How to protect yourself from psychological issues like PTSD during coronavirus pandemic?
By: Hamza Arshad
Tags: Anxiety, PTSD, Coronavirus

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is most commonly found in people who are facing bad experiences during Covid-19 like loss of dear-ones and witness severity of the disease by patients.

The beginning of a new year 2020 brought an epidemic disease that put whole world to adopt new lifestyle to keep themselves safe. This wave of pandemic urge people to experience unemployment, social distancing and witness huge number of deaths etc. By experiencing worse situations in life people are facing many psychological health problems like anxiety, depression, frustration, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), acute stress disorder and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) etc. Post-traumatic stress disorder is most commonly found among people due to widespread of pandemic Covid-19. People suffering from PTSD might experience distressing recollections, distressing dreams, illusions, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, irritability and poor concentration etc. The most common reasons for people suffering from PTSD are; some have previous history of mental health issues that make them more vulnerable to post traumatic stress disorder as well as sudden changes in daily life routine like social distancing, survivors of deadly disease, witnessing deaths of dear ones and phobias have also affected mental health of individuals.

Causes of PTSD

In present era most of the people around the world are experiencing many mental health issues including anxiety, frustration, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) etc. People with previous history of mental health problems are more susceptible to develop symptoms of PTSD. Due to the spread of Covid-19 new problems are emerging, people already showing symptoms of acute stress disorder. When they exposed to worse experiences, so it converts into post-traumatic stress disorder.

People are experiencing social distancing which has changed their normal routine of going to office, schools, and colleges. People are limited to their homes and are not able to meet their family and friends that has made them stressed, frustrated, and depressed. The quarantine has great influence on the mental health. Daily life routine has taken new turn which has disturbed people severely. Almost all the world is under the lock down, the entertainment areas like restaurants, parks, casinos, and shopping malls are closed. So, it made the life of people hard. They found nowhere to refresh their minds and release stress. As a result, when people encounter with severity of the disease already present stress symptoms trigger PTSD.

The survivor of corona virus needs to consult with psychotherapist to conform that they are mentally healthy as well because the survivors experience isolation, medication, and fear to die. They witness other patients in worsen state in ventilators. They observe the severity of the diseases and its pain. They witness many deaths in front of them. Such bad experience leaves a deep effect in their mind. The person who is survived from corona virus, always try to avoid all bad memories related to his quarantine period. Also, he can develop feelings of regret that many patients died in front of him, but he survived. Such thoughts can make him restless and anxious. As they pass such a bad experience that effected their soul deeply, they develop symptoms of PTSD like distressing recollections, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping and poor concentration etc.

Many people lost their loved ones due to Covid-19. Many families of most effected area of corona virus experienced death of two or more members. The death toll is increasing day by day that spread fear among people in higher level. The death of dear ones leaves a deep impact in life of people. Some people lost head of their family whom they depend financially, thus the left family members might be anxious about the upcoming difficulties they might face in future. Few lost their mothers whom they get affection and unconditional love, the loss of such person influences the life of remaining members. People lost their fathers, mothers, uncles, grandparents, and friends. The separation of such important figures of life disturbed people very badly. Individuals who have encountered separation of dear ones can develop PTSD easily.

People are afraid that they might become victim of coronavirus that give arousal of many phobias. They can develop phobia of catching germs from others or the phobia of death if they caught disease. While watching many people catching disease in front of them, they became petrified. Thus, they develop hyper-vigilance and exaggerated startle response. When these symptoms prolong, they urge restlessness, irritability, and illusions. Countries where more deaths are caused due to Covid-19 like America, Italy, Spain, UK, and China etc. fear of death is also increased. These fears may lead to PTSD among people.

REMEDIES

During Covid-19 pandemic, its possible to develop psychological problems but one can use few strategies to cope with such problems:

· People can release their stress by adopting healthy habits like go to sleep in time, get up early in the morning and do exercise.

· Meditation is one of the best techniques to keep mind sound and peaceful. Take 10-15 min in morning, sit on a peaceful corner of your home, close your eyes, and concentrate. It can be helpful to release stress and anxieties.

· Healthy eating habits keep you physically and mentally healthy. Try to eat nutritious food including carbs and vitamins (e.g. grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and nuts etc.).

· If you are experiencing serious mental issues like anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts etc. you can contact SAMHSA’ s National Helpline. It is providing 24/7 free and confidential services.

· One the effective technique used by psychotherapists is Psychological debriefing. It is a form of crisis intervention that has victims of trauma talk extensively about their feelings and reactions within days of critical incident. It is based on the assumption that such sessions prevent or reduce stress reactions. They are often applied to trauma victims who have not yet displayed any symptoms at all as well as those who have.