Coronavirus positive patients counseled by team of trained psychologists at Prayagraj

PRAYAGRAJ: At a time when number of coronavirus positive patients are undergoing treatment at the Covid-19 level-1 hospital at Kotwa, a team of experts comprising psychiatrists and trained clinical psychologist of Motilal Nehru divisional hospital visited the hospital and counselled the admitted patients, on Thursday.
This visit was part of the exercise of the district administration to keep Covid-19 positive patients mentally healthy and strong, they are now being counselled by a team of doctors which includes psychiatrist.
"The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) may be stressful for people as fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. How we respond to the outbreak can depend on our coping abilities and responses (fight or flight) that makes us different from other people, and the community we live in", said Dr Ishanya Raj, the clinical psychologist of the hospital who was part of the team working under district mental health program.
At first, inmates were given information regarding mental health, it's importance, and different modes of treatment by Dr Rakesh Paswan. Following which they were taught about coping and emotion regulation skills along with lifestyle modification techniques by clinical psychologist Dr Ishanya Raj.
During the session the inmates expressed various concerns regarding the spread of misinformation and rumours about their present condition in their community and how it's contributing to negative effects including stigmatization and discrimination for them and their families respectively.
"We convinced them that this is part of life and they should not pay heed to such negativity, there are people in the society who are only concerned about spreading misinformation but these patients are the real heroes who should be applauded", said Dr Raj.
The camp was conducted as per the order of CMO (chief medical officer) Dr Girija Shankar Vajpayi and was supervised by Dr V K Mishra, additional CMO and nodal officer of NCD Cell, Prayagraj. Dr Amrit Lal, superintendent of the centre, had helped the team to organize this camp.