Dheeraj Jandial
Unparalleled undoubtedly it is, neither heard nor quoted in written texts. Never in the human history has this happened that a nation of 1.3 billion people voluntarily obeyed the Lockdown, which was referred to by the media popularly as ‘Janta Curfew’. All this happened on the rationale that confinement was warranted to avert the colossal loss of precious human lives. The voluntary detention was followed by 21-days announcement for ‘lockdown’ on March 24 at 12:00 hours midnight, which was again extended to last till May 03, 2020.
Barring few incidents of non-compliance, people dutifully confined themselves to their places and stationed themselves at ‘As is where it is’. It was a devout observance, perhaps abided loyally under the clout of dampening fear of none else but the ultimate truth, as wise say -‘Death’.
Although the indispensability of ‘Lockdown’ was known to everyone, yet despite knowledge of the facts the internment aroused a sense of restlessness, stress and anxiety. Why our body and mind are constantly experiencing the restlessness, even when most of us are in safe confines of our home. This deviation from normal behaviour could not be answered by any of the disciplines, be it then sociology, physiology or psychology. The experience of restlessness and anxiety in confinement is perhaps best explained by the ‘Cabin Fever’ theory
Cabin Fever
Cabin fever refers to the distressing claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is struck in isolation or confined quarters for an extended period of time. A person maybe referred to as stir-crazy, derived from the use of stir to mean ‘prison’. Cabin fever as such is a situation where a person experience isolation within himself.
It is situation where a person may experience sleepiness or sleeplessness, or have an urge to go outside even in adverse conditions or limited access. The concept is also invoked humorously to indicate simple boredom from being home alone for an extended period of time. Cabin fever is not itself a disease and there is no prognosis to it.
The concept was used as theme in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel Crime and Punishment, Chaplin’s 1925 film The Gold Rush, Stefan Zweig’s 1948 novella The Royal Game, the 1980 horror film The Shining, The Simpsons episode ‘Mountain of Madness, and the 2010 video game Alan Wake. A song called ‘Cabin Fever’ features in Disney’s 1996 musical adventure comedy film Muppet Treasure Island. The concept was reiterated recently in 2019 psychological horror film The Lighthouse.
Restlessness and Deviance
Psychotherapist View
Lack of immediate access to basic amenities and uncertainty about the future resulted into rising cases of mental health and imbalance. The psychotherapists ascribe this stress and depression to fewer avenues for people to keep their minds engaged. Explaining about the rationale a prominent psychotherapist said, “till now we have always had a get set go way of life. Initially, people took the lockdown as a holiday but prolonged confinement is taking away the charm, and idleness is proving to be a curse”.
With people now sequestered within confines of our homes, the prolonged period of isolation has resulted into alarming spike in domestic abuse. Feeling imprisoned and frustrated, people are falling into the trap of spiralling negativity of engaging in mistreatment of near ones.
Control Your Thoughts- The Panacea
Our minds evolved from cave ancestors are conditioned to ‘WORRY’; we focus on doom and gloom; we chew it over in our brain and we learn new survival skills. This is our mind, says Dr Michael Sinclair, a consultant psychologist. Allow yourself to worry, put it down in writing in a notebook, and then put that away. We need to recognize that it is often a story our mind is telling us, not the reality.
Psychotherapist says if you are struggling to cope you don’t have to keep watching live news, have notifications turned on or use social media, instead limit your exposure to the new information. “You can be strict with yourself, decide to only watch the news and read an update on the virus once a day”.
The Mind-The Mess, The Circus
Explaining about the mind dynamism that inevitably is cause of anxiety and stress, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, a contemporary renowned mystic says that, “If you tell yourself you don’t want to think a certain thought, that is precisely the first thing your mind will produce!. That is the nature of the human brain”. Every human is essentially seeking pleasantness, within and without. The fundamental freedom humans have is to think whatever they want to. As such, the mind, in most people’s experience and even in science, has unfortunately become a circus; little knowing that a circus is actually a very coordinated activity, deliberately made to look like a mess.
Deliberating upon the restless as a form of ‘suffering’, the Sadguru explains that there are only two forms of suffering in this world: physical and mental. Once this distance becomes a constant factor in your experience, you have reached the end of suffering. With the elimination of the fear of suffering, you can walk life full stride, unafraid to explore all that life has to offer. The ability to use this immensely sophisticated body-mind phenomenon can be raised to a completely new dimension of experience and utility as one stand outside of them. This may sound paradoxical, but it is true. It is a great symphony, a tremendous possibility that can take one to great heights.
The memory and imagination-which includes all ideas, beliefs, and emotions-belong to the psychological realm. Life can be tasted and transcended only when there is a distinction between the psychological and the existential.
Providing remedy for coming out of the spiralling restlessness and anxiety, the Sadguru refers to Yoga, it being Chitta vritti nirodha ceases the activity of mind, while one is still alert. It generates a stable state for exploration of the highest levels of exuberance and venture and as such is a ‘stress-buster’. Practising it would relieve the practitioner of the anxiety and restlessness, for sure.
While in lockdown and browsing the social media, came across this emotive expression in poetic phraseology by an ‘Unknown author’, that beautifully defines the human wavering during ‘lockdown’
Ek muddat se arzoo thi fursat ki,
Mili to iss shart pe kisi se na milo.
Sheharon ka yu viraan hona yu gazab kar gayi,
Barson se pade gumsum gharon ko aabaad kar gayi.
Yeh kaisa samay aaya ki,
Dooroyan hi davaa ban gayi.
Zindagi me pehli baar aisa wakt aaya,
Insaan ne zindaa rehne ke liye kamaana chod diya.
Ghar Gulzar, soonein shahar,
Basti basti mein kaid har hasti ho gayi,
Aaj phir zindagi mehangi aur Daulat sasti ho gayi…..
(The author is Chief Accounts
Officer JMC, Jammu)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
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