Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Covid19 and Mental Health

[One of the students of my class and his father is currently suffering from Covid-19. We are all distressed. I wrote this email for my class, and thought that I would share it here in case any one needs it. If you know of any better mental health resources, please let me know in to comment.]

Such times of uncertainty and fear puts a lot of stress and pressure on our mental well-being. While we all claim that we are rational human being, the deep down, we are vulnerable and emotional creatures. If you need any support, please reach out and talk to your friends, your academic advisors, or you can reach out to me.

These are unprecedented times in our known memory, and the stresses will pile up. We need to try to make the best of the situation and stay optimistic. Globally, Covid-19 has claimed lives of more than 300,000 people[1], while mental health problems yearly kill more than 8 million [2] - an order of magnitude more. We should not, therefore, ignore our mental health.

I would have pointed you to a professional counseling service like western universities. Unfortunately, such services and concepts are not well developed in our country. I just want to point out that there is a course on Coursera specifically tailored towards the pandemic situation called "Mind Control: Managing Your Mental Health During COVID-19" (https://www.coursera.org/learn/manage-health-covid-19) offered from University of Toronto. There is another course on increasing optimism called "Resilience Skills in a Time of Uncertainty" (https://www.coursera.org/learn/resilience-uncertainty) from University of Pennsylvania. Try to see if these courses help you.

Researcher and academician by Trade. Hobbyist webdeveloper, photographer and ametuer musician.

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