This grief-driven mass hysteria

It was Emily Dickinson who said: I measure every grief I meet with narrow probing eyes - I wonder if it weighs like mine - or has an easier size.

In the context of grief, it may judgemental to draw fences and decide how one should react or respond in an hour of grief. Stiff upper lip? Loud and wailing. To each his own.

However, the death of Tamil supremo J Jayalalithaa brings us back to a worrying trend when people in large numbers not only get hysterical but begin to take law into their own hands.

In the past we have witnessed to arson and rioting in the name of sorrow and this becomes worrisome in a society so full of flux.

Even at death came knocking and not so subtly to Poes Garden Chennai- nay Tamil Nadu was holding its breath.

School and retail outlets were willing to have their shutters down more out of concern than out of grief. This does the leader injustice.

The mass frenzy is often an outcome of the larger than life image we have of these leaders. And do we have many!

When the Mahatma died an estimated crowd of two million attended the funeral. In the case of his political heir, then adored and loved now dulled by the wisdom of the new generation, saw a whopping 1.5 million.

Elsewhere in the world when Diana passed away in a ghastly road accident around five million came to pay their respects or quench their thirst – any which way you see with the lenses of distance, when the racing driver Ayrton Senna breathed his last, there were about three million at his funeral.

Pope John Paul II– 2 to 4 million and in the case of President Nasser, a whopping 4 million. These figures tell the story of the popularity of the great persona.

Interestingly, recently a large crowd turned up to voice their grief at the passing away of Kim Jong II. While the world may see the North Korean leader differently he had his followers surely.

In any event, the death bed is no place to put the report card of a public personality and at least in our country we are known for being polite to the dead. Remember the tribute Vajpayee paid to Sanjay Gandhi!
South India and particularly Tamil Nadu has a track record of erupting violence.

Before we see Tamil Nadu we cannot forget the drama that went on the night of the death of Rajiv Gandhi in Hyderabad and much more of it with the death of Indira Gandhi in Delhi and other parts of North India.

The State also saw anxious moments and persons committing suicide on hearing of the death of YSR. In Tamil Nadu, personal tragedy followed the death of Annadurai and MGR.

Suicides by followers of the heroes showed up reflecting a disturbing trend. Be it farmers committing suicide because of poverty or students because of exams or stalking, or party followers on the death of their leader’s precious life is at stake.

Dr G Prasad Rao of Indian Psychiatric Society would see this mass hysteria as a group grief reaction. He was part of a study with Dr VK Varma and Dr Kishore Chandi when incidents of violence occurred following the death of Indira Gandhi (and not the victims of the riot!).

They saw a pattern in this human failing to maintain a sense of balance when a near or dear one passes away. Why especially in Tamil Nadu? “Well, here everything is larger than life.

Where else would we have a temple for a heroine and where else would fans display unabashed frenzy for the matinee idol! Loud to a fault this larger than life image first cultivated stays back to take its victims.

So great is the worship of stars and leaders in this part, that the reaction to their death too is disproportionate by our standards of judgment,” the cautious doctor says.

The mass hysteria and suicides is a product of the personality cult, he says and adds that such persons do require proper counselling.

He refers to the 30-patient study done by the team and finds that intensity of love can be counterproductive.

Dr Veeraja, a psychiatrist working with a government hospital, states that this is a product of acute stress because of adoration.

“The named leaders invariably are those with larger than life images. Some even do it to gain recognition and are a prey to a personality disorder.

Also, sometimes the violence, also a form of personality disorder, is planned by anti-social elements,” Dr Veeraja believes.

Talking long distance from the USA a General Physician Dr Madhu Menon would point out that this is not an exclusive phenomenon with India.

He says that recently even though the last rites of the departed leader Fidel Castro was finished with lightning speed, lakhs of people would queue up for days on end to see his urns and pay respects. “There are religious groups that fan up such frenzy and group suicides are not uncommon,” he says.

He also pointed to how we pray and make demi-gods of stars - a la pouring litres of milk on cardboard cut-outs of film stars. He said that such an incident is also reported about the President-elect of USA Trump.

“The violence or the tragedies are because its perpetrators give to the leader (or star) a large than life - a near God-like image and would thus like to associate with them in tragedy.

The problem is psychological and not necessarily physiological,” Dr Menon clarifies. Fortunately, the frenzy was handled well in the context of the recent tragedy and those who came to pay homage with tears did it in the right manner and to the right person.