Under lockdown, plaints of stress, depression setting in pile up

Strap: “If the stress gets severe and acute, it leads to many complications and patients might have to be put on stringent medical treatment. But in its early stage, family cooperation, meditation and exercise can relieve the sufferer,” a psychologist-cum-general physician

Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 15

Amid the ongoing lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, a pall of gloom has started descending upon residents of Jammu who are complaining of depression and uneasiness overtaking upon them.

While doctors and counsellors claim that such situation is often witnessed among people under confinement due to different reasons, they say meditation and exercise is the best medicine to cope up with the stress.

“If the stress gets severe and acute, it leads to many complications and patients might have to be put on stringent medical treatment. But in its early stage, family cooperation, meditation and exercise can relieve the sufferer,” a psychologist-cum-general physician at Kacchi Chhawni said.

Meanwhile, reports pouring in from various areas state that people started feeling more stressed after the news of likelihood of the lockdown getting extended went viral.

Though people responded to the 21-day lockdown with positivity, the spike in Covid cases pan India and the news about the lockdown likely to be extended has started making people uneasy.

“I am seeing behavioral changes in my son who has started responding rudely to everything. Earlier, he used to put up a calm composure, but there is a sudden drift in his demeanor,” said Shalini Sharma, a housewife.

A similar attitude is being reported among people of different age, mostly men.

It is pertinent to mention that Jammu, in 2008, had witnessed a much longer lockdown during the Amarnath land row, but no such case was reported from any corner.

“Amarnath land row lockdown was self imposed by the people, with a common cause and a belief. It had no unseen enemy which took lives like Covid is doing. Besides, there is no breakthrough in sight for this disease while social distancing and lockdown are getting extended and all of it is taking a toll on human psyche,” said the counsellor.