Today people are faced with the world which celebrate a culture of “Sink or swim”. Why don’t we celebrate an average individual ? Can’t we be imperfectly perfect?
People often relate their stress with their work and students with their studies, their hectic schedules and hard work. And that even relates to it, Right? But the problem is that they have stopped enjoying it and have got no interest left in their work. And this is because our society is structured in a way that places certain kinds of people in positions of privilege and power over others. In the name of equality, equity is denied to people. And this drags them to the race of making themselves better than others and that is where their personality ceases to grow and there lies the root cause of the problem.
Another thing is that term ‘Depression’ is being popularised by teens now a days lot. They have started relating mere tension of exams with anxiety and depression and therefore psychologically, our mind starts behaving that way . Here the problem was not some external factor but rather internal and the credit of this goes to lack of psychological literacy . They are not even educated of the ‘difference between stress and depression’, they take both as same and start teasing their friends calling that. And neither there is proper knowledge about consulting psychiatrist , may be because there are just 0·3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people in India.
One of the biggest problem in India is that our children are spoon fed upto their so called adult age ,18. And then eventually ,when they attain 18 , they rocket the missile of all sort of responsibilities on them, burdening them. You can even see that in society , we do not have part time jobs as in foreign for our children. And they are then even taunted by the name of a ‘X’ US child. And what worsens the situation is that Lack of support system . Lack of friendship between elders and youngsters. In India we even proudly celebrate that boundary b/w them. Here elders are supposed to show their stiff face to their Youngsters and that is why elders are least likely to be considered as a trusted source of help.
When you will go on asking people the reasons of mental health problems you will get number of them . Now here the problem is that even knowing reasons we are unable to tackle it , that is because you have not yet reached the root cause of it. It happens when one stops to be ‘Their own kind of beautiful’, when one ceases to realise one’s potential, interests and stops to perform on the ephemeral calls of others, that is the time when everything goes haywire . He loses his identity, personality and suffers from anxiety. And when they start lacking impulse control and healthy avenues to release stress then gradually, gradually… ensconce into dark-dim hellhole. Do you know what happens then he tries fighting back all that hogwash to bring back his real self, to foster his qualities and in this course he has to undergo mental trauma and he comes out of this pain either when, ‘He attains himself completely or loses himself completely’.
And sadly this happens because of the stigma associated with seeking psychiatrists help. They do not wanna talk about this since they think people will think of them as weak or as patient and unfortunately that’s even the truth somewhere. That is why it is utmost important to address this responsible , to make them most likely to seek help.
The basic reasons for giving importance to this topic: At basic and personal level , we are all human beings and we have emotions and an understanding of other’s problems and it is even our moral duty to have sense of understanding of other’s emotions. The lose of a child is the biggest for any parent.
And then if talk economically,to retain the HR for our country. We all know that for any country, especially for developing one, to enhance it’s productivity, skilled and physically and mentally healthy workforce is must. And to even lower the crime rate , for mental health problems are the common reason that pushes many people to do something they might know is wrong.
The ways this can be dealt:
People must first equip themselves with requisite skills to address mental health concerns. They must be trained to identify early signs, to have empathetic and non-judgemental conversations. In 2017, a survey by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) revealed that just one in six employees with mental illness said they felt comfortable disclosing their condition .HR must take it upon itself to promote open dialogue about mental health. This can be done by sharing relevant articles, posters and mails to create awareness, organizing mental health camps and inviting speakers to address employees. It is crucial to spread awareness about the benefits of communication and to take steps to dispel myths and negative perceptions about mental health and seeking help. In the words of Dr. Reuven Bar-on Empathy refers to- “Our ability to be aware of and understand how others feel. It is being sensitive to what, how and why people feel the way they do. Being empathetic is being able to “emotionally read” other people, which is the ability to pick up emotional cues. Empathetic people care about other people and show interest in them and concern for them; they express warmth and affection to others.” Therefore develop empathy for such people not sympathy.
Overall, I have just one liner solution which is subjective but quite useful. And that is, ‘Keep your life simple, don’t complicate’. Now there are many ways to explain this and ways to follow it. And if unfortunately you have become the victim then self motivation will work best and don’t forget to seek psychiatrists help since it’s no more the same stress.