Minding Our Minds While Fighting Covid-19

What actually happens when medical professionals test positive for coronavirus? Dr Richa Gupta, Senior specialist, Government of NCT of Delhi and Dr Rahul Gupta, Director and Head Neurosurgery, Fortis Hospital, Noida, recount their personal experience of recovering from Covid-19

- Dr Richa Gupta

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic shows little signs of easing up soon. As it forces nations into lockdown, people into quarantine, and existing systems into stress, the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic on mental health in the population is gaining clinical and research attention. A wide spectrum of psychological issues has been documented among the general population, Covid positive patients, survivors, healthcare workers, and certain high-risk groups like the elderly, homeless and marginalised sections, as well as children and adolescents. These psychological health issues can present as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, panic disorder, self-blame, guilt, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), delirium, psychosis and even suicide.

There is a dangerous mix of high transmission, lack of effective cure and inexperience, which can lead to significant fear, both, on the part of the patient as well as the medical staff.

Our experience:

Fighting the unseen devil was a challenge, no doubt. The hallmark of global efforts to halt the spread of Covid-19 has been, so-called social distancing, which is supposed to stop the spread of the disease by limiting contact between people. However, such efforts leave one particular group vulnerable -- the family, especially the spouse of persons getting infected with SARS-COV-2.

The outer world and hope for days together, was the only small glass window in the room, displaying bright sunlight every morning. Our attitude was most important and it mattered