As Sensex goes down, anti-depressants sales up

Mumbai, Nov 25: As Sensex is getting volatile day-by-day, so are the emotions of brokers, investors, employers, employees and the family in turn too... The fear of job cuts has increased the sales of anti-depressants say psychiatrists.

More and more people are resorting to the medicine resulting in a noticeable rise in the sale volume, especially in Mumbai, the financial capital, according to experts. "Yes the sales of anti-anxiety and anti-depression drugs have gone up in the last few months," says a chemist in the capital. According to ORG-IMS, a market research agency, the country has recorded growth in the sale of anti-depressants drugs in the last 12 months ended August, especially in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

While Maharashtra recorded the highest growth of 29 per cent in sales of drugs used to treat depression and stimulate moods, Gujarat, a state which has a lot of retail investors, has witnessed a 10 per cent growth in the sales of these drugs.

Mumbai tops the list of cities with the highest sales of anti-depression drugs with Rs 26 crore closely followed by Kolkata with Rs 24 crore and Delhi 22 crore.

"After all these retrenchment and loss of hard earned money there is a belief of loneliness and helplessness amongst investors and employees which prompts them to take extreme steps. A report also says that sale of anti-depressant drugs has increased in the last one year," says Samir Parikh, a psychiatrist.

"One should not blame oneself for the loss as it was not in one's hands. It's happening worldwide so you can do nothing about it." His advice is don't stop spending time with friends and family, never live in isolation and plan better ways to deal with the stress.

There have been stray cases of suicides including 34-year-old Parag Tanna of Mumbai who would have been a father in a few days, but ended his life following losses suffered because of the market melt down.

Tanna suffered huge losses in the market and was thrown out of the private stock broking company he worked for and creditors were asking their money back. Unable to find a way out, he murdered his wife and then hanged himself in his Mumbai house.

J M Wadhawan of Department of Psychiatry, Ganga Ram Hospital, says that positive thinking is the only way out.

"People commit suicide thinking they are left with no option but in times of despair, instead they should think that this is a passing phase and it will get over. Stop seeing and reading about market through television and newspapers again and again," he says.

UNI