress, depression, anxiety and other psychological problems. These mental problems such as depression and anxiety have gone up among people due to rise in Covid cases.” On an average the helpline number gets 30 to 40 calls per day.
The help line tries to address individual problems through telephonic conversation counselling people, but in serious cases the patient is even called to the institute for counselling. The biggest advantage of helpline number is separate unit working for suicide prevention.
It may be observed that cases of suicide have gone up in State due to Covid pandemic. As the pandemic has hit people physically and financially it has resulted in depression and anxiety among people which leads to suicide tendencies. If these suicide tendencies are not treated at time it will lead to serious situation with people even committing suicide.
Das said, “The centre with its help line number since it was launched has helped people in different ways. “ Das giving an example said that recently a senior government official who and his son are tested Covid positive and undergoing treatment at Delhi called him as his son was under depression. The CIP director claimed that proper counselling by the CIP team helped a lot in relieving youth’s mental stress.
Some of the reasons behind mental stress and depression are fear of disease as large numbers of people are affected. Also, working from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues has led to depression and anxiety.
At the helpline callers are also informed about the ways to maintain stress which includes regular exercise, taking a break from television and taking adequate rest. The other way to beat the stress is maintaining a healthy diet as unnecessary stress can cause you to overeat or eat unhealthy, adversely affecting your metabolism. Practice Good Hygiene habits, getting organized are other ways to beat the stress.