The Union Health Ministry has released guidelines for managing mental illnesses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic . The guidelines aim to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection and preventing psychiatric disorders in vulnerable patients as well as healthcare workers in COVID-19 centers. The guidelines have been drafted to address the mental health issues in COVID-19 patients including trauma, pandemic-induced depression, insomnia, paranoid and suicidal ideations due to disease stress and isolation.
It also applies to patients having pre-existing psychiatric conditions who experience recurrence or worsening of the symptoms during the disease. These guidelines have been prepared by the experts from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, taken from the current evidence-based recommendations of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).…
