The age of rage | |||
| Roid rage — which arises from the use of anabolic steroids — could have led to South African double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius killing his girlfriend. Reena Martins on the way the consumption of the substance is bringing about aggressive behaviour closer home | |||
Ramesh doesn’t like strays. The 30-something doctor
from Mumbai kicks street dogs whenever he sees them. His violence is not limited
to dogs. One day, he beat up a constable who stopped him from crossing a green
light because the traffic was being blocked for a minister’s car.
“I’d beat up my wife, family members, neighbours and
even my patients if they annoyed me,” he says.
Avinash, 21, surprised his family when he suddenly
started pelting his neighbours with stones. His worried parents admitted the boy
from western Uttar Pradesh to the Institute of Human Behavioural and Allied
Sciences (IHBAS), New Delhi.
Ramesh and Avinash have something in common with Oscar
Pistorius, the South African double amputee track star, who was released on bail
on Friday after being jailed for allegedly killing his girlfriend, model Reeva
Steenkamp, in his mansion in Pretoria.
On the night of the shooting, Pistorius, or Blade
Runner as he was popularly called, was said to have been in the possession of
anabolic steroids.
Ramesh takes anabolic steroids — synthetic derivatives
of the hormone testosterone — and doctors believe that Avinash was prescribed
the drugs by a quack after an illness. Research has shown that in some people —
especially those with a family history of psychotic illnesses — steroid drugs
can trigger aggression. “This seems to have happened in the case of Avinash,”
says Om Prakash, associate professor of psychiatry at IHBAS.
Anabolic steroids, banned in professional sport for
their ability to artificially enhance performance and bulk up muscles, are once
again in the dock, courtesy the fallen South African star. The controversial
steroids behind the win of many a sportsperson is now being discussed for “roid
rage”, which the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) describes as
“increased aggressiveness and sexual appetite, sometimes resulting in aberrant
sexual and criminal behaviour” in its latest handbook for athletes.
The potential side effects of steroid misuse range
from acne and baldness to testicular atrophy. In women, it can lead to facial
hair and a deepening of the voice. Among the other serious side effects are
reversible infertility, as well as stroke, liver failure and cardiac arrhythmia.
But the focus in recent times has been on aggression.
As extensive research has shown, anabolic steroids, used to treat delayed
puberty, impotence and muscle debilitation by raising the levels of
testosterone, the primary male sex hormone, also leave a trail of side effects,
from the brain downwards. And aggression is often an outcome.
Recently, Dr Dilip Nadkarni, an orthopaedic surgeon
and sports medicine specialist in Mumbai, had to mend an angry 26-year-old
wrestler’s wrist with a plate and screws, after he pounded the wall with bare
fists. The man was on anabolic steroids, as he confessed in the privacy of the
doctor’s clinic.
“Misusers of anabolic steroids subjectively report
significantly more fights, verbal aggression and violence towards their
significant others during periods of use compared with periods of non-use,” says
an article in the January 2013 issue of the journal of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, UK.
In the United States, it says, there have been several
case reports of “roid rage”. In 88 athletes using anabolic steroids, a study
found aggressive behaviour related to steroid-associated episodes. “Participants
admitted to a range of serious episodes, including property damage, assault,
being involved in a murder plot and beating a pet dog. Several of the sample had
been expelled from home by parents, wives or girlfriends because of their
intolerably aggressive behaviour,” the journal says.
In India too, widespread use of steroids — especially
in areas such as sports — is leading to bouts of violence. Sourav, a 28-year old
engineer, who began taking anabolic steroids to excel in college level sports,
says he’s lost count of the number of beatings and street fights he got into.
“If a fellow biker ignored my honking, I’d just crash into him,” he says. “Once
a lady on a two-wheeler fell of her bike because of my violence,” he says.
Saurav, who took 100-200mg of drugs every day, says he
was always edgy at home. “If I felt challenged, I broke whatever came my way —
even the TV and microwave,” he says.
Ashok’s story is similar — though his aggression was
self-inflicted. He recalls one night when he came home late after taking his
daily fix of steroids. Tempers were already running high; his nephew was arguing
with Ashok’s mother.
Ashok suddenly found himself screaming at the boy, and
got slapped by his older brother. Humiliated, he went out and slit his wrist
with a blade. The doctor was called in and the hand bandaged, but the adrenaline
in his veins hadn’t left the blood. “I was still so full of energy that I tried
to find ways to kill myself,” says Ashok, who underwent a 90-day rehab
programme.
Clearly, anabolic steroids are not just being used by
athletes and others seeking to enhance their performances. Increasingly, it’s
also being used as a drug for it triggers a sense of confidence and euphoria.
And like all drugs, users can get addicted.
Three years ago, Sandeep Mitra, senior counsellor at
the Kripa Foundation’s drug rehab centre in Calcutta, says he saw hardly one or
two addicts a month hooked on steroids; today that number has gone up five or
six times. In Kripa’s Manipur drug rehab centre, 10 of the 30 beds are occupied
by anabolic steroid users. “Most drug addicts start between 13 and 19; once
they’ve developed a tolerance for hard drugs like heroin, they turn to
steroids,” Mitra says.
“Steroids make you feel on top of the world, but when
you stop you crumple into a heap on the floor,” Mitra stresses. And sometimes,
somebody else crumples in front of you.
(Some names have been changed.)
24th Feb'2013
Submitted
Newsdesk
|
Thursday, February 28, 2013
An Article in the The Telegraph- Calcutta
