Coping With Covid-19 Pandemic

What is Covid-19 COVID-19 is a newly found virus first discovered in the Wuhan district of China. It went on to spread across the world and on March 11th, 2020 the World Health Organisation declared it a global pandemic. The virus affects the respiratory tract and is very contagious. It is one of the 7 types of coronavirus including MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

A father who was himself Covid-19 positive, talks about his 12 year old son's neurological symptoms like headaches, eye aches and surprising falls which were eventually diagnosed as Covid-19 and their journey to recovery.   I work for the Navy and was scheduled to go visit a ship docked in Mumbai. The new pandemic regulations required that I take a COVID test as a prerequisite. Surprisingly, the test came back positive. This was on 7th July and I went into home quarantine for 17 days…

Dr. Manvir Bhatia, Senior Consultant in Neurology and Sleep medicine, says that the pandemic has severely affected the crucial sleep-wake rhythm of people impacting their mental and physical health, leading to chronic insomnia. She highlights the role of sleep in building immunity and recommends some tips for better sleep. We have been hearing and reading about an increase in the number of people suffering from disturbed sleep patterns and poor quality of sleep due to Covid-19. Have you seen a…

Dr Keerthana Rajkumar, a young doctor from CMC Vellore, recounts how her personal experience as a patient with Coronavirus changed her perspective on healthcare and fundamentally transformed the way she practices medicine. It was 2 pm on a hot and humid afternoon in Vellore. I was slightly late for my shift at Christian Medical College (CMC). It was the first day of my medical training. Hustling through the hospital corridors, suddenly I felt uneasy. In my head I was going over the sequence in…

Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) India recently did a cross sectional study on the association between family distress on loneliness and coping during COVID-19. Researcher Sanjana Goutham explains findings and suggests solutions. Can you describe the study on loneliness during Covid-19? The present study was done to estimate the prevalence of loneliness among general population during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Along with that, association between family distress and loneliness…

Parmeet Kaur Soni, Consultant, Clinical Psychologist, Mental Health Foundation, Kolkata, talks about how family members can support their children, when a family member or a close relative is diagnosed as Covid positive. We are increasingly hearing of children of all ages becoming increasingly anxious and even clingy when a family member is affected. We spoke to Parmeet Kaur Soni, a clinical psychologist on how families can navigate these difficult pandemic times.  The following steps…

डॉ। कल्याणी नित्यानंदन, एक 85 वर्षीय कार्डियोलॉजिस्ट, अकेले रहती हैं। इस लेख में वे हमारे साथ साझा करती हैं कि कैसे कार्डियक इमरजेंसी के लिए खुद को तैयार करें और कोविड -19 लॉकडाउन के दौरान खुद को खुश और उत्साहित कैसे रखें। जब तक मेरी माँ वरिष्ठ नागरिक बनने की उम्र तक पहुँचीं, तब तक वे विधवा बन चुकी थीं और वे अपना कोई घर नहीं चला रही थीं। उनके दो बच्चे चेन्नई में ही थे और दो भारत में अन्य जगह थे। वे अपना समय उन के बीच विभाजित कर रही थीं। हर घर में उन्होंने अपने कुछ जोड़ी कपड़े छोड़े हुए थे, और साथ…

Usha Jesudasan, who is affected by polio, diabetes and breast cancer and is an author of many self-help and inspirational books, rationalises how Covid which so destroyed her with the fear of dying alone, actually taught her how to live better. Death is no stranger to me. One balmy afternoon in February 1997, I sat holding my husband Kumar’s hand, as he slipped peacefully away from this world. It was his desire to die in our bed, with our three young children, his best friends and close family…

Anand Singh of Indore, 60 was worried that being a smoker he was more vulnerable to Covid-19 virus. Having once given up smoking, he made yet another concerted effort to quit smoking. Read what worked for him. As the lock down in the wake of Corona virus progressed, there were warnings aplenty in the public domain that elderly persons and smokers were vulnerable to Corona. It was also getting difficult to get my brand of cigarettes. These were reasons enough for me, aged 60, to give up…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives and livelihoods and is causing a lot of stress and anxiety. Psychotherapist H'vovi Bhagwagar advises people on how they can learn to accept uncertainty and channel unproductive worrying into problem solving.  As humans, we find safety in predictability and certainty. We prefer having information about our family’s whereabouts, making a list before going shopping and knowing we have a stable job. The COVID-19 pandemic has made life uncertain and…