Adolescent Mental Health and Care Giving: Are Indian Parents Informed and Sensitive?

Adolescent Mental Health and Care Giving: Are Indian Parents Informed and Sensitive?

As individuals of the 21^st century everyone is exposed quite well to the happenings all over the world in regard to mental health of adolescents and how they are treated and now these things matter to people.

From the day to day happenings that come up in the various forms of media we can say that only in the developed parts of our country adolescent mental health is something that people give a thought. But in the other parts people never consider it unless and until it is very serious.

Mental health problems like anxiety, depression that are not expressed as well as the complex problems like schizophrenia or substance abuse go unrecognized and this is only because parents are not that much informed about these problems. Lack of knowledge on these problems also makes them unaware of the situation of their child.

In one of the most recent cases in a famous school of Kolkata, where a class 10 student committed suicide in a very menacing way and till this occurred no one in the family or friends knew about the mental condition of the girl, how much she was suffering throughout her childhood and more surprisingly this city took place in a metropolitan city like Kolkata.

Parents except some are not much aware about the mental health of teenagers compared to the developed countries. As a result they are not able to give sufficient care and mental support to their children. Probably here we can blame the generation gap and the typical orthodox Indian mentality of parents. But as time is passing by the new generations are becoming more aware and educated of the problems about adolescents’ mental health and hopefully soon they will become a sensitive, care-giving set of modern parents.

PATRIARCHY SYSTEM AND MENTAL HEALTH

PATRIARCHY SYSTEM AND MENTAL HEALTH

In 1993, WHO published a report on psychosocial factors and women’s mental health and talked in-depth about the link between the increased prevalence of mental health issues in women and their vulnerable location in a patriarchal society. Patriarchal society plays a serious role to damage the mental health, especially on women in India.

There are different stages of life where our society can act upon the mental health:

Childhood and the Beginning of Imposition:

Sandra Bem came up with the Gender Schema Theory in 1981 that reflects upon children learning to adapt roles assigned to their gender, starting from birth. A child is taught how they should look, how much they have started to weigh, what they should wear. Parents being worried about all these things when the children are as young as 10. In schools, little girls are literally taught how to sit, keeping their legs closed!

Adolescence:

Being a part of a patriarchal society and moreover a patriarchal family, an adolescent teenager feels short of helping hands when it comes to the question of his or her change in body and mind. Their emotions were tagged as ‘this is what boys/girls do’, be it combusting into tears, inability to control emotions or feeling overwhelmed. This often leads a teenager to depression and anxiety.

Construction of Marriage and Domestic Violence:

In patriarchal society marriage divides the power between men and women in the face of intimacy between them. A woman has been a victim of humiliation, torture and exploitation. There are many episodes of rape, murder, dowry, burning, wife beating and discrimination in this society. Violence towards women by men is a system of power. Much of it happens within a spousal setting. In patriarchal society marriage is an oppressive form that disguises the structural occupation of men in women’s lives. Hence women are a victim of male domination in the respective sphere of life; especially in economic life, over decision making on resources, on the utilization of her earnings and her body. Hence, a woman’s life lies between pleasures at one end and danger at another end.end and danger at another en

Motherhood, Fatherhood and Mental Health:

During pregnancy, women are at the receiving end of a flood of ‘advice’ from family and friends. Recently, the Indian Government also joined the bandwagon when the AYUSH ministry issued a statement advising women to give up meat during pregnancy.Postpartum depression (PPD) can be attributed to the lack of comprehensive care and support. Often a pregnant is forced and abused to produce a boy, which propagates to several suicides and murder by in-laws in India. A man is forced have a baby as soon as he gets married. Any kind of sextual incapability is a worst thing to have and it cannot be cured for Indian men, thanks to our patriarchal society.

In this society women suffer from the denial of freedom, unequal and inferior status and even untouchability. And marriage is basically the reflection of the patriarchal structure. Until the society changes for its betterment, it will continue to penalise women for their gender and the more women will get mentally affected by it.

GROWING SUICIDE ATTEMPTS IN INDIA

GROWING SUICIDE ATTEMPTS IN INDIA

Cognitive constriction is often described as a feeling of tunnel vision, as if you’re seeing through a straw or wearing blinders. People in this state can’t see beyond their circumstances, and don’t believe their pain will ever end. That’s why we often hear suicide attempt survivors say, “I thought that was the only way out”. Ever thought what pushes them to the edge and leaves their minds completely ravaged until this seems the only way to end all the traumas, the depressions, the slow consuming fears and ultimately the little life that was given to them?

According to the statistics, 135,000 people die by suicide in India with especially higher rates in the southern and eastern states. If Indian states were countries, three states would have the third, fourth and fifth worst rates of female suicide in the world. Although suicide is a deeply personal act, suicidal behavior is determined by a number of individual as well as social factors. The main causes for suicide in India have been marriage settlement issues, dowry issues, family problems, illness, problems in schools such as ragging, failure in examinations etc.  Like everywhere else in the world suicide attempts in India have also been progressively increasing. While doing my research on this particular topic, I came across headlines all over the internet, “One suicide attempt every three seconds”, “Every hour one student commits suicide in India” and as a fellow national nothing made my heart drop more than this. This is the alarming cry of the hour.

As a person slowly succumbs to depression, the person finds in oneself the inability to express strong negative feelings, feeling distant from others which results in a tendency to withdraw oneself from friends and family members. This is when you know my friend that you are walking your way into your path of abyss from where there’s no guaranteed return.  During these times it is important to keep in mind that the most effective way to relieve yourself from this stress is to share your troubles with anyone you feel comfortable. The time is ripe and for mental health professionals and psychiatrists to adopt proactive and leadership roles in suicide prevention and save the lives of thousands of Indian on the verge of ending themselves.