DESTROYED: A gutted portion of the Taj hotel

Two days after terror struck Mumbai, Padma Sharma laid down a new set of rules in her house. No one was to switch on the television. No one was to answer the door. “Sharma felt some fresh terror attack would be telecast on TV. If someone knocked on the door, she would repeatedly ask who it was before opening,” says Y.A. Matcheswalla, head of the department of psychiatry, Masina Hospital, Mumbai, where the 33-year-old company professional was brought for counselling.

Matcheswalla recalls that Sharma was in a state of complete panic. “We had to give her sedatives to calm her down,” he says.

In the last 10 days or so, Masina Hospital’s psychiatric helpline has received over 60 calls a day from people who feared they would be the next victim of a terrorist’s bullet. About 10 to 12 people reported for counselling at the hospital’s out patient department daily. “People come with problems of phobias, panic reactions, palpitations, acidity, hallucinations and delusions,” says Matcheswalla.

If you think terrorists are lurking out there, waiting to pounce on you or spray you with bullets, you are not alone. Actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his blog that on the night of the Mumbai terror attack, he loaded his licensed revolver and kept it under his pillow before going to bed. And psychologists across India are counselling an increasing number of people with complaints of insecurity and fear. “People feel that they are not in control of their lives,” says Dayal Mirchandani, psychologist and founder, Behavioural Science Foundation, Mumbai.

An event manager told Mirchandani that he was looking for a job closer home because he didn’t want to travel by train any more. A 40-year-old woman told him that she would not attend any weddings this season. “Terrorism, along with an increasing crime rate, kidnappings and Naxal problems, has fuelled fear in the common man,” says Mirchandani.

Paranoia — which psychologists define as an exaggerated or unfounded fear that others are trying to hurt you — is clearly becoming a way of life in urban India. Rajat Mitra, psychologist and director, Swanchetan, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, says he has seen a three-fold increase in the number of people coming with problems of fear, anxiety and sleep disturbances in the last one year. “A few years earlier, people were paranoid about being poisoned or robbed. But now they are paranoid about losing their lives in terror attacks, plane crashes and train blasts,” says Mitra.

It’s not just India — the world seems to be living in fear. A decade-long study conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London, which concluded in October this year, found that one in four people in London regularly faced fears of either being threatened or being in danger. “Fears about other people seem to have reached new heights — whether they be terrorists, binge-drinking youth, child abusers or criminals,” says Daniel Freeman, consultant clinical psychologist, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, who conducted the study. Freeman, who has authored a book Paranoia: The 21st Century Fear, adds that after a terrorist event, mistrust, suspiciousness and paranoia are at an all-time high. “Many people choose to avoid public spaces and will look at strangers as potential terrorists,” he explains.

That’s how urban India reacted after the Mumbai attacks. P.S. Murthy has been working as a psychologist at Bangalore’s Manipal Hospital for 10 years. He is a familiar face there. But after Mumbai was attacked on November 26, for the first time Murthy was put through a strict security check before entering the hospital. “My bag was checked and my identity card examined,” he says.

The psychologist also reports a sharp rise in the number of people coming to him with complaints of sleep disturbances and anxiety. “Last week, a 30-year-old software professional told me that if she hears any noise outside her house at night she jumps out of bed to check if everything is alright,” says Murthy.

Indian cities have seen terror before. But psychologists say paranoia levels peaked after last week’s Mumbai attack. Historian Ramachandra Guha believes the 24x7 live coverage of the attack also fanned mass hysteria across the country. “There was non-stop coverage and people were hooked to their television sets. It disturbed many people and led to greater paranoia,” says Guha.

Mumbai’s Masina Hospital was flooded with calls from people who watched television round the clock and then felt they too had been part of the attack, says Matcheswalla. “Many people said they did not dare leave their house. Some complained that their children wouldn’t go to the bathroom alone,” he says.

What probably rattled the collective Indian psyche was the fact that the Mumbai attack made the country’s rich and powerful its victim, says Sandeep Vohra, president, Indian Association of Private Psychiatry, Delhi. “In India, the general feeling is that the rich lead a charmed, protected life. When they were hit, no one felt safe,” he explains.

Vohra adds that there is a growing sense of cynicism among the common man. “People feel no one can fix the mess. If you feel there is no way out, it further fuels paranoia and insecurity,” he says.

Also, this was the first time in urban India that a terror attack went on for so long. “This was not just one bomb blast but a 60-hour attack. So it left deeper scars,” says Guha. Jai Ranjan Ram, consultant psychiatrist, Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Calcutta, too feels that the magnitude of the attack triggered feelings of insecurity and depression.

Gujarat has been through the after effects of a long tryst with terrorism and violence. After communal riots ripped the state, a post-riot psychiatric OPD was set up at Seth Vadilal Sarabhai (V.S.) General Hospital, Ahmedabad. “We saw 260 patients in three months. Most did not have a history of psychiatric problems,” says Laxman Dutt, associate professor, psychiatry, V.S. Hospital. Patients came with problems of post traumatic stress disorders, fear, anxiety and depression.

A housewife, Lata Shah, suffering from severe anxiety, was brought to the V.S. Hospital by her husband. “Shah lived in a communally sensitive area and felt that bombs had been planted around her house. She would check every corner of her house before going to bed,” says Hitendra Gandhi, head of department, psychiatry, V.S. Hospital, who treated her.

Mrugesh Vaishnav too has a sense of déjà vu after the Mumbai attack. The president of the Indian Psychiatry Society, west zone, Ahmedabad, says it has triggered the same psychological trauma that the Gujarat riots had done. Last week, a 12-year-old boy was brought to Vaishnav for counselling. “He wet his bed three times on the night of the Mumbai attack. He felt the terrorists would come to his house and kill his parents,” says Vaishnav.

In Mumbai psychologist Dayal Mirchandani saw three children with anxiety problems in the week after the terror attack. “One child asked his parents if the terrorists would go to his school and shoot him,” recalls Mirchandani.

Psychiatric centres across India are now rolling out plans to tackle the growing terror-related public paranoia. In Delhi, Swanchetan has put forward a proposal to schools to conduct self-preservation programmes for children. “This is common in schools in Israel and the US. It teaches children to be prepared against terror attacks and school shootouts,” says Mitra.

The psychiatry department at Masina Hospital has also sent a proposal to the Maharashtra government to start a counselling booth at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) station. “People are scared of going to the station. Counsellors at the booth will help them overcome their paranoia,” says Matcheswalla. Psychologists from the hospital are also visiting people who call in to say that they are scared of leaving their houses.

Smriti Dutt, a Mumbai college student, still hasn’t summoned the guts to leave her house. “Since hotels, malls and trains have already been targeted, she feels colleges are next on the terror hit list,” says psychologist Harish Shetty, who is counselling her. He is yet to convince Dutt to get back to college.