During the Corona period, five times more people are suffering from depression than usual and ten times more people are suffering from anxiety disorders.
An online study conducted by the private research organization ARK Foundation shows that 32.2 percent of people in Corona suffer from depression whereas in a survey conducted in 2019 by the National Institute of Mental Health it was only 6.7 percent. At the same time, 47.3 per cent people are suffering from anxiety disorders which was only 4.5 per cent earlier.
Studies show that women are more likely than men to suffer from mental health problems. Although 23.6 percent of the men participating in the study suffered from overall mental health problems whereas the rate was 33.1 percent among women. Students and the unemployed suffer more mental problems than others.
52.5% of the participants in the online study titled 'The Magnity of Depression and Anxiety During Covid-19: An Online Survey among Adults in Bangladesh' were men and 47.5% were women.
Of them, 51.7 percent are employees and 24.8 percent are students. At the same time, 85 percent of the participants in the study live in the capital. The research report was presented by Dr Khaleda Islam, Director of Health Department at a webinar titled "Kavid-19 and Mental Health" conducted at the online meeting platform Zoom on Saturday 7.30 pm.
The webinar is jointly organized by the ARK Foundation and the Center for Law and Policy Affairs (CLPA). In the meeting conducted by ARK Foundation Executive Director and Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka Rumana Haque, National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital's Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed said mental problems have increased in the Corona epidemic.
“Although not everyone suffers from this problem, there are many examples. During this time a kind of irregularity has been created. Young people sleep less at night, which is creating a kind of irritable mood in them. In order to get out of this problem, mental health needs to be improved along with other diseases. We need to focus on mental health, not mental illness”, he added.
