Fear psychosis grips terror victims

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: A top executive of a French multinational, who was trapped in the fourth floor of the Taj Mahal hotel for most of the dreadful 60 hours of Mumbai terror attacks, now fears even stepping out of home. ���The person has escaped, but is now suffering from acute fear psychosis. He refuses to go to office and just wants to be indoor,��� said the doctor treating him.

Well after a week after the Mumbai terror attacks, secondary tremors are still being felt. Many of the survivors, families of victims and those glued to their TV sets have succumbed to psychological trauma, affecting their daily routine and work life. They are turning to psychiatric help in hordes.

Doctors report a growing number of such patients trickling to their chambers. Worse, psychiatrists are finding that a lot of children have suffered extensive mental agony by seeing gory TV images or hearing personal account of tragic incidents from their friends. And such cases are being reported not just in Mumbai, but across the country.

���The terror strike has created a multiplier effect,��� said Dr Parul Tank, consultant psychiatrist at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai. ���We are seeing a large number of people complaining of terror across age groups who have either seen it on TV or heard gory tales from the survivors. Though Mumbai is not new to such terror, the impact this time has been unprecedented.���

Several survivors are suffering from acute stress reaction and reliving the horrors of the dreadful night. ���I am treating a survivor unable to sleep at night. A police constable, who had evacuated a lot of people from the CST and was eventually shot in the back, is complaining of gun shots reverberating in his ears,��� a doctor said.

Unlike family or community violence, trauma resulting from terrorism comes without any warning, and the threat persists indefinitely.