The city that never sleeps has become the city that never slept.

Evidence of more and more citizens losing their sleep have been reaching counsellors and psychologists in the eight days since the most brazen terror attack the country has seen. They are receiving countless calls everyday, not just from policemen who took part in the operation and residents of areas around the sites of the attack, but also from homemakers and schoolchildren who watched it all on television.

“The kind of calls we are getting on the helpline is alarming from a psychiatric point of view. They are much more serious than those after earlier attacks, higher in number and more intense. People are more fearful than ever before; they say they cannot work, eat or even sleep peacefully,” said Dr A M Gabrani, a director at Matcheswalla Counseling Centre who also answers calls.

“The worst affected are school children and housewives, who mostly sit at home and watch TV.”

The Matcheswalla Counselling Center had also

set up helpline in the wake of the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai.

“Doctors have not been unaffected either. A surgeon operating on a victim was trying to dislodge a bullet when he was suddenly gripped by a panic attack,” added Gabrani.

Some groups like the Art of Living Foundation are reaching out to people in the affected areas. They have initiated a workshop just outside the Nariman House Lane since Wednesday specially to “remove fear from the mind and heart” of the residents.

Art of Living volunteer Pravin Elmal said that since the residents had seen and heard a lot from up close, they are still scared.

“Although people were evacuated from the area, they could hear the firing and bombing. We are trying to remove the fear through yoga, meditation, satsang and counselling techniques in a three-day course,” he said.

Vikram Ahir, one of the local residents who attended the course, says, “I am feeling much better.”

However, those affected the worst, other than victims, are police officers. They are being counselled by Healthcare Solution Service and PPC Worldwide, an international employee assistance programme provider that worked with British Army soldiers in the Iraq war.

“A tragedy like this affects many stakeholders throughout the city, one of them being the police. Imagine how they must be feeling. Throughout the world the police are provided psychiatric assistance and therefore as a gesture we have provided 15 trained psychiatrists for the Mumbai Police and their families to talk to during a three-day camp we have organised with Healthcare,” said Kumud Rajendra, the CEO of PPC Worldwide in India.

“We usually counsel a lot of professionals in companies and will be doing so now, as well as for our clients, but this is the first time we are doing this for the Mumbai police,” said Jane Henry, manager of operations for PPC

“Stress like this can affect a person’s decision-making ability. Imagine what would happen if that was the case with the police,” said Dr Raju Waghmare, president of Healthcare.

“We also want the common public to come here and so we have passed around pamphlets to tell people what causes psychiatric problems. Also, we have put up a toll-free helpline that has been receiving a lot of calls in all languages,” Waghmare said.