Underlying & untreated psychological issues may cause people to kill kin, say psychologists
Friday, 02 September 2022 | Purnima Bisht | Dehradun
The State recently witnessed a quintuple murder in a family residing in the Ranipokhari area of Dehradun district which left many people shocked after a man Mahesh Kumar Tiwari killed his own wife, old mother and three young daughters by slitting their throats. Many are trying to figure out what actually led him or generally causes anybody to brutally murder their own family members. The police have said that the man apparently showed no remorse after killing his entire family.
Other incidents have also been observed recently across the State and other parts of the country where people killed their own family members for apparently no concrete reason. Recently, a young man in Roorkee allegedly slit his grandmother’s throat after she refused him to give money for his expenses. The police stated that the man has become addicted to alcohol, considering which his grandmother refused to give him any money. In a somewhat similar case, a 24-year-old woman in Rudrapur killed herself after poisoning her two children. The authorities are still trying to figure out the reason for her death. All these three cases occurred within a span of two weeks in the State. According to psychologists, it is hard to figure out the reason in such murder cases most of the time but in general, such people tend to be fragile and incapable of coping with humiliation. They are mostly burdened by anxiety, rage or depression which makes them powerless to make appropriate decisions.
According to Dehradun-based neuropsychologist, Dr Sona Kaushal Gupta, most of the people committing such crimes suffer from underlying psychological issues that remain untreated for so long that it culminates in such horrific incidents. She said that unawareness of mental health in society, especially among the people of lower strata, and lack of its accessible treatment contributes to such issues to an extent.
Talking about the quintuple murder in Ranipokhari, psychotherapist Aditi Arora said that the man appears to be a psychopath as he showed no remorse after killing his family including three minor daughters. She said, “A psychopath lacks empathy and considers even a slight inconvenience in his life an obstacle. He probably considered his wife as an obstacle- who apparently used to interfere in his life and killed her and other members for the same reason. Each situation is different for different people that make them a psychopath. The man was probably abused or had a traumatic childhood that made him insensitive to the killing of his own family.”
Dehradun based clinical psychologist, Dr Mukul Sharma said that the man accused of the quintuple murder appears to be suffering from schizophrenia- a mental disorder that makes the person delusional that leads them to interpret reality absurdly. He said, “Schizophrenia is one of the most serious mental disorders. There have been about 100 such cases in the country in the past five months where a person suffering from schizophrenia killed his children, wife, parents and other family members. When a person suffering from schizophrenia commits a crime, they do not consider it as wrongdoing. It has been observed in most of the cases that such people do not attempt to flee after committing a crime because they do not consider it as one.” Sharma said that the condition of people suffering from schizophrenia deteriorates with time and its timely treatment can save many lives.
