Cash woes: Govt official complains of stress disorder

EVEN AS queues outside banks and ATMS continue to grow a month into the announcement of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, doctors in the capital said that the move is now affecting mental health and triggering “adjustment-related disorders”.

A private hospital in the national capital recently saw one such case, where the patient complained of “adjustment-related disorder” due to the negative impact of demonetisation.

Sources said the patient - a senior government official - has complained of “adjustment-related disorders” as his family is facing a severe cash crunch. To add to his depression, there is a wedding in the family early 2017. Moreover, he has not been able to recover the money he had loaned to a few of his acquaintances.

Clinically, adjustment disorder is a stress related, short-term, non-psychotic disturbance. The symptoms of the disorder are stress, feeling sad or hopeless.

“A government official has complained of excessive stress due to demonetisation. He is having a hard time coping and the reaction stronger than expected for the event. In this case, he was supposed get some money that he had given as loan. Those who took loans from him are, at present, unable to pay him back due to crash crunch. To add to this, his son’s wedding is scheduled to take place in January and the family is facing severe cash crunch. The patient is, hence, going through what we call adjustment disorder, and he is feeling hopeless,” Dr Manish Jain, Consultant Psychiatrist, BLK Super Specialty Hospital told The Indian Express.

The specialist said that patients with such symptoms should visit either a psychologist or psychiatrist to curb the problem from growing further. “In such cases, the patient must go for counseling, where specialists encourage the person to talk about his emotions and offer support. I have recommended this patient deep breathing exercises,” Dr Jain added.

Last week, during the World Congressofsocialpsychiatry,specialists from across the globe had discussed whether the Centre’s movewillhaveanimpactonmental health. “At present, there is no empiricalevidenceaboutdemonetisationanditsimpactonmental health. But marriages are getting delayed and people losing their jobs. In such situations, people might experience anxiety and stress. Patients need to be sensitised,” said Dr Khandelwal, chief, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre ), AIIMS.

The symptoms of adjustment-related disorder are stress, feeling sad or hopeless