New Delhi(News Desk) - Today, a large number of people are falling prey to depression due to Covid-19 all over the world. Due to the Corona pandemic, people faced continuous lockdown and closure of many businesses, schools, colleges and services leading to the deteriorating economic condition of the people.
A live webinar with experts, on Mental Health and Coping with COVID-19 was held today organised by the Indian Social Responsibility Network (ISRN). This Webinar was done as part of ISRN's social and awareness initiative, Clear Your Doubts about COVID-19. Key speakers in the webinar include Dr. Narendra Kinger, Clinical Psychologist, Counselor and Psychotherapist, Reliance HN Hospital Mumbai; Dr. Shivangi Pawar, MD (Homeopath), Psychotherapist; Dr. Nitin Agarwal, MD, Ayurveda Physician, Bliss Ayurveda and Prof. S. L. Kumar, Professor in Pharmaceutics Registrar, CUJ, Ranchi.
The webinar was organized in association with program partner SDG Choupal, Nagrik Foundation, Nalini Foundation, Jan Lok Kalyan Parishad, Suguja Gyanodaya Association, Sadbhavana Gramin Vikas Sanstha; and academic partner Central University of Jharkhand. The webinar saw the live participation of over 300 people from different cities, organizations and universities.
The program started with a warm welcome to all the speakers and participants by CEO of ISRN Santosh Gupta. He explained about the objectives of ISRN behind organizing this webinar. He then invited Dr. Subhash Hira for introducing the panel and introductory remarks.
Dr. Subhash Hira, MD, MPH, Professor of Global Health, University of Washington set the context for the webinar impact of Covid-19 on mental health of people especially during the second wave when cases were on peak. He also stressed on the covid appropriate behavior to be followed. He then introduced the first speaker and invited to share his thoughts on Mental Health and Covid-19.
Dr Narender Kinger, Clinical Psychologist, Counsellor and Psychotherapist, Reliance HN Hospital Mumbai shed some light on Mental Health & Covid-19 particularly on Anxiety and Depression. He further shared psychological and behavioral problems of Covid and its effect on the entire family, impact on mental health due to of staying at home or working from home.
Dr. Shivangi Pawar, MD (Homeopath), Psychotherapist discussed about Insomnia and long covid. She highlighted the neurological and psychiatric conditions that can be caused by covid-19 & may lead to hormonal imbalances as well. She emphasized on the better management to tackle the mental health issues is to be physically active and engaging oneself in therapies like music, art etc.
Dr. Nitin Aggarwal, MD, Ayurveda Physician, Bliss Ayurveda focused his thoughts on Ayurveda’s role in boosting the immunity to fight the virus and also helps to minimize the post covid symptoms. He shared Ayurvedic herbs like ashwagandha, tulsi, giloy, shilajit and moringa that are known to be effective in both the physical and mental health issues along with spices like turmeric, pepper, garlic, ginger to consume it in a proper manner for its health benefits.
Prof. S. L. Kumar, Professor in Pharmaceutics Registrar, CUJ, Ranchi shared about various impact of school closures on students in different age groups, and uncertainty among the students regarding their future. Impact on academics due to pandemic leading to less motivation and anxiety towards the scholars & students. The speaker also explained about the different problems among the vulnerable underprivileged children in lockdown who are not able to access virtual learnings.
The session was followed by a Q&A session moderated by Dr. Subhash Hira & Mr. Santosh Gupta, CEO, ISRN, where the participants had their queries and concerns addressed by the panelists. The session concluded with a poster presentation on Managing Mental Health in Covid by Diksha Yadav, Medical Advisor, ISRN where she emphasized on the important measures for taking care of sensitive groups such as children and elderly, general & physical measures on ayurvedic and daily practices for boosting immunity as well as the dietary measures to protect oneself from Covid-19. Towards the end, Ms. Shruti Sharma, Program Officer, ISRN proposed a vote of thanks to all the panelists, participants and participants for being a part of this webinar and appreciated the efforts of the ISRN team.
