Negativity deadlier than Covid virus, says Stress management expert

SINDRI: The negativity created amid the surge during the second wave of Covid-19 is deadlier than the virus itself. Making this observation, former head of the department of management, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad and internationally acclaimed expert on stress management Pramod Pathak called upon people not to press the panic button and allow pessimism to control their thought process.
Talking to TOI, Dr Pathak said that by now it has become amply clear that nearly 95% virus infected people are getting cured anyway. “Rest 3% win over the virus after proper treatment and only 2% face chances of death due to weak immunity and other ailments aggravated due to the virus. But majority of the people start counting them among the 2% even with a minor symptom of infection or hearing about other in the neighbourhood getting infected,” he said.
According to him, over flooding of Covid related information everywhere related to deaths due to the virus and problems due to lack of infrastructural facilities and medicine has created an atmosphere of pessimism which is affecting the mental health of the public. “It’s time that everyone speaks about recoveries and not deaths to create a positive atmosphere. It would make a big difference in winning the psychological war against the virus,” he said.
He also advised people to bring about a change in their daily routine and revisit their hobbies like gardening, book reading, listening to music and painting besides doing regular yoga for keeping mentally resilient and agile.