Bengaluru: The tragic death of the owner of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) VG Siddhartha has plunged everyone into grief.

He was a man who had given employment to thousands of workers but considered himself to be a “failed entrepreneur”. Siddhartha was the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna.

What could have led a personality like him to take the extreme step?

Dr A Shridhara, a psychologist explains, “Such people would have a set a very high goal for themselves. When they fail to achieve their goals, they feel depressed. The coping pattern they employ is not strong enough to keep them afloat. There is a breakdown which can’t be repaired. They refused to be categorised as failures and prefer death.”

It is indeed difficult to stomach that successful entrepreneurs like Siddhartha can have failures which need not be known to the outside world. But deep within, they are going through a crisis. There were reports that his driver overheard Siddhartha repeating the word ‘sorry’ a number of times on the phone. Maybe in hindsight, we can always say he could have lived for the sake of his children. But at that point in time, death seems to be the most preferred option.

The psychologist added, “Such people going through a crisis have a complete determination to die and there is no desire to live whatsoever. They are not worried about anything else but to reach the goal. The immediate goal here is to eliminate the self.”

When a person decides to kill himself, he must summon a lot of courage to meet death face-to-face. And there is a school of thought that the same courage can be used to face the strife in life. However, this thought is not espoused by experts.

“When the image that you have created for yourself is being destroyed, it makes you uncomfortable. He (Siddhartha) must be a sensitive man. He built an empire setting high standards. When he felt things are not working, he must have convinced himself about the vanity of leading a worthless life and the need to give up the body,” the psychologist added.

Finally, a word of advice to youngsters.

The psychologist said, “Let your goals be within your reach. The goals can be varied, not limited to a single goal.  Live for the day. Don’t think of tomorrow. There will be problems because of intelligence. Work on the ability to solve it. The problems are a challenge to your brain and not your life.”