FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

 Mental health is as important as physical health and often goes untreated and un noticed. This story is an effort to create awareness about Mental Health and its importance. 

Karan was sitting on the couch , muscles tensed, sweating profusely , increased heart rate , soon he started sobbing uncontrollably, holding his head in his hands, while Dr Parul looked on . She waited for Karan to settle down and overcome his surge of weeping . Karan was her patient for over a couple of months and was getting treated for “ Fear “, an emotion so intense that it not only affected his daily life but slowly it started affecting his family also . 

Karan was an intelligent young man , a software engineer working on AI . Since childhood, he was dealing with a strong emotion , Fear . 

As per the psychology textbooks, any person feels at least six emotions very strongly; Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Anger and Surprise. These are the six basic emotions that are universally experienced by all humans . These basic emotions further lead to intense feelings such as pride,  shame , embarrassment and excitement. These emotions also influence on how we live , the choices we make at the time we are experiencing them, and the actions we take as a result of the choices made . Our perceptions are influenced by the emotions we face at that particular moment. 

Fear, as experienced by Karan, is a powerful emotion. He suffered from Fear of anything, unknown fears, feared the imaginary, feared the future , feared being alone and feared fear. Whenever he felt this emotion strongly, his only choice was to take the Fight or Flight response , making Karan hugely unpopular among his friends and family.  

Karan would breakout in a profuse sweat , his muscles would become tense and heart rate would increase, in response to his unknown fears .

Amma , his mother, would molly coddle him as a child and would engage in his fears. “ Amma, don’t go there, there’s a demon coming,” or Amma  , “keep the lights on through the night “, “ Amma , don’t step out of the house“, so on and so forth . His fears were baseless , but Amma always gave in to his whims . His father on the other hand , used to always scold Karan , at times, beat him up and tell him “ Be a man, don’t act like a pansy”. 

Karan grew up dealing with this dichotomy and his fears . He was ridiculed by friends and peers in school, college and at work . His family and cousins laughed at his fears  and made fun of him . They named him DK( Darpok Karan )

Gradually Karan  started a family of his own . He was blessed with two sons and had a beautiful strong woman , Noorie , as his wife . 

His baseless fears dictated their lives . “ Don’t play with that boy”, he would tell his children, “he carries with him an evil aura . “ Close all the windows “, he would tell Noorie , the insects will come in and infest our house “, so on and so forth . Until one day , Karan beat up his colleague at work , fearing that he would plagiarize his work. 

Karan lost his job, he was fired multiple times due to his unreasonable fear and behavior. He was the object of ridicule. Noorie had enough and faced him one day “ You have mental health issues and need help”, she told him politely , her tone soft and laced with love . “ Nothing is wrong with me , I am perfectly okay “, he retaliated. “ I fear the worst for my family and am just trying to take precautions, what’s wrong with that “, he would argue . This continued and slowly Noorie  started pandering to his whims to take the easier way out . Years flew by and his children grew up . The entire family by now was used to his Fear tantrums . His elder son found his soulmate and told his parents about his girlfriend. “She’s not good for you , she scares me , don’t marry her “, was the only comment Karan  had to make . That was the final straw for the family . “ Baba , we have put up with your irrational fears for years together and have allowed you to dictate our lives , but not anymore. Please see a shrink and seek help”, implored his son , “do it for our sake Baba”, he continued to say . “ But nothing is wrong with me “, Karan  said like a stuck record . “ We know that, but just for once see a doctor please “, implored Noorie , in tears  . Finally reluctantly Karan  agreed to see a Psychiatrist, Dr Parul. “ But there’s nothing wrong with me, I don’t know why I am here “, he cried out aloud in each meeting with the doctor . “ Okay, I hear you and understand you , tell me what  do you feel now “, said Dr Parul very patiently. 

“I am scared”, said Karan. “ Of what or whom are you scared “, asked Dr Parul quietly . “I don’t know“, said Karan, “ probably I fear myself and my fears , I fear the unknown “, his muscles tensed, heartbeat raced and he started sweating profusely. Finally he broke down in tears and wept violently at his inability to handle the fearful emotion of Fear .