Surrounded by pain and death, second wave is aggravating mental health issues

Counsellors offer ‘psychological first aid’ to those in emotional distress

When the second wave erupted like a volcano in India, catching most people off guard, a group of mental health professionals decided to establish a pan-India mental health helpline about a week ago to offer free counselling to those in emotional distress. The kind of calls they started receiving was wide-ranging - from families and friends standing outside hospitals in desperation, unable to find beds for their near ones, to those who were distressed because of “survivor's guilt” - how they are unaffected while their loved ones were. The impact of COVID-19 has not just been the obvious physical one; surrounded by pain, death and isolation, the pandemic is having a huge impact on people’s mental health too. Ashwini N.V, Founder-Director, Muktha Foundation, which launched the COVID-19 emotional distress helpline, said though they are primarily an organisation focussed on abuse prevention, they decided to cater to the emotional distress caused by the second wave.