How Mumbai's relentless monsoon can affect your mental health

Waterlogging on Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Road following continuous heavy rainfall disrupts traffic and daily life. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Relentless rain does more than flood roads and delay trains. For many Mumbaikars, days of continuous downpours also bring mounting anxiety, fear and emotional exhaustion.

Parents worry about children stranded in schools, commuters brace for chaotic journeys, delivery workers navigate dangerous streets under pressure to meet deadlines, while senior citizens living alone often struggle with isolation. Constant exposure to images of flooded roads, collapsing buildings and rescue operations on television and social media can further intensify stress.

To understand how prolonged monsoon conditions affect mental health, mid-day spoke to psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, a Psychiatrist at Dr L H Hiranandani hospital, who answered some of the most common questions on monsoon-related anxiety, trauma and coping.

Excerpts from the interview

Q: Does prolonged rain affect mental health? If yes, how?
It does! Especially with recent memories of multiple micro & mini macro disasters happening all the time. 2005 deluge, death due to open manholes, trees falling, and house collapse add to the fear. Rain can kill is a belief that Mumbaikars feel.

Dr Harish Shetty. Pic/File Photo

Q: How does daily commuting during heavy rain impact mental well-being?
There is severe anticipatory anxiety of navigating streets, traffic jams, entering a crowded train, reaching one's destination and returning home. There is an adrenaline overdrive causing anger, irritability and panic attacks. Some suffer from learned helplessness (this is a phenomenon) and resign themselves to a fate that leads to long-term loss of confidence.

Q: Are delivery workers and other outdoor workers more vulnerable to stress during the monsoon?
Younger delivery workers view rain as fun and joyful. Yet, many get stressed by hawkish bosses and impatient, irate clients. The city is like a war zone where empathy and tolerance are casualties. Yet few are kind to these boys.

Q: How does continuous rain affect senior citizens living alone or indoors?
Home alone with dark clouds and minimal human contact can cause Depression among the elderly. When the morning walks stop, jokes shrink with their peers, gadgets become their only companion, emotional fatigue, insomnia, bad moods and deterioration of pre-existing physical illness can be a consequence.

Q: When concern becomes anxiety
Past mishaps in rains can trigger intense fears in the present just by a meteorological report. Old memories of kids stuck in school, spouses stranded at railway stations, can cause startle reactions and explosive anxiety in the present rain. As a result, parents may quarrel with each other as they displace their anxiety onto each other. Intense anxiety can lead to anger, causing major emotional storms at home. Kids suffer then.

Q: Can watching disaster videos be harmful?
This can cause vicarious trauma just as when someone watches war videos repeatedly. Many are addicted to the same. The videos can penetrate the neurons and are stored along with the destructive feelings in the brain. These agonising memories may spontaneously play in the mind with or without a trigger later. I still see relatives of the victims of the 2005 deluge coming to me for PTSD (long-term trauma). Some lose meaning in life, suffer from chronic depression, and avoid the road where their loved ones died.

Q: Can survivors develop PTSD?
Yes, many do if no intervention is provided. The state should provide free counselling for their negligence in many cases. Mere compensation does not help.

Warning signs

>> Staying indoors even when rainfall is minimal
>> Severe fear or panic attacks
>> Depression
>> Low day-to-day functioning
>> Poor sleep
>> Irritability and rage
>> Lifestyle diseases worsening

How to cope during the monsoon

Dr Shetty's advice
>> Follow advisories issued by the government and BMC.
>> Avoid taking unnecessary risks.
>> Stay in touch with family and friends if stranded.
>> Share your feelings without guilt or shame.
>> Limit repeated exposure to distressing news coverage.
>> Practice slow deep breathing or pranayama.
>> Maintain regular sleep habits.
>> Reduce excessive gadget use.
>> Seek help from neighbours, local representatives, police or government agencies if affected by flooding.
>> Senior citizens living alone should stay connected with family through phone or video calls and ask for help when needed.
>> Playing in the rain if allowed by the family doctor in safe conditions can bring down anxiety

When should you seek professional help?

Consult a psychiatrist or physician if you experience:
>> Sudden behavioural changes
>> Severe loss of sleep
>> Panic attacks
>> Excessive fear
>> Persistent anger or rage
>> Very low mood or depression
>> Thoughts of self-harm
>> Worsening of existing physical illnesses

Mental health and suicide prevention helplines

If someone is in immediate danger of self-harm, call emergency services (112) or seek urgent medical assistance.

24x7 support

Tele-MANAS (Government of India)
14416 or 1-800-891-4416
Free, 24x7 mental health counselling and support.

AASRA
+91 98204 66726
24x7 suicide prevention helpline.

Sneha Foundation
+91 44 2464 0050
Emotional support and suicide prevention services.

iCALL (Tata Institute of Social Sciences)
Helpline: +91 91529 87821
Mon to Sat, 10 am to 8 pm. Email and counselling support are also available during operating hours.