New world brings more anxiety and stress, 61% youth between 21-30 yrs seek mental health counselling online

People also sought help for insomnia, irritability and emotional exhaustion.

By Shannon Tellis, ET Online | May 28, 2020, 06.10 PM IST

Faced with new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it’s understandable that people are struggling to cope with fear and anxiety in the wake of the pandemic.

According to DocsApp, a doctor consultation app, the number of individuals reaching out for professional help has seen a significant rise post-Covid-19. The app itself reported a 64 per cent increase in mental health consultations with 61 per cent of those seeking counselling between the age of 21 and 30.

The app also reported that queries pertaining to issues like anxiety and stress have seen a 23 per cent increase whereas, those related to relationship management have witnessed a rise of over 19 per cent. Low mood, insomnia, anger, irritability, emotional exhaustion and depression were some of the other common issues that people sought help for online.

Men More Likely To Seek Help
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the United States, the prevalence of mental illnesses in men is often lower than women. However, the escalating global health crisis has led to men seeking help 2.5 times more than women for mental health issues. DocsApp reported a similar trend. Over the lockdown period, 69 per cent of men sought help as compared to 31 per cent of women.

Tired Of Never-Ending Working From Home Shift? 4 Tips To Maintain A Work-Life Balance

1/6

Working from home has become the new normal as companies try to minimise disruptions and keep operations running as close to normal as possible. But with most of us working from home, the lines between "work" and "home" could become quickly blurred.

A few weeks ago, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma took to Twitter to announce that he had been so wrapped up in Zoom meetings (inset from Sharma's Twitter account) that he forgot it was Sunday. And that seems to be the case with most entrepreneurs who are dealing with investor pressure and the stress of a looming economic slowdown.