Covid Awareness

Impact of lockdown on the lives of children with mental disorders

This pandemic has been hard on everyone and the initiatives adopted in order to take control of the situation have resulted in the emergence of issues in areas of physical, economical, psychological, or emotional health. This has been majorly because it has been over months that almost the whole nation is under lockdown and people are unable to go back to their work or indulge in work they like. It is important for an individual to have a balance between their work life and personal life. Maintaining equilibrium between the two helps people to reduce stress and prevent burnout in the workplace or at home. However, this lockdown has left people without jobs to go to and this indeed has resulted in an increase in the level of stress and anxiety amongst the population. It has led to restriction of movement to just their homes leaving them with a lack of things to do and encounter the same set of people every day, which could be exhausting and may leave people with the urge of changing their everyday routine or a change of scenery. After months, India has finally started to take measures to uplift this lockdown and bring life to normalcy though the majority of the people are still locked up in their homes either because of the orders of the government or because of fear of catching the deadly virus. According to the survey conducted by the Indian Psychiatry Society, there has been an increase of 20% in the number of reported cases of mental illnesses in India. Amongst all this, the question that arises is what about the people who are already diagnosed with mental illnesses and are locked up in their houses? How there life has changed and what needs to be done to provide them with the environment they need? 

Amongst all the chaos that has erupted due to the steep rise in cases of corona, one of the most important issues that have been left untouched is the health of children with mental disorders. According to statistics of 2019 at any given point of time, there are around 50 million Indian children who suffer from mental disorders, a large number of these cases are unreported, and most of them are not provided with the required healthcare facilities. There are a number of disorders that occur in children from a very young age or are specific to a certain age group, some of them being depression, anxiety, autism, learning disabilities, etc. In conditions like autism, the child is unable to communicate and interact with others while in the condition like Down syndrome; child’s intellectual and physical development is delayed. In both these conditions, usually, children have a fixed schedule and require regular therapies (speech, hearing, and therapies for development of motor skills) and because of the lockdown, there has been an interruption in these services. It is not easy for these children to adapt to change and requires a lot of time and attention to get into one routine. In conditions like depression, the lack of communication with the outside world may sometime result in an increase in its impact on a child’s mind. It would be ignorant if we do not talk about how in the family itself sometimes the members of the family themselves discriminate between the child with mental illness and their other children. In addition, many times it’s the mother or a servant in the family who looks after the child with mental problems and the male figure is ignorant of the needs and condition of the child. For many children the change of environment becomes important, it is important for them to go to school and be in touch with their peers. Alienation from a part of their little world might also lead to kicking in of depression in some. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is seen in children in a large number; in this, the child is unable to sit for long hours and has a constant urge to move. If not allowed to move these children may show aggressive behavior. For parents to control this behavior there is a need to have a strict schedule and therapy for the child.

Though this lockdown has been in the best interest of people, yet it has proven to be of immense amount of difficulty for children who are diagnosed with mental disorders. It has resulted in irregular or no therapies for them, which may result in worsening their condition. Children with mental disorder already have a lot of confusion and problem in making sense of things that is happening with them. Many times, they feel agitated and irritated and above it, they have to wear masks and keep washing their hands, which can enhance this behavior. Also, we also need to remember that this lockdown has affected not just one individual but the whole family and has impacted the income of many which may also result in problems in buying commodities that are specifically used for children with mental disorders. They require special books and special instruments, which are usually available in the places where they undergo therapies, accessing which again is a problem for most. Another problem is these places being closed due to the pandemic. Hence, it is important to take accurate measures to keep a check on the well-being of not only patients with corona but also others who are struggling every day due to their conditions.