Mukherjee who was already under pressure for obtaining low grade in internal examination, reportedly called his parents after re-appearing in the last paper and told them that during examination he got nervous and in spite of knowing the answers ,he could not deliver the results.

How can people take such extreme steps and what are the compelling factors:- very important for all us to know and ensure that nothing of this sort ever happens in our own circle at least.

Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,tells us, "stress is the reaction of the body to any stimulus or interference that disturbs mental or physical health...stress is created by what we think and how we respond emotionally rather than what has happened to us."

Sothe Key factor is our quality of Response to a stress situation. But,why different people react differently to the identical stress situation ?

Ellen Brooks, MD, Virtua psychiatrist answer "People who have a personal or family history of psychiatric problems as well as those who fought in a war or experienced a traumatic event are more likely to be psychologically affected by stress,"

Doesit mean, that our response to a great extent is determined by ourfamily history or some traumatic experience in the past ?

May be, but this adaptive response triggers a situation called 'fight or flight',preparing the body either to face what it senses as a challenge or to flee from it and unfortunately this fleeing reaction leads to extreme steps like committing suicide.

What could be done to ensure the recurrence of this extreme steps ?I suggest that,apart from regular stress relieving solutions, the moment you come to know about any of your beloved person going through this situation,first action should be to keep a watch on him/her ,till he/she comes out the trauma.

If the person is staying with you, don't leave him alone and get help from a professional counselor as soon as possible. If that person is staying away, get in touch with the friends around and ask them to do the same thing ,till you reach there to handle the situation.

Often we read the news of students committing suicide for the fear of failure, but i am sure if we study those cases , a similar background of "unique stress reaction" would emerge and in my opinion all such extreme steps can be handled, if we keep our eyes and ears open.

Author : Abhijit Kar