Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central India: Overlooked Psychological and Social Determinants of Health

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which started in 2019, has created unprecedented public health problems, mental health crises, and economic and social problems. These effects have been studied by numerous researchers on the general population but none on hospitalized and discharged COVID-19 patients. Aim: To assess psychological and social problems among hospitalized and discharged COVID-19 patients. Methods: During lockdown and post-lockdown in India, we interviewed 500 COVID-19 patients admitted at our tertiary care center during their hospitalization and post-discharge period for psychological and social problems. Results: The common psychological issues in hospitalized patients during lockdown were anxiety and misconceptions about COVID-19, while insomnia, anxiety, and frustration were common during the post-lockdown period. The typical social problems in hospitalized patients during the lockdown were containment-related issues, discrimination, longer wait for repeat COVID-19 tests, and boredom; whereas issues related to employment and financial matters were common during post-lockdown. Psychological problems comparatively decreased whereas social problems increased after discharge. Conclusion: Unrehearsed mitigation strategies at the beginning of the pandemic unknowingly led to various psychological and social problems. It was further aggravated by a lack of information and miscommunication.