IMPACT OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN ON BALUCHISTAN AND PUNJAB: APSYCHOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

Several countries around the globe implemented tight quarantine policies, such as lockdowns in whole cities in order to
avoid the fast spreading and transmission of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019). At the start of the pandemic,
lockdowns were also imposed in Pakistani Cities. The purpose of this study is to look at and study the psychological
effect of COVID-19 lockdown on individuals in Pakistan. The goals of the study are achieved by (1) Sampling Facebook
users (geo location = Baluchistan, Pakistan) and sampling Facebook users (geo location = Punjab, Pakistan), (2)
retrieving published posts of two weeks prior and after lockdown of all users who are in these regions (e.g., the date of
lockdown in Pakistan; March 23, 2020); (3) obtaining the psycholinguistic aspects of these posts by using the
‘Language Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) dictionary’; and (4) performing Wilcoxon tests in order to study the
changes and variations in the psycholinguistic features of the social media posts prior and after the lockdown in these
regions i.e. Baluchistan and Punjab in Pakistan. After the lockdown in these regions, the results revealed that people
concentrated greater on "home" and had greater levels of cognitive process. Meanwhile, following the lockdown, the
stress level in Punjab, Pakistan reduced and focus on leisure grew. Following the lockdown, there was a greater
focus on group, religion, and emotions in Baluchistan, Pakistan. The findings give policy and decision-makers upto-date information regarding public reactions and their effects concerning psychological conditions in the
COVID-19 environment, and they have ramifications for data and evidence based mental health intercessions in
both provinces.