Dr Adedotun Ajiboye, a Clinical Psychologist at the Mental Health Department, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, says COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine strategies has positive and negative effects on families.
Ajiboye made this assertion in an interview with newsmen on the occasion to commemorate the International Day of Families.
According to the psychologist, COVID-19 has brought families that were apart together and the physical distancing that existed before COVID-19 has subsided.
”Families are now staying together, leading to social bonding between husbands and wives as well as parents and children.
”Communication gaps that existed in many homes for long have been bridged. Intimate relationships which had vanished from some homes are returning due to COVID-19 lockdown,” he said.
The psychologist said that there could be psychological stress in the family of victims, who tested positive to COVID-19 and are quarantined or isolated.
”For example, if a breadwinner is quarantined, this may bring physiological and psychological stress on the family members.
”The family can go hungry. This will lead to physiological stress, which may, in turn, lead to aggression, anxiety, even depression,” he said.
Ajiboye said that a breadwinner, who could not provide food because of the lockdown, may begin to exhibit some tantrums against his wife and children.
He said that to minimise challenges facing families during a lockdown, social welfare of indigent families should be prioritised when taking the breadwinner into isolation to avoid psychological and physiological stress on the entire family.
”This lockdown should be used as a platform to observe the strength and opportunities in every member of each family and plan to develop them.
”More so, weaknesses and threats to each family should be identified by the members, and each should plan to live above them,” Ajiboye advised.
The International Day, proclaimed by the UN provides an opportunity to promote awareness on issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting them.