Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “There is group stress in society”

Disputes in traffic, domestic murders, people killing each other in the middle of the street... Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Psychiatrist and Founding Rector of Üsküdar University, drawing attention to the recent increase in violence incidents, stated that society is experiencing group stress due to drug use. Tarhan, who said that the incidents should be seriously investigated, explained that violence incidents could continue to increase.

Delusions bring massacre 

Tarhan, reminding that tragic incidents involving mass deaths occur in cases of paranoid schizophrenia, said, “Due to paranoid delusions, individuals write a scenario in their minds. They carry out their actions within this plan.” 

Prof. Tarhan explained that there is a method developed in developed countries to prevent these incidents, and said, “In that method, each region has a responsible psychiatrist. This psychiatrist ensures that necessary medical intervention is provided to the responsible individuals in such an incident. The individuals are examined. In Turkey, such a structure could be established within the family medicine system.” 

Tarhan, explaining that people are tense and unhappy, said, “There is intolerance to uncertainty. In such situations, ill individuals become more fragile and more aggressive.”

Tarhan, stating that family massacres could become routine, evaluated, “Work should be done by finding the root causes of the incidents. However, identities should be kept confidential to avoid secondary trauma.” 

As addiction increases, incidents increase 

Tarhan emphasized that a large number of psychiatric patients wander the streets without treatment, and said, “In fact, if this person, if a clinical case, could have received inpatient treatment for a few weeks in a hospital, they might have abandoned this plan. Still, it is not correct to make a one hundred percent assessment without any investigation for this case, but there are too many psychiatric patients, and the likelihood of these incidents increasing is very high.” Tarhan reminded that paranoias combined with alcohol and substance addiction have further increased.

YENİŞAFAK