‘Property disputes major cause of stress for Army personnel’

Highlighting that it is the uncertainty of life that often leads to stress among Army personnel,Colonel Singh said,“The joint family system is falling apart,and there are certain responsibilities back home which the soldiers are always thinking about. In majority of the cases,other people tend to take advantage over their land and property,and they are left helpless.”

“For this reason,the Home Ministry had written to state governments to see to it that the local police and other authorities should be more approachable to the Army persons,and also give preference to addressing their grievances,” he added.

While,the book focuses on the stress problems among all the sections of the society — Army,police,senior citizens and students — Colonel Singh has also laid a lot of emphasis on the importance of maintaining harmonious relationship between married couples.

“After interacting with different kinds of people in various parts of the country,I have deduced that relationship issues are the major cause of stress among people. So,I have dedicated three chapters to this issue in the book,” he said. In the book,he also talks about the importance of body language. “This book is an amalgamation of the vast experiences I had after meeting all kinds of people. So I have revised a few sections from the first edition,” he added.

An alumnus of Panjab University (PU),Colonel Guru has served 35 years in the Army,after which he became a consultant on stress-management and a specialist in marital counselling. However,he had been pursuing his study on human psychology ever since he joined Army. “We used to do a few practical mediation techniques even during the Kargil War,” Colonel Guru said.

The first edition of the book was launched by Governor of Punjab,Shivraj Patil,after which the it was translated in Hindi by Dr V K Nagpal and Urmi Dhingra.