Smartphones, negative news, social media not good for child’s mental health: Docs

By: Sameer Lone

Srinagar: Suhail Ahmad was a good student who loved reading, before everything changed for him as the deadly second wave of Covid-19 hit India in April.

He stopped reading, lost his appetite, and struggled to eat his meals. This was when his family realized that it was time for them to seek help.

“The whole day, he would remain glued to the television, watching the news about coronavirus from around the world,” Ahmad’s father, who hails from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district, said.

The worried family took him to Child Guidance and Wellbeing Centre (CGWC) at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), the only institution in Kashmir with a multidisciplinary team of professionals established in December 2018 under the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) of UNICEF.

Every two weeks, his father drives 40 kilometers from their home to Srinagar for his son to meet with health experts.

“Dr Sahab told me that my son needed some medication for a few weeks. He has been prescribed counselling sessions,” he said.

In addition to counseling, and limiting the time he spent on the phone, they have been told to keep their children away from negative news, make positive discussions at home, and make a lovable environment. After a few weeks, the family says they have seen some improvement.

“I’m keeping him and my younger son engaged in various activities. We go for morning walks together, we play cricket on our lawn, and also take them to the homes of relatives,” he said.

Like Ahmad, there are hundreds of parents in Kashmir who are worried over the disturbance of the mental health of their children. Children, according to doctors, are most susceptible to anxiety and stress. Levels of despair, unhappiness, helplessness have increased manifold.

The longing conflict, violence and the additional Covid-19 pandemic apart from the political and social upheaval, experts say, has taken a massive mental health toll on an already suffering population.

A 2021 study conducted by doctors at JawaharLal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNM) hospital Srinagar titled `Severity of depression, anxiety, and stress among the people of Kashmir, India during COVID-19’ says they interviewed 293 people between 31-59 years through tele-consultation.

“The majority of participants had severe anxiety (94.2 percent),” the study revealed.

For years, the stigma around mental health kept people from seeking help. But given how many people are afflicted, and how pervasive the trauma in the conflict zone is, people started seeking help discreetly, and then more openly, from private psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists.

Training Coordinator at CGWC Syed Mujtaba said since 2018, more than 14000 children have been catered at the CWGC and the treatment is provided free of cost.

In-charge CGWC Dr. Zaid Wani, who is a psychiatrist, said that most children they see are suffering from anxiety, sleeping and learning disorders, and difficulty in reading and writing.

Dr Wani said that three key reasons for deteriorating mental health were not being at school, lack of physical exercise, excessive use of social media and smartphones.

“COVID affected everyone across the world. While there has been no schooling for the last two years and very less physical activities for children in Kashmir. They have become addicted to smartphones or social media which are not good for children. Parents should keep their children away from such things except when there is a need like in online classes,” Dr Wani said.

Waseem Rashid Karoo, a Kashmir based clinical psychologist said that mental health issues prevalence has increased among children in Kashmir during Covid.

Aabid Bhat from North Kashmir’s Baramulla has been suffering from memory loss and anxiety since last year.

“He was so frustrated that he did not know whether it was Saturday or Sunday. He would wake up the whole night and cry. He became very aggressive and fought with family over small things. He had lost interest in studies,” Bhat’s father said.

In August, when he visited CGWC, he was told to have “positive discussions” with his son, and keep him engaged in studies and physical activities.

“He was not prescribed any medicines. I have been following the advice of doctors and counselors which has brought good results so far and has aroused his interest in studies through counseling. I also bought canvas and paint for him,” he said.

Mohsin Ahmad, a 14-year-old boy from Srinagar has been fond of cricket and interested in studies. However, the multiple lockdowns have taken a toll on his mental health.

Whole day, he remained glued to television, watching the latest happenings by coronavirus across the world.

(Name of children have been changed on their parents request)

By: Aabid Hameed

Srinagar: After fetching good rates throughout the autumn, the fruit growers in Kashmir are now witnessing a down market as the rates have been continuously decreasing in different outside markets since last one month now.

Growers from different areas of Kashmir said that usually the rates of apples increase after ending November but as December 2021 started the rates have started declining due to the growers whose produce is yet to reach markets are very much worried.

Mohammad Yousuf, a grower from Shopian said that he is yet to send his 500 apple boxes as he was waiting for rates to increase but instead of increasing, “rates are decreasing with each passing day.”

He said that rates have decreased from Rs 300 to Rs 400 per box in the last one month and the farmers whose most produce is Kashmir are very much worried.

Experts dealing with fruit business said that around 35 percent of the produce is still lying in cold storage units and even hundreds of people have constructed sheds at their orchards where their produce is lying.

Mohammad Ashraf, a horticulture expert and former president of Fruit Growers Association at Aglar Shopian Mandi said that reasons for the decline in the rates include the import of the apples from Iran, which reaches Delhi on a daily basis, cold waves in northern states of India and lockdown, which has started in different parts of India due to emergence of new Covid variant omicron.

“The rates are down by around 35 percent as compared to the rates which were in autumn,” he said.

He said that it is duty of the government to protect apple industry but instead of protecting it, they are allowing import from Iran and Turkey which has decreased demand of apples coming from Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal.

He added that the apples coming from other countries are full of diseases which will slowly reach to our orchards which will badly affect this industry. He said that government must increase custom duty and CESS on the apples coming from other countries so as to protect this industry on which livelihood of around 70 percent population of Kashmir is directly or indirectly dependent.

Experts said that the recent lockdown announcement in Delhi, Kerala and other parts has also impacted rates of the apples as demand has further declined.

They said that as cold wave has also started in different parts of India in which people don’t prefer to take apples, which has also lowered the demand of apples.

Pertinently, Kashmir has around 3.4 lakh hectares of land under horticulture cultivation, most of it dedicated to apple. According to the J&K 2017 economic survey, 34 lakh people comprising seven lakh families are primarily dependent on horticulture in Kashmir.

The apple industry has already sustained heavy losses since abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir, followed by heavy snowfall and the coronavirus lockdown. Many apple traders have gone bankrupt and have even sold their property to bear the losses.