Assuaging a Distraught Mind
A vivacious and talented television star ruling the world of soap operas took her life. A pall of gloom descended on the precincts of various studios.
The malevolent event was replayed endlessly on television channels, reminding her erstwhile colleagues of the ephemeral and shambolic nature of stardom.
The chilling and macabre incident endorses the need for humans to maintain poise and composure in adverse situations. Imagine a large tree caught in the vortex of a storm. The branches sway, but the trunk remains erect. The mind should develop the stolidity of the trunk, and not oscillate like the branches.
Negative thoughts invariably trigger stressful conditions and the mind becomes stifled and distraught.
Superstars like Robin Williams and Marilyn Monroe committed suicide, while famous personalities like Mike Tyson or Tim Dick were put in the dock for breaching the law of the land. Their minds were in an edgy state.
All animate and inanimate objects are considered sacred, yet why do individuals suffer from this pathological tendency of snuffing out their lives or breaking the law? Such individuals
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seem to play act and apparently mask their reality by displaying a façade of false bravado. However, in reality they are unable to handle their minds, egos, or self.
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide,” wrote Albert Camus.
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. The human mind becomes distraught and primarily suffers from four abnormal conditions. Psychologists have analysed and captured it succinctly as the 4Ds. That is deviant, distressing, dysfunctional and dangerous behaviour of the afflicted individual. Such kind of behavioural tendencies can cause irreparable damage to the self, family and society at large. Maintenance of mental equilibrium is germane to the discussion. The individual could be a prince, a pauper or a
farmer.
When the drains of the mind get clogged and are shrouded with negative emotions and irrational behaviour, it is virtually impossible to find an aperture for elevating and positive thoughts to find space. The human mind needs to carve out space where it can cast aside all negative emotions. The fragmented minds are strafed by negative thought processes, which are counter-productive to the material and spiritual progress of an individual.
When the mind is distraught, a successful businessman who accrues large debts may become a fugitive and similarly, a seeker who strays from the path for some reason may lack the courage to face his ‘Master’, both unable to face the TRUTH.
Once there were four friends who embarked upon a journey to learn the Art of Silence under a Zen monk. They were to maintain silence for seven consecutive days. As night fell, one of them asked an attendant to light the lamps. His friend was aghast and mentioned quietly that the group was to maintain
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silence. This provoked the third friend to utter that none of them were to speak. The group, which was to have maintained total silence, soon turned cacophonous as the fourth friend remarked that only he maintained silence.
This story highlights that the human mind is normally inundated and swamped by a continuous flow of questions, criticisms, information and complaints which when it finds itself unable to handle, often leads to choking of the mind.
Medical studies reveal that stressful conditions may also arise on account of certain mental disorders such as prolonged and intense fears, panic attacks, irrational fears and phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD) and post-traumatic disorientation (resulting out of stressful events or natural disasters).
These uncomfortable situations endanger the mental health and the mind becomes distraught. The mind, far from being bare-knuckled, becomes a glass jaw and vulnerable to extraneous pressures.
The afflicted and their families ignore the warning bells at their own peril. Normally, pointers emanate in the form of excessive anger, restlessness, insomnia, exhaustion and depression, a state of helplessness, anxiety, worry or phobias.
In emergent situations such as these, treatment by psychiatrists and psychoanalysts is paramount. If unattended, such conditions can make the individuals mental wrecks.
Qualified medical practitioners undertake a detailed prognosis to understand the malaise. Several mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia, extreme cases of anxiety, panic attacks, or bipolar disorders require the administration of anti- psychotic drugs.
Tragically, patients (which includes rock stars and well- known personalities who grab eye balls) suffering from mental disorders tend to take refuge in the consumption of drugs
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(a sedative plus Prozac) and abuse of alcohol to bridle their mental condition.
This heady cocktail of the prescribed palliative along with psychedelic drugs and Bacchus lead to treacherous addictions and could cause permanent damage to the brain and the body. Medical practitioners adopt healing techniques like relaxation therapies and cognitive restructuring of the mind. Mere clinical treatment would not suffice; they have to deal with empathy and warmth to assuage the unwarranted fears.
Doctors adopt the dual strategy of respecting the dignity of the patient through medicine along with fine human skills.
Yoga, pranayama and meditation have, in the last few years, emerged as successful alternative treatment strategies.
Prominent among yogic practices is Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. Also reading and listening to the Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras has had immense therapeutic value to soothe frayed nerves.
Further, faith in a superior power, surrendering to the divine, chanting of mantras and practice of various breathing techniques provide succour and have become a lifeline for those suffering from mental and physical disorders.
Vipassana Meditation technique is the observation of the breath. This includes a set of breathing exercises, observation of mind and body and mindfulness, which help in assuaging the distraught mental condition of the afflicted.
Sudarshan Kriya, a rhythmic breathing technique, has helped immensely in the reduction of sleep disorders, insomnia, combating alcoholism and reduction in depression. In fact, this hyperventilation breathing technique has been acknowledged and given a thumbs-up by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).
“Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to
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survive, to live now…to have the courage to confront each day,” writes Bernie Spiegel.
The twin strategies of seeking medical help and alternative therapies, increases love and peace of mind in the afflicted and puts them well on the road to recovery.
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