Kolkata : The Stephen Court inferno, the sight of people jumping to their death to escape the blaze, the burnt corpses — all this has left scars on the minds of the victims' families and the countless others who watched the horrific scenes on television.
Many of them, especially the children, could need psychiatric help or counselling, experts said.
Consultant psychologist Indrani Dutta has seen her niece suffer from sleeplessness after watching for days the visuals of the raging fire in the century-old building on Kolkata's Park Street. Thirty-three people died in the blaze.
"Repetition of such morbid scenes on television is unnecessary. Children are affected the most," a worried Dutta said.
Both the survivors and relatives of the victims of last Tuesday's killer blaze are going through "unimaginable stress" and may become victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In that state, flashes of the incident will keep haunting them resulting in lack of sleep, fury, sorrow and an overall feeling of anxiety, said psychiatrist Arnab Banerjee.
"The mental pressure on them is enormous. Normally we are not accustomed to such incidents. So the sudden shock can be harmful. Loss of life, loss of property will add to the mental pressure," Banerjee said.
Another psychiatrist, Debashis Roy, said the short-term and long-term mental effects could vary from person to person, as also the treatment. "The treatment will not be the same for every individual. Cases are different. We have to address the losses differently," said Roy.
Traumatised
Banerjee said that the traumatised need to go for PTSD-management.
"The enormous stress and shock can cause depression. Anti-depression, anti-anxiety medicines are there. But before that we need to sit with the person concerned, talk to him, and in the process access his mental condition maintaining a sympathetic attitude. After initial medication and assessment, we can decide on whether to counsel or use therapy on the patient. But hypertension should be relieved first," explained Banerjee.
Roy said both survivors and those who have lost their kin would take time to recover.
