http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com//Article.aspx?eid=31807&articlexml=Hot-and-HAUGHTY-20042014002005#
Apr 20 2014 : The Times of India (Chennai)
Hot and HAUGHTY
Kamini Mathai
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| TNN
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RISING MERCURY CAN RESULT IN INCREASED LEVELS OF AGGRESSION, SAY NEW STUDIES ON MENTAL HEALTH
The hotter it gets, chances are, the hotter you get. As the temperatures rise, the tempers too will flare, say psychologists.
But while you have no control over the heat, especially now that Chennai enters its sunniest month, anger levels can be tempered “The basic rule is to keep the external temperature at a level that your body is comfortable with so it is not under any additional `stress', which can affect your state of mind, leading to an increased pulse rate, causing anger, frustration, and anxiety ,“ says Chennai-based counsellor Dr Mini Rao. She always makes sure that the airconditioning in her office is in perfect working condition. “I can see my patients cooling down in front of me,“ she says.In her 2013 study on `extreme weather events and mental health, psychologist Jyotsana Shukla mentions that experimental and correlational research have shown there is a causal relationship between heat and violence. Rising global temperatures may be followed by an increase in incidents of violent aggression, as may be seen in increasing rates of assault, rape, and robbery .
“Climate change might increase people's tendency to be more aggressive towards each other. This may be because more stress hormones are released into the bloodstream due to excessive exposure to heat, and that might impact mental health,“ says Shukla, an associate professor at Amity Institute of Behavioral and Allied Sci ences, Lucknow. “With rising global temperatures, people with mental illness are also at an increased risk of heat-related deaths.
Heat strokes may lead to delirium and neuropsychiatric syndromes with symptoms like altered consciousness, agitation, unconsciousness, and even death,“ says Shukla.
Although he doesn't quite agree with the direct correlation between external temperature and increased anger, Chennai-based neuropsychiatrist Dr ES Krishnamoorthy says that intolerance to heat and cold has a biological element. “You are born with better or worse tolerance. Those who don't have the ability to regulate internal temperature in relation to external temperature are more susceptible to change in external temperatures,“ he says.
But as Shukla mentions in her study , research done over decades have shown a correlation between extreme climatic conditions and amplified violence regardless of demographics. Hotter temperatures have been shown to coincide with a high incidence of domestic violence in India and Australia; increased assaults in the US; and excessive police force in the Netherlands.
New Delhi-based anger management specialist and counsellor Rekha Deshmukh says both a genetic predisposition and learned angry behaviour responses play a major role in anger levels. “I have found that a rise in temperature heat causes initial retaliatory aggression, decreases the performance level on cognitive tasks, and increases irritability. You not only think angry , you act on your anger,“ says Deshmukh.
Shukla, who is a contrib uting author for a soon-to be published book on cli mate change and mental health, says that accept ing extremes in weather is one good way to pre pare to tackle it mentally and emotionally . That's why at Dr Rao's clinic in Chennai, when summer sets in, the sessions begin with a small talk on the weather, and how it can make a person uncomfort able. “I have found that talk ing about the weather has a calming effect,“ she says.
But while you have no control over the heat, especially now that Chennai enters its sunniest month, anger levels can be tempered “The basic rule is to keep the external temperature at a level that your body is comfortable with so it is not under any additional `stress', which can affect your state of mind, leading to an increased pulse rate, causing anger, frustration, and anxiety ,“ says Chennai-based counsellor Dr Mini Rao. She always makes sure that the airconditioning in her office is in perfect working condition. “I can see my patients cooling down in front of me,“ she says.In her 2013 study on `extreme weather events and mental health, psychologist Jyotsana Shukla mentions that experimental and correlational research have shown there is a causal relationship between heat and violence. Rising global temperatures may be followed by an increase in incidents of violent aggression, as may be seen in increasing rates of assault, rape, and robbery .
“Climate change might increase people's tendency to be more aggressive towards each other. This may be because more stress hormones are released into the bloodstream due to excessive exposure to heat, and that might impact mental health,“ says Shukla, an associate professor at Amity Institute of Behavioral and Allied Sci ences, Lucknow. “With rising global temperatures, people with mental illness are also at an increased risk of heat-related deaths.
Heat strokes may lead to delirium and neuropsychiatric syndromes with symptoms like altered consciousness, agitation, unconsciousness, and even death,“ says Shukla.
Although he doesn't quite agree with the direct correlation between external temperature and increased anger, Chennai-based neuropsychiatrist Dr ES Krishnamoorthy says that intolerance to heat and cold has a biological element. “You are born with better or worse tolerance. Those who don't have the ability to regulate internal temperature in relation to external temperature are more susceptible to change in external temperatures,“ he says.
But as Shukla mentions in her study , research done over decades have shown a correlation between extreme climatic conditions and amplified violence regardless of demographics. Hotter temperatures have been shown to coincide with a high incidence of domestic violence in India and Australia; increased assaults in the US; and excessive police force in the Netherlands.
New Delhi-based anger management specialist and counsellor Rekha Deshmukh says both a genetic predisposition and learned angry behaviour responses play a major role in anger levels. “I have found that a rise in temperature heat causes initial retaliatory aggression, decreases the performance level on cognitive tasks, and increases irritability. You not only think angry , you act on your anger,“ says Deshmukh.
Shukla, who is a contrib uting author for a soon-to be published book on cli mate change and mental health, says that accept ing extremes in weather is one good way to pre pare to tackle it mentally and emotionally . That's why at Dr Rao's clinic in Chennai, when summer sets in, the sessions begin with a small talk on the weather, and how it can make a person uncomfort able. “I have found that talk ing about the weather has a calming effect,“ she says.
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