Kalpana* is a student on a bridging visa. When the pandemic struck, she was living with an old couple for almost two years in a suburb near the CBD. But with the closure of restaurants and cafes, she lost her job and barely managed two days of work a week somewhere, somehow.
While she was able to pay her rent consistently, she did not realise that living full time with the old couple would be demanding. She was literally taking care of them alongside having to worry about her own situation and how she would cope without a job for months on end.
One of them had partial blindness and invariably the toilet would always be in a mess, says Kalpana. “I didn’t mind cleaning up. I felt it obligatory and a duty to help the aged.” But when she told visiting family members about the problem, she was told, “It must be some soil or dirt.”
It was one of those moments that gave Kalpana a hint about how the wider world viewed her existence—that much more was expected of her than just being a tenant. This basic lack of understanding frustrated her. Kalpana understands most elderly people don’t want to go to aged care and the expectations of the family members from her added to her mental stress.
What is more, the old lady started despising the food she cooked, literally telling her how her curries stank. “Whenever I cooked, she would stand in the kitchen, spit on the sinkand tell me to open up the ventilation.”
Things did not end there. “The TV would blare till 1 am every day and I could barely manage few hours of sleep on the days I started work at 5 am,” Kalpana says.
The gas and electricity bill were so high, but the couple wanted her to divide the bill between just two people when there were three of them living in the house. “Staying there affected me mentally so much,” she says.
Finally, when her Australian boyfriend suggested they move in together to an apartment in the city in the middle of last year, Kalpana agreed thinking that would ease her situation. The boyfriend, she says, also insisted that she applied for the de facto partner visa, which she lodged last year.
But this April, the boyfriend withdrew the visa. He wanted her to agree to certain terms of the relationship which she was not happy with. The result, she lost 12,000 dollars on the application and also a steady job based on the visa status, she says.
A psychologist has diagnosed her as suffering from high depression and anxiety. The boyfriend and aged landlords could not be contacted for comments.
For Jayanti*, a divorcee, the pandemic triggered a sense of loneliness that was unbearable.
“I was lucky that I still had a job and some financial security,” she says. “I worked from 9 am to 5 pm but the moment I hung up the phone, the pin drop silence of the house and the inability to go out and meet people just got to me.”
For her, the social isolation was her main trigger for depression, which she had been diagnosed with. “How much can you talk on the phone. You need human connection. The friend bubble rule came later,” she says, adding, “But it’s not just about relationships, people lost jobs and closed businesses. The whole thing was mentally blocking.”
Some days she was OK but other days there were things that triggered the depression which would lead to a downward spiral. It is something that continues even now.
The cases of Kalpana and Jayanti are not unique but commonplace if you go by anecdotes.
Elvis Martin, Principal Ambassador of the National Youth Commission Australia, Director of Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), and Council Member of the Mental Health Commission, says, he was dealing with many cases such as Kalpana’s during the pandemic. “People were calling me, and I was talking to landlords. Unfortunately, there is not much support available for students. And, sadly, one individual alone cannot pick up the load of the entire international student community.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “A great number of people have reported psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress. And there have been worrying signs of more widespread suicidal thoughts and behaviours, including among health care workers… Some groups of people have been affected much more than others.”
Melbourne-based psychiatrist Amit Zutshi seconds, “The GPs are struggling because it is a very difficult situation as both children and adults are affected by mental health now. The numbers being referred continues to grow. That also is visible from the waiting period now for a psychiatrist or psychologist. It is anywhere between six to 12 months.”
Two years down the line, to what degree have things changed? Jayanti says she has stopped her medications, but the depression persists. Kalpana, on the other hand, is also struggling with health issues and goes to the creek near her home to find solace. She is reluctant to talk to people but continues to see her psychologist who has prescribed medications.
Martin suggests people look up two organisations that are looking after mental health in Victoria—cohealth and Melbourne City Mission (MCM).
No doubt, a lot has been written about and talked regarding the pandemic and mental health, but Zutshi says recognising that uncertainty is a fact of life and developing coping skills are key here.
“The pandemic has brought forward that feeling of loss of control, of uncertainty, so the general feeling of distress and anxiety still prevails. The virus has changed our world and it will continue to change the world, so unless we change our coping skills we will have a pandemic of mental health,” he warns.
Zutshi suggests apart from eating healthy and exercising, it is important to engage in some form of mediation. “Whatever form of meditation you believe in, that disengagement is very important as it brings stability and calmness. Uncertainty is part of life and if we become more anxious that spirals into other symptoms. The key is to be able to ground yourself and grounding comes from meditation.”
(*Names changed for reasons of privacy)
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