TEHRAN (Iran News) – The COVID-19 pandemic has started taking a toll on the mental health of people. The fear of contracting the disease is affecting their psychology.
Such is level of anxiety that even a minor cough or cold is giving them chills and doctors are receiving a large number such cases on a daily basis, tribuneindia.com reported.
Doctors say normal cough, fever or cold existed before, too, but these days, residents feel if they have any of these, they have been affected by coronavirus, which isn’t always true, tribuneindia.com reported.
Medical experts said many people were spending sleepless nights because they were scared that they might contract the virus in the future.
Dr. Nirdosh Goel, a former head of the Department of Psychiatry, Civil Hospital, India, said a patient went into depression over worries that what recourse she would if she contracts the virus.
“The patient has been having sleepless nights for the past 12 days, which is serious. I have dealt with five such cases which I found serious. This is one of the manifestations of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the doctor shared.
He wondered how some people had themselves decided if they would contract the viral disease or not. Goel earlier said the anxiety could be cured if one indulged in activities such as exercise and yoga. The psychiatrist said people must indulge in cooking and doing things that made them happy.
A leading doctor from Kapurthala, India, who deals with a number of patients from rural areas on a daily basis said: “I have been witnessing a big change in the psychology of patients visiting me. One of the patients was so afraid as he had been suffering from fever for the past three to four days. His body language clearly told me that he was disturbed a lot. It was not the fever, but the fear of coronavirus that had made him so weak. I counseled him and told him that there was nothing to worry about. Later, when he found out that he had typhoid and not COVID-19, his fear vanished and he became happy.”
- source : Iran Daily
