Bhubaneswar: People mostly suffer from insomnia, anxiety and depression when they are kept in home isolation, cautioned Dr Sarada Prasanna Swain, an expert Neuropsychiatrist with the Mental Health Institute, SCB Medical College & Hospital.
Most importantly, the possibility of the disease getting more aggravated is often noticed in case of patients with mental illnesses when kept in home isolation, said Dr Swain addressing a presser at the Geeta Govinda Sadan here on dos and don’ts during home isolation for Covid-19 patients already under treatment for mental illnesses.
He said these patients have to be handled carefully with extra care and caution.
Dr Swain was of the view that people especially elderly, children and adolescents staying alone in homes are at more risk and often develop mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, phobia, getting panicked and insomnia during home isolation.
“Patients who are already undergoing treatment for some mental illness or the other and are in home isolation have a greater chance to suffer from insomnia. They should consult their doctor and change their medication regimen. It won’t be wrong to say that home isolation is contraindicated in case of a patient with mental illness as it goes against healing of the illness,” explained Dr Swain.
Generally, these patients when in-home isolation is advised and encouraged to do yoga, pranayam and whichever thing he enjoys to do like singing, playing some indoor game etc and in addition to that he/she should take balanced food and intake more water than what he/she used to take earlier, he added.
Dr Swain said that if a patient develops suicidal tendencies or develops withdrawal symptoms for any earlier habit of taking intoxicants or substance of abuse he/she should be taken to a hospital.