‘People feel they are not treated well, social disgruntlement rising’: Psychiatrist Harish Shetty on Mumbai hostage crisis

Dr Harish Shetty: See, there is no evidence that he had any mental health issue, but it will only be clear after a psychological autopsy is performed on him.

Q. How is a psychological autopsy carried out?

Dr Harish Shetty: One would go to the family, friends, and peers and elicit their response, which is different from an inquiry. It would include interviewing significant others and finding details of his thoughts, feelings and behaviours and looking for stray sentences that the person may have said to understand if the person was going through depression or some mental health issue.

You also talk to security guards and other people whom they interact with daily to see if the person was irritable. One would also go through the medical history from childhood onwards.

In several units like the armed forces, psychological autopsy is always carried out after suicide to find out what led to it so that such a situation can be prevented in others.

Q. One of the issues that has come forth is that he was not paid for work he had done. Would that be enough to push him this far?

Dr Harish Shetty: There is a new phenomenon of social discontent against society in general. People have started feeling that they are not treated well by the powers that be, by their peers or by their employers and there is a general frustration that I am shortchanged.

There is a prevailing sentiment at both the micro and macro levels that I need to teach them a lesson, as evident in small measures, such as spouses not granting divorces to teach the other a lesson.

In this case, he may have been disgruntled about something imaginary, exaggerated, or true. So, it may not fit into mental illness, but a deep sense of frustration which has no vent.

Q. Why has this sense of disgruntlement increased?

Dr Harish Shetty: When you were small, you could talk to your family. Now with all emotional safe spaces vanishing, there is no valve, and Mumbai is a pressure cooker city where nobody listens and might is right. You go to the police, BMC, Mantralaya, and it is so difficult to redress grievances unless you are connected. Social discontent and the notion of ‘I will teach you a lesson’ are major issues globally, too.

Emotional space is shrinking, and the time people spend in emotional contact has gone down. Forty years ago, if someone fell off the train, so many people would intervene. Now they may even stamp on the person. The amount of empathy required is vanishing; the emotional energy bank is empty, and there is no empathy to be shown to people.

Lack of empathy is the issue; people only care about their family. Earlier, with one patient, five people would go to the doctor; now, only one person comes. Earlier, if someone dies, there would be 200 people at the funeral. Now people don’t know who has died in the building. There is a disconnection.

Q. What is the way out?

Dr Harish Shetty: Reconnection is necessary to build islets of connection in housing complexes, mohallas and slums. Times like festivals should be used to connect with families and neighbours, especially children, who should be encouraged to intermingle. Covid-19 taught us an important lesson: I am safe only if everyone is safe.