A few days ago, at around midnight, psychiatrist Dr Shefali Batra received an urgent request for a session from a long-time patient who was suffering a panic attack. Her entire family had tested positive. “She was breaking down because her sister’s little child was now under her care and she was catastrophising (assuming the worst will happen),” explains Batra. The mental health expert had to see her online right away. She finds it important to be on-call and available for those who need her. “While one is battling the virus, the other is fighting the anxiety and assumed worrisome consequences. I must do what I can to help. So I have been flexible,” she says. 

Like Batra, most therapists have been stretching their days and conducting sessions online or over the telephone since the pandemic hit in 2020. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report estimates that 7.5 percent of Indians suffer from some sort of mental disorder. It further states that India has just 0.3 psychiatrists, and 0.07 psychologists, per 1,00,000 people. Given the brutal second wave of the pandemic and news of a highly burdened healthcare system in the country, many are mentally and emotionally overwhelmed. While mental health professionals are helping people deal with this, how are they taking care of their mental well-being?