The physical scars and injuries are for the world to see and doctors to heal, yet, Mumbaikars and children especially, are suffering severe mental trauma as a result of terror strikes
The physical scars and injuries are for the world to see and doctors to heal, yet, Mumbaikars and children especially, are suffering severe mental trauma as a result of terror strikes.
Says Mumbai's Dr Praful Barvalia who has been working in the field of mental health for 13 years, "We see a surge in psychological trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when violence like this occurs.
The children, are often its most affected victims though they are also its most silent. They may not speak up because they themselves do not know what they are going through.
Sometimes, obsessive thoughts may recur as a result of witnessing a bomb blast either first hand or even vicariously through television."
Dr Barvalia illustrated this, "There was an eight-year-old child V Shetty, who witnessed an earlier bomb blast on TV.
Heu00a0 became very impulsive. Sometimes, children will pace to and fro frantically, talk very loudly and even scream without reason.
Shetty once, picked up a knife and said, I will kill those people, referring to the perpetrators of the blasts. At other times, he used to cling to his mother in fear."
Adults too battle PTSD, following a terror attack. Says the doctor, "Mahesh was in one of the train compartments on July 11, 2008 during the blasts.
He suffered minor physical injuries. He could not sleep for three days but on the fourth day, he recovered his emotional composure and went to work.
Yet, he was suffering internally. After six months, his relative got a heart attack. When Mahesh heard about it, he suffered cardiac neurosis where there is no actual heart attack but one experiencesu00a0 fear."
Dr Barvalia and Dr Noah Nathan, paediatric homeopath stress that individuals are not the same. Some are more sensitive than others and Dr Nathan says, "Children are especially vulnerable to PTSD.
Sometimes, you also see illnesses like fever, which are psychosomatic because of the trauma. Not everybody is affected in the same way."
u00a0
Dr Nathan says, "It is important for adults to seek help too, if they feel their work is being hampered by trauma. Often, mental health is taken very lightly. That should change."
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
