By: Nzeribe Emmanuella (9/6/21)
The fear of not passing my final exams crept in when I was made to stay home for a couple of weeks without classes but to just read. Knowing fully well that I was the kind that always needs to be tutored before grasping any concept. At the initial stage, it felt good staying at home because the clinical year had been an overwhelming one at the hospital. It did not get any better when I realized that I would have to write the final year exams online while on lockdown; which I hadn’t done before. Reading became out of fear of failing the exams.
Mental health has always been a neglected topic and illness for ages until this pandemic came into the scene. Until then, not much has been heard about it. It is not even a topic that lecturers teach about yet it is all over the place and the pandemic definitely worsened everything. The resulting economic recession in addition to the negative toll the pandemic had all over the world not only affected many people’s mental health, but it also created new barriers for the people already suffering from one mental sickness or the other including substance use disorders. No doubt, the number of reported cases of depressive disorders was and probably still on the rise even a year into the pandemic. The Pandemic literally took lives; it is about the lost jobs, the closed businesses, the canceled conferences, weddings, and vacations.
Dealing with mental health has always been a challenging issue prior to the pandemic. In as much as there is an individual effort, a collective effort is necessary to deal with this silent illness. To improve mental health individually, it is important to take breaks to refocus on one’s perspective. Whilst preparing for the online finals, there was the need for me to check our thoughts and to have the right mindsets towards the exams writing. Collective support from the people around will help to deal with mental disorders instead of stigmatization.
This year’s theme for World Mental Health day as announced by the President of the World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH) will be focused on mental health in an unequal world will highlight so much on the stigma and discrimination people with mental illness face which prevents them from integrating with the society.
Meanwhile, research already shows that there is a deficiency of quality of care being provided for the patients and may require up to 15 years before these psychological or medical treatments get to them. Moving forward, there is a need for consistent focus on mental health even as we all adjust to the new normal.
REFERENCES.
- Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (2021). Managing Stress and anxiety Accessed on 9th June, 2021. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html
- Javed B, Sarwer A, Soto EB, Mashwani Z.R (2020). The coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on mental health. Int J Health Plan Mgmt 2020;1–4 10.1002/hpm.3008
- How to protect your mental health during the coronavirus. Accessed on 9th June, 2021. Available at https://www.unicef.org/serbia/en/how-protect-your-mental-health-during-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic
