Lockdown and Mental Health: In conversation with the Experts

With the growing numbers of coronavirus cases, another curve of mental illness makes its way upward. And even now, the situation is overshadowed. It has always been a hush-hush thing in India when it comes to mental illness or seeing a therapist. Thus, to understand the crux of mental illness, EduQation had an interactive discussion with Mr. Nirmal Shah, Om Counselling, and Mr. Bhushan Hirlekar from Corporate Excellence.

Nirmal Shah the Director of Om Counselling

During our conversation with him, he mentioned the excessive use of mobile and refraining the kids from going out to play with their friends, which has further induced irritability and overdoing of things like sleeping, watching, and eating amongst them. However, he spoke about the brighter side of the Lockdown as well. As this time, we can indulge in things and take a step ahead towards a healthy life like taking up a program, the habit of reading, the knack of art, all of which got lost in keeping up with today's competition. Along with these, we can also practice exercises and meditation.

Mr. Nirmal also shared the most effective triggers behind inducing several mental health issues like anxiety, emotional outbreak, nervous breakdown, as follows:

•  Trying to put up with the Expectations of your closed ones. 

• Performance Pressure: With the whole market shut, we may get assertive that our career isn't growing.   

 Along with these triggers, the bombardment of the negative news about coronavirus and laying off by companies has induced fear in adults. However, Mr. Nirmal also spoke about creating an environment to counsel the child on any behavioral change.

He then spoke about the following mantras to keep the Negative thoughts at bay:

• Accept our capabilities

• Do not stomp on other people's emotion to grab success

• Find Happiness in your work

• Don't compete with others; they are different, with different beliefs

• Be vocal about the things that are bothering you

Mr. Bhushan Hirlekar from Corporate Excellence

Mr. Bhushan has beautifully knitted the ideology of Mental Illness during the conversation, and how the cases have leaped amid the pandemic situation. He defined the intertwined impacts saying, the amount of time we are spending with each other nowadays has increased. Thus, the frequency of getting triggered leaped as we cannot deviate our mind by going out. Therefore, we seek for "Instant Gratification" by scrolling through Social Media Platforms and ignore to acknowledge the triggered emotions beneath it. And, without owning those emotions, one will be unable to share them with anyone.

We also spoke about how to accept the chaos of emotions and take responsibility for it, to control them. And, this is how we can route to open the Golden Door of Healing. We often don't understand this turmoil within us, as no school books have ever taught us how to deal with the emotions budding inside us. Thus, we end up blaming the situations for what we are going through now.

As per coach Bhushan, the mantra to tackle the chaos of emotion in kids includes Compassion and Empathy from Parents. He further narrated that a parent needs to build an environment where the child can talk his heart out without being judged, just like talking in front of a Mirror without any interruption. 

Working parents with adverse hours that they need to pour into work have put mud on sharing feelings. Thus, an ultimate remedy to this is to give at least 10mins out of 24hours to listen to kids. As per Bhushan, a positive environment for a child can help them deal with the trail of negative thoughts, assure them that parents are there to hear them out. It is also decisive to give their thoughts the utmost importance to bring their sanity in place. 

Bhushan tried to break the taboo of seeing a therapist with an example; "If a person doesn't know the route from Vishrantwadi to Pune station, they seek GPS help. Here, the GPS is the therapist trying to help an individual get over something they cannot do." Thus, it doesn't mean that the individual is mentally disabled. With a little help from an expert can help the person make wonders in the future. 

Bhushan suggested making things easy for the parents and kids with the Lockdown for a few more months. Wherein, the parents can work towards giving a creative exposure to pull out the energy that the kids have with different online programs on exercise or yoga.

The conclusion to keep your Mind Straight 

Mental Health is a subject, the more you dig deep, the more you unveil different attributes. After the conversation with both the experts, we can draw the line that "Every knot of Mental illness can be untied by being there for someone when they need to outlet their thoughts. And, by sharing with the person who is all ears to you." Communication is the key to keep your sanity in place. 

With today's lifestyle, self-care has to be an integral part of our day, take some time to understand yourself. If things don't feel right, then it is better to seek help from the expert. So, draw a comforting environment for yourself, make a cup of green tea, and strike a conversation with your people and hear them out when needed (a call may work too). Make this a part of your errands, and sooner or later, you will undoubtedly find your mindfulness.