Perinatal Mental Health in Kashmir, India During The COVID-19 Pandemic
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Perinatal Mental Health in Kashmir, India During The COVID‑19 Pandemic Sheikh Shoib1 · S. M. Yasir Arafat2 · Waleed Ahmad3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The current COVID-19 pandemic in Kashmir along with lockdown measures—ordered to prevent the spread of the disease—has added further trauma to the fragile mental health system in Kashmir. There may be unquantifiable repercussions of the current epidemic on the emotional status of women during the perinatal period. There are numerous challenges in the perinatal period arising out of COVID-19 directly or indirectly because of lockdown measures that has been put in place to prevent the spread of disease. Keywords Covid 19 · Perinatal mental health · Jammu and kashmir COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2), has spread to nearly all regions across the globe, including the territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Psychological health problems are increasingly being recognized as a significant secondary effect of the COVID-19 pandemic (Pfefferbaum and North 2020). An administrative lockdown shortly preceded the current COVID-19 pandemic in Kashmir. Lockdown measures were taken to prevent the spread of the disease, adding to the trauma of the fragile mental health system of Kashmir—especially women in the perinatal period. Several factors increase the risk of mental illness in the perinatal period, irrespective of external events. These factors include genetic vulnerability, hormonal and immunological factors, and the sleep disturbances associated with delivery (Harrison et al. 2017). There are numerous challenges in the perinatal period arising out of COVID19 directly or indirectly because of the lockdown measures undertaken to prevent the spread of disease. The factors * Sheikh Shoib [email protected] 1
Department of Psychiatry, Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNMH), Rainawari, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir 190003, India
2
Department of Psychiatry, Enam Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka 1340, Bangladesh
3
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, Peshwar Medical College, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
that can significantly increase the risk of perinatal mental health problems during a pandemic are maternal isolation, increased psychosocial risk during a socio-economic crisis, increased maternal anxiety, relationship conflicts, and decreased contact with healthcare professionals (Thapa et al. 2020). The structure of the labour and delivery rooms has changed, and the subsequent isolation of women in the wards has led to psychological effects on pregnant women. As such, there could be unquantifiable repercussions of the current epidemic on the emotional status of the women around the perinatal period (Cameron et al. 2020). Mother–infant proximity has been affected during this pandemic and the World Health Organization advocates consideration of the clinical status of the woman while deciding (WHO 2019).
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