Depression, Anxiety and Stress among the general population in the time of COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional study protocol

The incidence of Depression, Anxiety and stress among the general population is steadily increasing due to outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe. Beyond the risks of COVID-19, concerns have been expressed to have mental effect on the general population due to COVID-19 lock down. The emotional impact is more among individuals with pre-existing medical diseases like hypertension, Coronary Artery Disease, Diabetes (DM) and psychiatric illness. The lockdown results in health anxiety, this can manifest as maladaptive behaviours (repeated medical consultations, avoiding health care even if genuinely ill, hoarding particular items); at a broader societal level, it can lead to mistrust of public authorities and scapegoating of particular populations or groups. There are very few data from India studying mental impact of lockdown due to COVID 19 among general population. In our study, we will assess DAS among rural population who are accompanying the Non-COVID 19 patients at a tertiary care rural hospital of central India in the era of lock down.