Understanding the impact of Covid19 pandemic on our mental health and ways to effectively cope with the same.

1. Mental Health and Corona
Dr Bhakti Murkey (MD Psychiatry)

2. Outline
 Stress in times of Corona
 Manifestation of Stress
 What is Mental Wellness?
 What is Mental Illness? (spectrum)
 Perceived Stress
 Coping Skills
 Importance of taking Help

3. Mental Health Pandemic
 Uncertainty creates Stress
 Stress begins as Anxiety
 Escalates into Depression
 Precipitates mental health Disorders
 Corona:
 Novel
 Lethal
 Mutating
 No treatment/ vaccine
 Social isolation/ loneliness
 Economic burden
 Unemployment
 Losing loved ones

4. What does Stress look like?
 Activation of Cortisol and Adrenaline
 Depletion of Serotonin
 Activation symptoms
 Mood changes
 Sleep/ Appetite disturbances
 Cognitive symptoms
 Behavioral changes
 Impact on functioning: social, occupational and interpersonal
 Smiling Depression?
 High functioning Depression?

5. Mental Wellness
 A sense of well-being
 A positive sense of how we feel, think and act
 Having realistic and objective thoughts
 Making it difficult for sadness to progress to depression or worry to
spiral into anxiety
 Ability to cope with and meet the psychological demands of life,
without undue fatigue
 Understanding what one can do as an individual to build a happy and
productive life

6.  Components:
 Emotional: Self-acceptance, building self-esteem, resilience and
the ability to manage strong emotions
 Social: Friendship brings companionship, support and enrichment
to our lives and also improves its quality
 Financial: It’s not about having a certain amount of money at your
disposal, rather about feeling in control of your finances, being
able to handle financial setbacks
 Physical: Mind-body paradigm

7. Mental Illness
 Bio-Psycho-Social model
 Disturbance of thoughts, feelings or behavior
 Subjective distress
 Impairment of functioning:
 Work performance
 Personal relationships
 Social connections
 Spectrum of normalcy v/s symptom presentation

8. Coping with Stress
 Eu-stress v/s Distress
 “Perceived” stress:
 “Eyes see what the mind knows”
 Appraisal of a stressor as threatening
 Personally meaningful interpretations
 Cognitive, emotional and behavioral defenses
(sub-conscious)

9. Coping Strategies
 Adaptive:
 Problem- solving
 Relaxation
 Exercise/ Sport
 Humor
 Spirituality/ Altruism
 Getting Support
 Journaling/ Introspection
 “Responsible Hedonism”
 Maladaptive:
 Denial
 Isolation
 Aggression/ Acting out
 High-risk behavior (gambling,
reckless driving, unsafe
sexual practice,
experimentation with
drugs…)
 Bingeing on food or alcohol
 Excess internet/ media
exposure
 Deliberate self-harm

10. Take Help – End Stigma
 Long standing social stigma and resistance to taking Psychiatric help
 Fears:
 Of being labeled as ‘mad/mental’
 Seen as a ‘weak’ person by others
 Perception of oneself as weak
 Being ‘dependent’ on medication
 Side effects
 Trust your doctor with confidentiality
 Advancement in psychotropic medication and psychotherapy in last
two decades
 No shame in asking for help
 Compassion for the self

11. Take-away Points
 Corona: A trigger for escalation in mental health problems
 Possible to minimize the impact of the stress on our minds and lives
 Important to identify symptoms and practice adaptive means to
cope with it effectively
 Healthy eating, regular exercising, socializing, engaging in
productive activities and mindful introspection will act as a
protective shield
 Prolonged psychological distress or inability to cope with the same
by yourself warrants intervention from a professional
 Self-help is the best help and is essential before helping others

12. Questions