TEDxKanke Webinar Series: The Rise of A New World Title of talk– Mental Health & COVID 19

Ranchi, Jharkhand  | June | 20, 2021 :: TEDxKanke, an independent TED event organized a webinar series on the topic “Mental Health & Covid -19”, with people across the globe on online platforms by inviting all the participants from different regions. The session aimed to cover on the effects of COVID – 19 on the mental health of the people from wider range of age groups.
It was a one-hour session held digitally on the zoom app and streamed live on Youtube & Facebook to keep it open for all.
Speaker was Dr. Siddharth Sinha (Sr. Consultant – Neuropsychiatrist), RINPAS, Ranchi  and moderated by Rajeev Gupta

Dr. Siddharth paid tribute to Milkha Singh – The Fyling Singh and explained the joureney of Covid – 19 in India from 1st wave till present affecting all the age groups. He said during the period of complete lockdown covered over long period of time, people had not realized the seriousness of loneliness, experiences turned into mental illness and also in some cases led to depression.
During the 1st wave, as per him the major contributors which led to implant negative thoughts in people mind were initially associated with COVID – 19 contamination fear to near or loved ones including themselves followed by advertisement cum awareness programs via electronic & print media however later on during the 2nd wave the same factors enriched due to availability of large number of photographs, videos, documents related to deaths, lack of oxygens, lack of beds, lack of medicines etc. floating on the media and social networking platform. People were worried about their families (especially elder ones), they imposed self-lockdown, teenagers faced shutting down of schools/ colleges & even postponement/ cancellation of examinations, economic crises, loss of jobs, etc.
He thanked Government of India & Government of Jharkhand for promoting the awareness programs across regions.
He said every human brain reacts in different manner where some people are resilient where some people are not strong enough to recover quicky from difficult situations. Sharing about his professional experience and based on observations, in the 2nd wave of covid-19 the mostly affected were the students just because of the absence of their regular schedule, attending online classes, online examination, engagement to social networking websites, wide usage of entertainment applications etc. leading to the main three disorders – Anxiety Disorder, Depressive Disorder & Panic Disorder were mostly and commonly seen. Also, in all aged group he described about the ‘Question of Survival’ where the people thinks about whether he/ she shall be recovered from covid -19 or not? Fear of dying, fear of non-recovering, fear of infecting other family members while in home isolation even forms a major concern.
On being asked on clear road map on how to make people aware what is mental health, how to bring back life to normal and how to deal with anxiety & depression, Dr. Siddharth suggested few activities like to prioritize the issues related with teenagers, analyse the behavioural change and when required share the details with the therapist, psychiatrist, physician who had learnt the psychiatrist in order to cured from the the mental illness. He also motivated the audience to execute daily yoga practices, exercise in room and utilize the house space such as roof-top, parking areas, stairs, nearby open areas such as roads, grounds, parks etc. following covid – 19 guidelines.
During the session, participants asked several questions related to mental health & COVID-19. One of the participant from Ranchi, Ms. Khushboo Jha asked about how a covid – 19 impacted person staying all alone with a fear of mental illness maintains stability. In response to her, he advises the person first to understand the current pandemic situation, try harder to explain the scenario in a well manner, not to neglect any findings and push to therapist or psychiatrist depending upon the situation. Also, looking to the 3rd wave where the infection potential of COVID – 19 is more for the small children, he suggested that the parents should engage their kids with them in breakfast, lunch, dinner, should spend more time, play indoor games, most importantly listen to them, and if required take help of doctors. Finally, Dr. Siddharth made his closing remark – “WE STILL HAVE A HOPE” and prayed for good health of the humans for upcoming COVID– 19 waves in India.
Kanishka Poddar, Kailash Manjhi, Bijendra Sharma, Shubham Sharma, Shivangi Choudhary, Chandra Mohan Chugh, Yuvraj Anand & Praveen Rajgarhia were present on this occasion