Mental Health Analysis of Students in Major Cities of India During COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has come down heavy on us, turning whole world upside down. It is an unprecedented crisis that is giving rise to various mental health issues among individuals. Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, fear, sadness, worry, disgust are increasing in people over a period of time. The nationwide lockdown for forestalling COVID-19 disease has contributed to widespread emotional distress and increased risk for psychiatric illness. This book chapter analyses psychological stress due to COVID-19 pandemic through user-generated content on Twitter for major cities of India. In this study, the lexica relating to depression was used for identifying depressing tweets. The depressing content was then analysed for major cities of India. The results show that there was a relational pattern between the number of coronavirus cases, number of recovered cases and the total number of depressing tweets. A sentimental analysis of the tweets was carried out to determine the severity of psychological stress level among general public. Further, the results were compared for four major cities of India, viz. Rajasthan, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Finally, a demographic categorization was made based on the sentimental analysis results.