Doomscrolling: Indo-Pak tensions take toll on mental health

Pakistan was nothing but a name for seven-year-old Hazel till earlier this week. Now she grows suspicious with every knock on the door and breaks down at the thought of impending doom.

“It all started when her school had an awareness session and then she heard things from her friends in the class. Now she wants me to be careful before opening the door. She says ‘Pakistan will attack us’ and everyone will die,” said Annu Mathew, who is having a difficult time explaining to her daughter that she is in no direct danger in Kerala’s Trivandrum.

Young Hazel is not the only one. Hundreds of miles away in Delhi, 36-year-old Mahendra Awasthi said he can’t sleep. If the child is troubled by conversations around her, the young man finds himself doomscrolling endlessly through social media, unsure of what to believe and what to not.

This continues even after Pakistan and India agreed to step off the escalatory ladder of war on Saturday evening and US President Donald Trump said the two countries had reached a ceasefire. The relief quickly gave way to renewed anxiety when reports came in of Pakistan violating that understanding with sounds of explosions and blackouts in many border areas.

It began on the intervening night of May 6-7 when India carried out Operation Sindoor against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in retaliation for the attack in Pahalgam. In the following days, the two countries engaged in armed operations in major cities along the border.

All this has a long-term impact on mental health.

The escalating military tension between the two nations, a deluge of information, and the inability to sift through fake and real news can significantly affect the psychological well-being of individuals, said mental health experts.

According to clinical psychologist Shweta Sharma, the constant chatter of potential war can trigger a “vicarious trauma” response in people, even for those far from conflict zones. “Relentless 24/7 media coverage, social media exposure and emotionally charged content that can overwhelm the brain’s stress regulation mechanisms. War-related fears often stem from unpredictability,” Sharma said.