Fear Psychosis amongst the people of the northeast

Dr. Mona Nongmeikapam *

Fear Psychosis!
'Rumours + Fear Psychosis = Exodus'
'Fear Psychosis grips northeast students across the country'
'Fear Psychosis amongst the people of the northeast'

Easily the most commonly appearing words in the headlines of all major dailies over the past ten days or so, FEAR PSYCHOSIS literally has taken over the country by storm! It refers to the temporary mental state involving loss of contact with reality which stems out of a perceived threat.

Elaborating further, fear is one of the basic emotions, a feeling of distress due to a perceived risk or danger, real or not. It has its value as a basic survival mechanism, the ability to recognise danger and flee from it (Fight or Flight response). Several bodily changes accompany fear (known as the autonomous response- rapid heart rate, rise in blood pressure, sweating, pupilary dilatation and so on).

Continued fear not only leads to multiple health concerns but also gives rise to several social and economic issues as intense fear tends to make a person irrational and illogical, hence giving root to the "psychosis" part. Psychosis is not permanent, nor a personality trait, neither is it inborn. Derived from the Greek words "psyche" for the mind and "osis" for any abnormal condition, it refers to the mental state wherein a person is devoid of insight.

How it affects the common man is out there for all to see in the events that has been happening recently. People leaving their jobs, their sources of livelihood and their 'homes' (at least a place they chose to make their home), mass exodus of several thousands of people in mere matters of days is no kidding matter, indeed.

Few may cynically remark, "Serves them well, now this would teach them to return to their motherland where they rightfully belong!" Why are we over-looking the fact that it was this very fear that drove them miles away in the very first place? Fear of the mounting unrest and the tumultuous situations, fear of unemployment, fear of poverty, fear of dying, fear of being victimized, fear of ending up a 'nobody',… or the sheer fear of fear !! And is running away the right solution? No, as reflected by the recent tragic deaths of the home-bound train passengers.

As anything that involves mass hysteria, this fear psychosis is not without its fair share of evils. Let's get familarised with another term which evokes the same reaction but is altogether a different phenomenon. Fear mongering, simply put, is banking on fear psychosis. It can be explained as using fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end.

To cite few examples, fear mongering is one of the oldest tricks used by politicians worldwide to grab eyeballs and rise to power. Why blame just them, it is also a time-tested marketing strategy: use this spray or catch Malaria, this paste else dental carries, this cream or get rejected in interviews, what not! Fear sure sells.

This trend is also reflected in the local market, prices of petrol shooting up the minute a bandh is 'tentatively' announced, chicken selling at flea prices once bird flu pandemic is suspected and so on. This time too, was no different. Tragedy did strike and affected some parts of the country pretty badly.

Capitalising on this unrest, plane and train fares jumped by a whopping margin, the mischief-mongers created havoc, commoners were picked on, there was name-calling, harassment and victimisation in the name of religion and regionalism. Are all the Muslims evil or do all the North-easterners hate them? We all do realise that none of that is true. There are good people and bad people, irrespective of religion, caste, creed or region. Period.

Not every place is affected and not every north-easterner is victimised either. This unrest has become a pretext for several to bunk many a boring lecture (just rationalise, which student will pass up that opportunity?), take a much needed break from work, visit home and family. Things are beginning to normalise, people are heading back to their work-places or institutions, starting to move out and about, socialising, shopping and the routine.

So this brings us back to our original question of whether things were all that bad or were things blown a little out of proportion. Was running home amidst the confusion really the wise choice, where multiple bomb-blasts in a day are now accepted as a way of life and our own law-keepers have shot dead bystanders in busy market places? Which place is actually fool-proof safe, anyway? Several questions, few answers: regretfully, none too re-assuring……..

Fear is one of the primary emotions and a vital part of our survival instinct. It is but human to be afraid and fear for the safety of our near ones. Kindly continue to fear and care but please hold on a moment to clarify facts and weigh the risks and gains of the available options. Ensure that you do not go 'straight out of the pan, into the fire' or fall prey to political or marketing gimmicks. Please do bear in mind that being overtly emotional affects our reasoning and restricts rational behaviour.

Ironically, the following poem by nobel laureate Ranbindranath Tagore written in the early 19th century still sounds like wishful thinking, even to this day:
'Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake'.