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PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC: VIEWS OF AN INDIAN BORN AUSTRALIAN COUNSELLOR
SUNITA JITENDRA GAUD
Counsellor, Department of Communities, Australia
Introduction
COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world. India is not an exception to this. Developed countries and developing countries are trying their best to overcome this pandemic. Regardless of the distance, religion and socio-economic status everyone has come together to solve this mystery and humility has been questioned by the act of the human in resolving, coping or trying to overcome it. It is important that everyone needs to contribute and take the initiative to support each other to build courage and resilience while going through this pandemic. As a public sector employee and a private practitioner, I come across feelings and distress of the people every day. COVID 19 has made it worse. I am putting my thoughts based on my experience in working with people and every day reports.
COVID 19 has generated fear and uncertainty about the future for the middle class people (“the people”). Research in the period of the COVID 19 pandemic measures the responses to the issues and the psychological distress of the people in performing the day to day functions. The main components are culture, uncertainty, and affordability. Active involvement of psychologists, therapists, and counsellors are necessary to listen to the people and to make them understand their fight or flight responses and provide guidance to appropriate agencies.
Psychological Response
COVID 19 Pandemic has hit the entire world and Government of India, Non Government Organisations (NGO), agencies, families, and other sources are putting in lots of effort to overcome the pandemic and control it to the manageable grade. The psychological aspect is one of the factors which needs to be incorporated while working towards this globally affected situation (Kalpna & Sharma, 2020). People need to be heard, provided with appropriate updates, and where possible, be helped to solve their problems. In addition to this, people need to feel included and the cultural and family dynamics need to be taken into consideration as this is the important portico of people’s life. Regardless of how bad the pandemic is, being together and having the same goals to handle it, is the need of today's world, as we are in this together in both the ways as a sufferer and the pacifier. Professional associations’ intervention in addition to the Government initiative is required because the people are uneasy, fearful, and uncertain (Anindya, Debora & Manickam, 2020). There has been a lot of misunderstanding, misleading information about the pandemic which is leaving the people with anxiety about the current situation and the future. This has resulted in feeling distressed, anxious, and fearful. The people responded in the panic state leaving themselves at significant risk of health, financial, survival, cultural practices, and other risks associated with day to day life (Subramanya, 2020). The factors influencing these risks are uncertainty about what may happen next, lack of knowledge, inadequate resources and access to the right support, economic breakdown, financial losses and not being able to/ limited access to the social setup and culture.
Some Measures to address these challenges
1. Establishment of support services:
Indians are family oriented and always surrounded by friends and neighbours. This makes it easy to develop a support system, having a few people to talk to. It is known that half of the burden is resolved if we have someone to talk to. People need to be encouraged to establish such a network using electronic devices and social media. The Government and the NGOs need to support people to get such devices and provide internet services to access mobile phone applications such as Zoom, WhatsApp and other similar applications. Each family can nominate a family member or a friend who can represent them and have access to the appropriate guidance to be able to make the members feel heard and equip them with the strategies. The nominated members can act as a representative of the agency established by the Government to support the people. This will ensure that everyone is heard, valued and knows what to do should they become distressed. The people need to learn to respond and not react to the distressing situation or need additional information to make the decision.
2. Communication about accessing day to day needs and services:
People need to know how they can access services and meet their day to day needs. There seems to be too much information being provided which resulted in misleading and mistrust. Appropriate services need to be prioritised and charities need to be monitored and guided by the Government. Every other service is required to limit its initiative and participation. If these services wish to contribute, they need to be registered with the voluntary services that are guided by the Government. The news and media can sometimes overwhelm the viewers and therefore filtering information is very important. Regular alerts by a community member or a society member about the local area situation is proven to be effective.
3. Rating the distress:
Should the person access the psychology services, one needs to be rated on the scale of zero to ten on his fight or flight responses, where zero is being OK in response to day to day stress of the pandemic and ten is being distressed to a degree that professional help is required. Low rating will ensure the person about being fine and provide an insight that it is just the normal response. This can motivate one to continue with the day to day life in a safe and secure manner. This will also ensure that the service provided is trusted.
4. Access to psychological or counselling services:
In addition to the health services, access to psychological and or counselling services is important. Having such a professional available in a local Family Health Centre (Primary Health Centre) will make a difference. Telecounselling has been activated in many developed countries and this needs to be considered more extensively (Joshi, 2020), but its ethical use has to be kept in mind (Manickam, 2020). However, in order to avoid stigma associated with accessing services, people need to be educated regarding the need for seeking psychological services for their supportive needs.
5. Follow up of the services provided:
Often the service delivery systems tend to forget the follow up on the services. For many, things can get worse and missed. A follow up must be completed which will lead to a feeling of being validated and considered as a valued citizen.
6. Domestic Violence and Family Domestic Violence helplines:
It is well known that when one cannot cope, one feels frustrated, angry and the response to the stressful situation is verbal abuse, physical abuse, or emotional abuse. This could be manifested towards oneself or others. Having someone to talk to or knowing how to respond to the stressful situation has helped to think wisely before responding, in the past. The major need in this situation is to be heard and it is a counsellor/support person’s job to do the same. Counselling services need to be made accessible to the people by employing tele counsellors. The need is for empathic understanding and someone to listen to.
Recreation activities:
Recreation activities such as sports, family gatherings, events and engaging in hobbies are an important part of people’s life, especially psychological wellbeing. Ideas about how to continue to engage in these activities can come from people. This will make them feel included and valued. Accountability will automatically come in effect as the trust is established.
Culture:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended social distancing, limiting people and hand washing is considered to be very effective in flattening the curve of the infection spread but the question is can everyone effort running water, soap, space, and simple things such as following the instructions. The people have come to the point where it is just not that easy to implement the WHO’s instructions on a mass level. Culture is a big part of this agenda (Veliyannoor, 2020). As we are aware, a house is run by a lady of the house (a mother or a grandmother), a shop is run by the shopkeeper, the temple is run by the priest, the mosque is run by the imam and the cultural leaders play the important part as well. When this pandemic is a part of every individual's life, how can we afford to wait and rely on a vaccine, when no one knows when it will be ready. It is time to think outside the box and all people need to be given a charge of responsibilities to keep everyone safe.
To summarise, let us all think differently, focus, and learn from what we know and support the Government initiatives during COVID 19 pandemic. Families, friends, counsellors, and access to psychological services are important to remain positive, learn coping skills, and handle our own emotions in this global pandemic. The importance of easy access to services shouldn’t be left behind. People need to feel included and valued. We should not forget it’s just not the Government's responsibilities, we are all in this together. Together we can win our fight against this heart-breaking pandemic and be responsible, mentally stable, and have a well- deserved safe, healthy and secure life.
References
Anindya, S. N., Debora, M. A., & Manickam, L. S. S. (2020). Refining psychological services and strategies in India in the wake of COVID-19. In L. S. S. Manickam (Ed.), COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and responses of psychologists from India (pp.8-22). Thiruvananthapuram: The Editor.
Joshi, S. (2020). Telepsychotherapy: The bridge to continuity in care and mental health services in COVID-19 and post Covid era. In L. S. S. Manickam (Ed.), COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and responses of psychologists from India (pp.170-181). Thiruvananthapuram: The Editor.
Kalpna, T., & Sharma, N.R. (2020). Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges of Indian Psychologists. In L. S. S. Manickam (Ed.), COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and responses of psychologists from India (pp.23-37). Thiruvananthapuram: The Editor.
Manickam, L.S.S. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic: A time for prudent and ethical action. In L. S. S. Manickam (Ed.), COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and responses of psychologists from India (pp.218-228). Thiruvananthapuram: The Editor.
Subramanya, R. ( 2020, March 29) Covid doesn’t deserve the levels of panic we’re seeing in India, certainly not this lockdown. https://theprint.in/opinion/covid-doesnt-deserve-the-levels-of-panic-were-seeing-in-india-certainly-not-this-lockdown/390606/
Veliyannoor, P.V. (2020). ‘The Return of the Repressed’ In COVID-19: The need for intervention at socio-cultural inscape. In L. S. S. Manickam (Ed.), COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and responses of psychologists from India (pp. 108-129). Thiruvananthapuram: The Editor.