The difference in mental health care pre and post-pandemic

*All the participants were young adults and the research was conducted with their consent. I made sure they were comfortable as it is a sensitive topic.

The pandemic impacted people’s life immensely and affected their mental health. Some people lost their loved ones while some lost their jobs. Several lockdowns made it even more difficult to cope.

Through this ethnographic study, I wanted to find out:-

1. If people became more aware of the importance of mental health and what measures did they take.

2. While everyone was in lockdown, what challenges were faced by people/professionals who were already taking therapy before the pandemic?

3. How (if) things are different post-pandemic?

Research Questions

• How mental health care and the mental health of people has changed after the pandemic and how have people dealt with it during the pandemic?
• How much importance do people give it now?
• Is talking about mental health still considered taboo?
• How difficult or easy is it to find a therapist these days?
• How do people prefer to take therapy sessions (if applicable)?
• What changed for mental health care professionals after the pandemic?

Methods

• Survey
• User interviews

Target Audience

I focused on three kinds of groups for my study

• Professionals — People who are practicing as a therapist or counsellors.
• People seeking help (young adults only)- People who have taken therapy/counselling before.
• General Audience (young adults only) — People who may or may not have taken therapy/counselling.

Survey

I conducted a survey with the general audience (irrespective of if they have taken therapy or not)

Through the survey, I focused on the following research question:

1. How do people feel about mental health, what is their perspective?

2. If people like talking about it or not?

3. Do people like to seek external help?

4. How covid has affected their mental health when they were quarantined (in a good way/ bad way)?

Survey Form :

Form Link

Survey Findings

• Talking about mental health is still taboo in most communities.
• Most people reach out for help only sometimes. (Maybe they hesitate — will be explored in Interviews) and some want to deal on their own and only take help in extreme situations.
• A majority of the people were affected mentally by the pandemic with anxiety, depression, loneliness and complete isolation.
• During the pandemic, people started giving the same importance to mental health as they give to their physical health.
• Finding the right therapist is difficult for most people and also financial aspect makes accessing therapy even more difficult.
• Some people prefer taking professional help, some hesitate to approach a professional, while some people are comfortable only talking to family and friends and even groups with similar issues as they feel professional help can make them more dependent on someone else.
• Some people prefer in-person counselling, while some prefer video calls because they are socially anxious.
• Some people felt that after the pandemic, therapists started offering online therapy, which has helped them reach better therapists in a different areas because the commute was a problem before.

Some common quotes

User Interviews

Based on the survey, I came up with detailed questions to get more insights into the answers that people gave in the survey.

I interviewed 4 people, a counselling psychologist, two people (young adults) who have had therapy/counselling before (still reach out to professionals when necessary) and a person (young adult) who has not taken any therapy or counselling before.

*All the participants were young adults and they had no problem answering my questions. The interview was conducted with their consent. I made sure they were comfortable as it is a sensitive topic.

I gathered insights and created empathy maps for all three target audiences, following a reflection.

Empathy Maps

User Interview Findings

Young Adults:-

• Mental health is still a taboo among some communities
• Most people from older generations still consider mental illness as delusional
• Most people from the younger generation give a lot of importance to mental health and are comfortable reaching out for therapy/counselling, while some still feel uncomfortable seeing a professional as they feel they will be dependent on another person for their good being.
• It is very challenging for people to find a professional that is a good fit for them.
• Changing professionals in search of a good fit can be very draining for people, and it wastes a lot of their time and money.
• People feel therapy is expensive, which limits their options a lot. They have to settle for online therapy which is sometimes economical.

Professionals:-

• The pandemic impacted people’s mental health a lot and there was an increase in people going to therapy
• Accessibility to therapy has increased due to the start of online sessions. There are no restrictions in terms of distance.
• Some ​people ​now ​prefer ​a mix ​of ​online ​and ​in-person ​sessions
• Mental health issues like there is a general anxiety disorder which is going on amongst the younger youth now
• The pandemic has caused an increase in anxiety. Relationships ​have ​been ​affected ​due ​to ​being ​in ​a ​lockdown
• These ​days ​children ​encourage ​their ​parents ​to ​reach ​out for help as well.
• The Indian government has also become more aware of citizens’ mental health, therefore they are taking measures to provide people with therapy/counselling.
• With everything being on the internet, people tend to go to the internet and self-diagnose. Sometimes they tend to talk to unknown people for sharing which can be very misleading and dangerous. It can even lead to worsening their situation.

Conclusion

• After the research, I found out the challenges that people face and what actually happened due to pandemic
• The pandemic has impacted people’s mental health a lot, but awareness regarding mental health has also increased among people.
• People have started understanding that taking care of mental health is absolutely curial and seeking professional help is necessary when in need.
• People have started to become more open and have started influencing older generations as well.
• Geographical distance is not a barrier anymore. People can now reach out to mental health professionals all over the world due to the availability of online sessions.
• In-person therapy sessions can be expensive sometimes, while online sessions can be economical.

Thank you for reading!

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