COVID-19: THE COMPUTER SAVY BOY'S TALE
LIVED EXPERIENCE: “THE COMPUTER SAVY
BOY AND HIS AGONY”
A 23 years old man was admitted after
being tested positive for COVID-19, who had contracted the infection after
meeting a friend who returned from abroad. He described his experience of
initial few days of being angry on his friend, would call his friend (who was
admitted in another hospital- medically stable), would abuse him for infecting
him and would ask him never to show his face again to him. He would be worried
about his parents, who had multiple physical co-morbidities and would be
pre-occupied with their COVID-19 status. His parents and other family members
were tested and none of them were found to be positive. He did not have any
severe respiratory difficulty and was medically stable throughout his stay. By
the second week of his stay in the COVID-19 ward, he started to report that he
is feeling bored, he would not find surfing the Internet to be enjoyable
anymore, would keep on moving inside his room and look outside through the
windows of his room. While on routine screening by the mental health
professional telephonically, he expressed difficulty in passing his time. He
expressed that he missed his computer/laptop, want to play video games, and
would demand the same. Gradually his distress started increasing. Supportive
sessions were taken and the activity schedule was planned for him. He was asked
to make an activity schedule for himself and watch music videos of his choice.
On exploring his hobbies it became apparent that besides, playing video games,
he also pursued photography as an alternate hobby. He was given daily tasks by
the text messages, as to see photography from specific sites of his choice and
send it to the psychiatrist by using the Whatsapp. He was asked to look for any
online photography training and to remain busy in gaining more knowledge of
photography. After 3rd day of starting the
intervention, he reported that he was able to spend his time in interesting
things, which he always wanted to pursue. He reported, "Sometimes I feel like I am in jail but then when I
remember it is a temporary phase, I can control my emotions, I never tried to
show my agony and pain to my parents and I feel cheered up when I get your
(psychiatrist's) message or call". He was tested negative
after 16 days and was congratulated for his recovery at discharge. He is being
followed up and the supportive therapy is being continued.
in conclusion:
The above-mentioned narrative lived experiences of the COVID-19
survivors or patients admitted to the COVID ward are beyond one’s imagination.
The stress, mental agony, internalized stigma, feelings of guilt of infecting
near and dear ones, the shame of infecting others, anger directed towards self,
cursing one's fate, thinking "why God has punished me and my family"
adds on to the pain of remaining socially isolated from the family in a 'locked
up' state is highly distressing. All these issues suggest that mental health is
taking a big toll on the people diagnosed with COVID-19 infection and admitted
to the COVID wards. The systems are preparing themselves to deal with more
severe cases, i.e., those who are going to require ICU and ventilator support,
but the mental health of a major proportion of people, who are going to develop
mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 infection is not being discussed. These
lived experiences of the people bring to the forefront the issue of "No
health, without Mental Health". As is evident from these cases, the mental
health issues would not have come to the forefront, if the mental health
professionals were not involved in the management of these cases. This could
have led to severe untoward consequences, such as relationship issues between
the patient and the treating team and the patients progressing to severe
depression. In these above mentioned narrative experiences, timely
psychological evaluation, and brief supportive sessions carried out
telephonically or by video conferencing helped the people going through the
infection. Mental Health professionals need to recognize that besides anxiety,
depression, and insomnia, guilt, anger, frustration and internalized stigma are
also going to be the major issues of these patients and they need to address
the same.
These case descriptions suggest that apart from the psychological
issues of the health care workers, there is an urgent need to handle and
understand the mental health issues of the patients suffering from COVID-19
during admission/ward stay and during quarantine (Banerjee, 2020). The
uncertainty of having a dreadful illness, limited family support, fear of death
of self, and near ones imposes a severe stressful mental state, and therefore
mental health evaluation and mental health support to the patients' needs to be
routinely done.
World Health Organisation mentions that psychological issues need
to be taken into considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic for the general
public (World Health Organization, 2020). Many
authors have also stressed the psychological first aid to be provided to the
patients admitted in the COVID wards (Li et al., 2020; Xiang et al., 2020).
Based on experience we suggest that
all the COVID-19 wards and services should be planned keeping the mental health
of the people at large. All COVID wards and other services should have mental
health professionals, who should be involved right from the time of screening the
persons for COVID-19 (Grover et al., 2020). The
mental health professionals involved with the COVID-19 wards should screen all
the patients daily and address their issues and the interpersonal issues
arising as a result of isolation and other ensuing issues. As many patients
would be asymptomatic or would gradually become asymptomatic and stable after
the initial few days, the stress and isolation would come to the forefront and
will become an issue rather than any other medical/clinical issue. Routine
evaluation by mental health professionals should be a part of the treatment
protocol which is at present not mentioned/documented for holistic management
of stigmatized, aggrieved corona fighters, and survivors. Further,
psychiatrists and mental health professionals should be prepared to tackle with
post-COVID era mental health consequences too (Das, 2020).
thank you all...may GOD bless you....stay safe, wash your hands and social distance.
compiled by OKELLO ELIOT OTWAO
source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
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