Lockdown Blues: How A Pandemic Led To Indian Senior Citizens Opening Up About Mental Health

The Coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown have resulted in senior citizens opening up about their mental health issues. Here?s all you need to know about it. 

Every day the mental health helpline for senior citizens run by Agewell Foundation gets 80 to 100 calls. The calls are related to psychological issues that seniors are facing during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Why is this significant? Because earlier, in a pre-pandemic, pre-lockdown time, the helpline would get hardly 10 to 15 calls related to mental health issues.

It's a considerable rise, according to Himanshu Rath, the founder of the Agewell Foundation. And it's surprising yet revealing.

Seeking help for mental health has always been taboo in India, especially among senior citizens. Yet the lockdown has made many realise the significance of it. It has significantly affected the Indian elders psychologically and made them reach out for help, Rath told Silver Talkies. Interestingly, not just senior citizens but also their children and family members are seeking help from Agewell's helpline. If it receives around 100 calls in a day, 40 of these are from the seniors and the remaining 60 are from children reporting about their parents? inconveniences, Rath adds. Otherwise busy in their own world and out of home, many children are now able to observe their parents? anxiety and lack of interest in day to day activities, getting worried and reaching out for help for their parents.

The Fear Factor

The pessimism created around the Coronavirus outbreak has been tough on the mental health of senior citizens, says Rath.

From day one, senior citizens are being projected as the most vulnerable age group. The news channels are constantly flashing negative figures of leaping death counts and the spread of the virus. Rumours on social media have added to the plight. There is, however, no noise around the recovery from the pandemic. In India, while over 1 lakh has been affected, the death figures stand at around 3,000 which is only 0.3 per cent. While the media is loud about the virus claiming the lives of those who are 50+, there is not adequate reportage on how octogenarians and nonagenarians are getting cured of the virus. Senior citizens who are reaching out to us have given up the hope of life. They feel they will not see a new day anymore and this feeling of absolute uncertainty is adversely impacting their psychology, he cautions.

Mental health professionals Silver Talkies spoke to say that the lockdown, social distancing and self-isolation have made several seniors suffer from anxiety and panic attacks in the recent past. Fifty-eight-year-old Mansi (name changed) is stuck in her daughter's home due to lockdown. She had started feeling anxious, restless and had episodes of a panic attack. Mansi was visiting with her daughter in Bangalore when the lockdown was announced. She started having sleep disturbances, decreased interest in daily activities and worry increasingly about her husband who was alone back home. Her daughter consulted a psychiatrist from Sakra World Hospital on phone to help her mother out.

Anxiety, boredom, depression, fear of acquiring infection, fear of death are some of the common problems that senior citizens are seeking help for. The lockdown has been enforced strictly on elders and the restrictions have led to fear, uncertainty, insecure feelings, conflicts in relationships, lack of social contact, loneliness. They also fear death and the worsening of the medical conditions they suffer from and worry about children or relatives staying abroad or in other parts of the country. All these have taken a heavy toll on their mental health. Also, youngsters who are now homebound with senior members can better observe them and help them seek out consultation, says Dr Naveen Jayaram, Consultant Psychiatrist, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore, who believes there has been a remarkable increase in senior citizens reporting about their mental health during the lockdown.

Opening Up About The Mind

The increasing availability of several online consultation platforms and helplines making it easily accessible for seniors to seek help could be a reason for the surge in calls, thinks Dr Satish Kumar, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore.

"Several mental health professionals and Rehabilitation Council of India have opened helpline numbers for a free consultation via telephonic sessions which are very efficient for seniors to seek immediate help. Also, the lockdown has helped create awareness about mental health. Among Indian seniors, health is always about physical health. They fail to realise that health includes both physical and mental health and tend to ignore their mental health. Awareness helped senior citizens learn self-care techniques to fight this pandemic including mental care techniques, says Dr Kumar."

It may have also led to some mental health self-care. Sandhya Rajayer, a mental health counsellor based in Bangalore believes that the lockdown has made several seniors open up about a lifetime of mental health issues that are now weighing them down. The lockdown is a trigger for a large number of senior citizens who were not mindful of their mental health issues. Those who had been on therapy and took care of their mental health from earlier have been able to cope with the lockdown better, says Rajayer

Sixty plus Pratima (name changed) approached Rajayer with anxiety and depression and sought help after the lockdown was announced. Interestingly, her problem did not show up during the lockdown; she had been facing these from earlier. However, she only reached out for help when the situation got worse. Pratima has been a caregiver to her husband who suffers from a chronic ailment and is still trying to cope with the burnout. A yoga class used to be her only relief but with its closure, during the lockdown, she could no longer manage her state of mind and sought help.

The Way Forward

The best way to help seniors in this situation is by establishing a smooth communication with them, believes Himanshu Rath. According to him, youngsters barely communicate with the seniors these days. They are unable to share their fear, anxieties and feelings with anyone. Despair, stress, loneliness and panic keep bottling up among them and burst out in the form of mental trauma during crisis times like this.

"It is important to initiate heart to heart communication with seniors; be a good listener; help them de-stress while interacting and suggest ways to tackle the rough times in a friendly manner. The moment one imposes on them, it can backfire. Also, in the present situation, it is equally important to keep seniors away from negative news and fill them up with optimism, hope and the desire to live, says Rath."

If you are staying with the senior loved ones in your life, or far apart from them, checking in on them on a regular basis and engaging them more in day to day activities and discussion during the lockdown can help them take care of their mental health.