No one was taking Shalini's repeated threats for the last three months seriously, but once Shalini's cousin Dr. Priyabhen had come home. He asked the whole thing. And immediately said that this is not a joke but a psychological problem. You should get Shalini psychologically treated immediately.' Coming to the clinic, Shalini started talking. 'Doctor, believe me. I'll be honest, I finally feel like I'm going to slap someone. Such thoughts never leave my mind. Something will happen to me or there will be no remedy.' In fact everyone in the house was tired of hearing such a thing from Shalini. Shalini could not stop crying. 'Doctor, why does this happen even though I come from such a cultured and educated family? I have never thought of killing an ant in my life, but now it happens that I want to kill Priyang. Only then will there be laughter. Then in the next second there is heavy regret. Then comes the crying. Then there is tension. Then there is despair and a feeling of helplessness. I know this thought is unnecessary but I can't stop it. I want to get out of this vicious cycle of repeated thought.' Many of us have such unwanted thoughts at times, but, with time, they become weaker. Of course, patients like Shalini suffer from unwanted intrusions called 'obsessive compulsive disorder'. In this problem, the patient knows that what I am thinking is neither logical nor necessary, but the violent intrusive thoughts cannot be avoided. At the root of any OCD is anxiety. There are also many types of OCD. According to a research published in the journal 'Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy', such patients bring out a distorted form of fear according to their upbringing and personality. Assume that the idea or sight of someone's murder is forgotten after a while by the common man. Of course, sometimes the fear will be remembered, but the thought is not so harmful in the future. But if there is resentment for someone in the unconscious mind of a person suffering from anxiety, it gets repressed and comes out in a stressful situation in the future, changing its form. When immediate action cannot be taken at that time against the person who has actually or practically wronged us, the resentful reaction starts as recurring thoughts in the future. The patient himself often does not understand why this happens to him. This recurring thought becomes an 'obsession', even if their fear has no logical foundation. In Shalini's case an untold incident happened in the past. When she was 14 years old, on the day of Raksha Bandhan, a distant ten year older cousin did an unseemly act. At that time Shalini was very angry, but on the day of the family gathering, she immediately told this to her mother. Mom got angry with Shalini and asked her to be very quiet and the matter was suppressed there. Maybe mom forgot but that matter penetrated deep in Shalini's mind. Then even when Shalini's arranged marriage took place, the husband and wife could not get physically close for many months due to lack of 'sex education'. Slowly everything settled down. But now that the daughter has grown up, those thoughts have again taken a distorted form and the generalization mentality that 'all men are bad' has been combined with fear and has become a violent inescapable thought-pressure along with hatred and resentment. Shalini also felt the anxiety and guilt of it all. Suppressed anger was now trying to come out in the form of uncontrollable violent thoughts, but Shalini's peace was torn between her sanskar on one side and this thought pressure on the other. Troubled as to why she was having such bad thoughts, Shalini was given psychotherapy. Counseling to strengthen 'self-concept' also took place and with Priyang's full cooperation, Shalini came out of the distorted mindset.
Winning stroke Any emotion not expressed at the right time, in the right amount and in the right place can cause psychosis.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
