Uran sightings put city on edge
The ongoing high alert in the city following reports of some suspicious elements being sighted in Uran, has put Mumbaikars on an edge with psychiatrists attributing this to the earlier traumas that have hit the city.
According to Dr Yusuf Matcheswala, professor of psychiatry, JJ Hospital, the reason for this fear reaction among people is that many have seen the terrorist attack of 26/11, the bomb blasts and also the riots before that. “For those who have actually experienced the trauma in these events go through something called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and feel that something similar can happen again,” he said.The issue here is that people want to feel a sense a safety and these events put a feeling of fear and anxiety among them, the psychiatrist said. “People travel from long distances to their work places and they want to feel that they will return home safely at the end of the day,” he said. The present situation is such that there are a lot of rumours going around and there is no sense of clarity on what is happening, he added. It will now be up to the police authorities to make the necessary investigations and confirm what is really happening, he added.
Giving his reaction on the high alert, Piyush Yadav, a resident of Borivali, said that the goings on have definitely impacted people and everybody is getting hyper on whether a war with our neighbour is going to happen.
“We all want to live a safe life and any such happening tends to create severe stress in our minds,” he added.Another psychiatrist, Dr Rahul Gahdge, who is attached to the Nagpada Police Hospital, said that at times like this when there are reports of high alerts and lot of movement by the police and armed forces, people tend to get bouts of anxiety. “These are translated into real symptoms of headache and loss of appetite and there is also a sense of heaviness,” he explained. The entire situation has also been played up by the media and every television channel and even social media are giving the same news, Dr Ghadge said.
“The result of this explosion of news is that people tend to develop negative thoughts and feel afraid to go out at crowded places,” he said. Some people even start getting suspicious of everyone around them and feel something is going to happen.
Suggesting ways of dealing with this situation, Dr Matcheswala said that it is important that in such a situation, people should not believe in rumours. “People should learn to control their anxiety and anger and should wait for the administration to carry out their jobs and give an okay signal,” he said.