HYSTERIA
One day, few people from a village came to my clinic with a young newlywed lady. It was hardly 7-8 days to her marriage. She was nicely dressed in a new saree, with lots of bangles and ornaments, a big red bindi on her forehead, mehendi on her hands and feet. She was about 20-21 yrs. Old. She was accompanied by her relatives and her mother, who was crying. I asked “what happened”? Her mother said “She’s newlywed. She was fine till 4th day of her marriage. She had been to the pond in the evening. May be she got afraid of something. Since then she is having repeated fainting attacks. We had taken her to the local black magician and did “puja” also. But she’s not recovering. Our local doctor suggested to meet you. So we brought her to you. Will she be fine?” I said “of course she will be fine. Did all this start all of a sudden?” They nodded. I said “At times, some people are not able to adjust to sudden change in circumstances on surroundings and they start behaving like this. At times, sudden increase in work pressure also makes people behave like this. The person is ignorant of his or her behavior. But people around them feel that they are feigning and doing it purposefully and knowingly. Such patients never get fainting attacks during sleep or when they are alone. The fainting attacks may last for 5-10 minutes and sometimes up to an hour. But don’t worry, it’s absolutely curable and they will be fine with medicines. I discussed with the patient regarding her stressful situation and strategies to cope.” They were quite reassured. Took medicines and left happily.