“I have been working in the hospital non-stop since the onset of COVID19. During my serving period I have seen so many people quit their breaths in front of me and I as their doctor couldn’t do anything to save their lives. I have admitted two of my own colleagues in the ICUs and have seen their health go bad after they caught the virus while treating other patients. I missed my husband, the comfort of my house, and every time things went bad I wanted to hug my husband but I couldn’t because I was always at the hospital. And when I finally got the chance to go home, I became the reason for the sickness of me and my husband. It has been 20 days since we’ve been cured of the virus through the guilt of putting the life of my beloved in danger is something I cannot overcome.” 

Dheeraj, my husband initially didn’t respond positively to the treatment and I wanted to kill myself every time I saw him weaker than before. Finally after 10 long days, he started to show signs of improvement. During this time my friends and he tried to make us feel better by communicating through calls, bringing us food and dropping the groceries outside our house but the culpability of putting me and my family through such a huge risk is eating me up. I’ve started going back to work and even though we are cured of the virus, looking at the increasing number of patients and insuppressible death rates, I don’t even know what I am doing anymore. Are my efforts any good? Will this even end? What if I become the carrier of virus again and this time things don’t work in my favor?” These are some thoughts of Dr. Damini Joshi, during her post-trauma therapy sessions.

An epidemic has the capability to take a toll on an individual’s mental health, regardless of the fact whether they are at home or working in the healthcare sector. But as healthcare workers become frontline warriors in this fight to treat coronavirus, they are the ones who are reporting considerably higher rates of depression and anxiety. What has brought this on?

The doctors and nurses are going through stressful times. While treating the patients they are exposing themselves to the highly-contagious virus. Add to it the moroseness of dealing with the increasing number of patients and the deaths without an antidote or a way to solve the problem—given the scenario it seems natural that they end up feeling dissatisfied, out of control, and depressed after a while. The simplest example is of the doctors in Italy who had to choose amongst patients lined up at the hospital to gets a chance at the treatment. It’s the most heartbreaking decision to take with long-lasting psychological distress.

More so, they also have to face the scarcity of essential resources while treating the patients, right from the unavailability of masks, gloves, glasses, and other protective gear.

Apart from this, due to the scarcity of infectious disease specialists to tend to the increasing number of Covid-19 patients, other doctors like ophthalmologists and dermatologists are being trained in this fight against coronavirus. As most of them have limited experience in dealing with a life and death situation, watching a patient be intubated or die in front of them can lead to traumatic feelings. In such cases some of them may end up with post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health problems permanently.

Here are what these healthcare workers can do to keep themselves mentally secure.

1. Indulge in meditation: Mindfulness and meditation practices

   prove to be calming in stressful conditions as they help in focusing on one’s breathing and inner thoughts.

2. Accept and Act: Usually healthcare workers ignore the symptoms of mental and emotional issues thinking that it might bother their professional image. But it is of utmost importance that they accept the troubles and act on them as soon as possible. This can be achieved with a suitable and supportive work environment with the help of co-workers as the cyclic phase of depression might negatively affect the work performance of those individuals.

3. Practice grounding: It is a simple strategy of detaching oneself from emotional distress. During the crisis, distraction works by focusing outward on the external world—rather than inward towards the self. For instance; a physical grounding exercise would comprise breathing in and out, thinking a soothing word on every exhale. A mental grounding exercise can include describing an everyday procedure, such as passing meds, in as much detail as possible. And by the end of that a soothing grounding might be picturing the loved ones or actually scrolling through the phone gallery to relive better memories with loved ones.

4. Therapy and Consultation: Whenever you feel excessively disturbed, anxious, and depressed it is always beneficial to consider seeking professional help. It helps in relaxing and communicating the troubles in your mind without the fear of judgment. 

 If you know any health care worker who might seem disturbed, make sure you guide them well, or try to listen to them whenever you can along with that, honoring them for doing a lifesaving work at the great personal risk is the least we can do for their efforts.