Lucknow, Nov 30 (IANS): The Covid-19 pandemic has left behind a trail of cases, related to depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders that have gone up manifold among people of all age groups.

Dr Mohd Aleem Siddiqui, a medical expert, said, "Students have got addicted to screens and have shown changes in behaviour much to the dislike of parents. Now, parents have to play a greater role in diverting the child's energy into activities that give a similar kick to the brain as does mobile phones."

He added that during the first and second waves of Covid-19, many people lost their kin and many are still facing financial crisis.

"Even after the Covid period, people have been suffering from sleeplessness, irritability. We get frequent calls from such people," the doctor said.

Dr Omar Mushir, consultant psychiatrist at Apollomedics Super Speciality Hospital said, "About 20-30 per cent of the people, who have been affected with Covid, were found to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. People are unable to sleep properly because of stress."

Dr Abhishek Shukla, head of Aastha Geriatric Centre, explained, "Among elderly, the key issue is loneliness. During the pandemic, they were virtually locked up inside their houses and even today, the risk of getting infected is keeping them restricted from walking in parks or open spaces. With a long spell of isolation, the impact upon mental health has been tremendous."

Dr Shantanu Bharti, psychiatric consultant, Medanta Hospital, said: "The pandemic has made us all realise that mental health issues are real and everyone faces them at some point in their life. It is very important to take care of your brain just like it is important to take care of other body parts. The important thing is that family members should extend emotional support to each other to tide over the times."