Unheard Silences

Last night while I was browsing through some random articles, I came across an intriguing piece about a young teen who was suffering from social anxiety. Every one of us at some point of our lives must have either suffered or came across a person who suffers from anxiety. When I read the initial lines, I thought hey! This is so common. Even I get anxious at times especially when results are going to be announced, the mind wrecking stress, sweaty palms and the rushing sensation burning our body( Thanks to Mr. Adrenaline!) is nothing extraordinary for most of us.

But when I read further, I realized that the topic of discussion was not just the usual anxiety we get during the stressful conditions but it was much graver than that as the boy unfolded his story.

It started with a small prank played on him by his friends who were ignorant of the fact that their friend was already social phobic. After the incident, everyone forgot about it as a trivial joke but this boy’s life changed forever. In no time, he became more reclusive than ever. He stopped talking or paying attention in classes. He began to avoid any human contact, even his parents. Soon, the matters became worse; his grades dropped, his friends began to avoid him and his behavior became unmanageable due to his unpredictable outburst of anger much to his parent’s misery. Fortunately, His parents took immediate steps and took him to a therapist who diagnosed that he was suffering from acute Social anxiety disorder. He was just 16 then.

“I used to feel extremely helpless. It was like no one could understand my condition, not even my parents”, he, later, confessed when he got better and considers him fortunate that he got the right treatment in the right time. But not everyone is as lucky as him. In India the outlook of people towards a mental patient is not sympathetic. They are termed as weirdo and treated as an outcast. This social taboo discourages the families of the patient to attain medical treatment which further aggravates the problem.

 I found this thought provoking. When I researched further, I found some shocking facts about this phenomenon. Approximately 35% of Indians suffer from anxiety disorders and unfortunately 70% of them are teenagers. Most of them go undiagnosed. Many people think that they are going crazy and weird but isn't the case always.

Generally, we all are well aware of the term “anxiety” when simply put imply a feeling of stress for a period of time. But what most of us don’t know is that there can be acute forms of anxiety too, social anxiety being one of them. An emotional state of inner upheaval accompanied by irrational fear and nervousness continually crippling your daily interactions. A person suffering from it might detect a stressful situation to be intangible and uncontrollable but it might not be the case in reality. Their overreaction to a situation makes them highly sensitive and defensive. In acute cases, it leads to panic attacks. There is a constant apprehension of being brutally scrutinized by others. Physical and social contacts like embracing; shaking hands makes them heavily uncomfortable.

Change in sleeping patterns, insomnia, irrational fears, excessive worrying are some of the initial symptoms and it requires the immediate attention of the elders. If gone untreated it could lead to fatal repercussions like suicides.

If we look back in history, our parents in their younger years were comparatively healthier and these mind crippling diseases were negligibly prevalent. They had a balance in their lives.

 Contrary to that, today’ youngsters always have their plate full of activities, too many competitions to crack and way many expectations to fulfill. Everyone wants to make it big and mindlessly crack their brains till they are out of fuel. No one wants to sit idle. Even on holidays we like to stay busy. No doubt we have transformed ourselves into workaholic maniacs ignorant of the dire consequences in the long run.

Social anxiety might not seem as threatening as cancer but it has got equally bad consequences if neglected for a long time. No doubt, there are many self help groups and therapy centers for the correct diagnosis of this menace but social boundaries and the common mind set “log kya kehenge?” always come in our way. 

But a person having mental problems has to make his way through the social stigma attached with the problem. A mental disorder, serious or not, should be diagnosed and treated like any other disease. It should given medical attention and the patients shown consideration and compassion in the society. 

Parents can listen to the problems that their children face and be the friend and anchor that they can rely on. Parents need to be alert and detect behavioral traits which indicate signs of abnormal behavior, they should never neglect them and immediately get the help of a professional same goes with teachers in school and nothing should go unreported.

We must pledge to make the world a safer place and take right decisions in the right time because sometimes neglected means denied.

courtesy: Wiki