The Hindu Business Line : Shrinks see spike in practice on market blues

“Those who have not been directly affected by the crisis live in fear of the future, having seen their friends or neighbours go through a financial crisis.”

Sharvari Patwa

Mumbai, Nov. 19 To the city-based psychiatrist Dr Ashutosh Rane, the new visitor to his clinic – a businessman – looked fairly calm and unruffled, so he was a little unprepared to hear his patient’s opening words: ‘I am going to kill myself at the end of the week’.

The 38-year-old businessman had lost all his savings in the recent stock market crash and had debts of around Rs 70 lakh to pay off.

Psychiatrists in the city are seeing a sharp increase in the number of patients who seek them out after stock market losses or job-related stress.

“Every week I attend to at least 10 cases of depression arising from the current economic crisis; this number was zero or one a week six months back,” said Dr Kersi Chavda, consultant psychiatrist at Hinduja National Hospital and Vice-President of the Bombay Psychiatric Society.

“I have seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of cases related to the stock market fall and the current financial crisis in the past three months,” said Dr Mrugesh Vaishnav, President of Indian Psychiatric Society (West Zone).

These patients are usually in the age group of 35-55, weighed down with responsibilities and commitments, both personal and professional, and who suddenly find themselves unable to cope with their sudden financial loss.

Sameer Desai, 55, who took voluntary retirement from his rather well paying Government job, had invested all his savings in the stock market, hoping for a substantial appreciation of his assets before his daughter’s wedding, scheduled for February next year. The wedding, originally planned as a lavish affair, is now going to be a simple court affair. Desai, devastated at his savings reduced to almost nothing, found himself having to visit a counsellor.

“People are not able to sleep or eat, or they are on sleeping pills, some may have started to smoke more,” said Dr Chavda.

Some of them tend to get angry or irritated over small issues; they have low tolerance levels, said another psychiatrist. The patients suffer from anxiety, or get panic attacks.

In Mumbai, last month, an official at a brokerage who had lost his job and had also invested in the stock market, killed himself and his pregnant wife. His suicide note said he was under tremendous financial pressure. There have been reports of suicides from other cities too.

Those who have not been directly affected by the crisis live in fear of the future, having seen their friends or neighbours go through a financial crisis, said another city-based psychiatrist.

“With the fast life becoming too fast and creating too much negativity, people have started to stop and question the whole consumerist philosophy in the wake of the current financial turmoil,” said Dr Anjali Chabbria, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, who gets around three to four patients suffering from depression triggered by the financial crisis.

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Shrinks see spike in practice on market blues