The chief of Thailand’s mental health department has said that the stress levels of Thai people are back up to the same level as they were during the first worrying days of the pandemic back in March last year.
Dr Phanphimon Wipulakorn was speaking yesterday at the Ministry of Public Health. She has called on people to share their worries with each other to reduce stress.
She said that in March 2020 stress levels were at Level 4 or even higher.
As the pandemic eased, people’s fear abated and stress levels went down accordingly so that by nearer the end of the year the stress levels were only at Level 1 or 2.
But in 2021 all that has changed.
The second wave of the pandemic has thrust stress levels back up to Level 4.
The sense of alarm among the Thai population was particularly high in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in early December. By the end of the month this had shifted to Samut Sakhon (the epicenter of a major outbreak).
This is expressing itself in fear of contracting Covid-19 with worries about going out and great concern about personal protection measures, she said.
She called on the public to try and replace fear with action. Sharing your concerns with someone was a good start and would help people to calm down.
She called on action to protect both mind and body this being the best “Vaccine Jai”.
Jai means heart but in this sense was used as a term for the centre of mental well-being.
Her advice might be seen in terms of the English expression “a problem shared is a problem halved”. – Daily News
