It’s the 21st century. It’s the age of information and the time for the youngsters to make their presence felt. Social media is on the rise, and actual human interaction is considered overrated.
Today, a person is judged not by his character or integrity but by the number of likes he gets on his profile picture.At the same time. Today, depression is proving to be one of the biggest causes of suicides. According to a study conducted by ICICI Lombard in 2017, 65 per cent of individuals between the age of 22-25 has shown early symptoms of clinical depression. Not to mention many of these cases are never officially diagnosed because of the taboos associated with mental diseases. According to the study, factors such as low income, sleep deprivation and personal problems force people to end their lives.
In the past few decades, the standard of living in India has improved steadily. With it, the nature of problems a common man faces has gradually shifted. Twenty years ago, finding clean drinking water meant walking several kilometres.
Though these problems have not disappeared completely; they have minimized quite considerably. Hence the citizens in our country have started suffering from what the society calls ‘First-World Problems’.
Teenagers are prone to these diseases, but because they are dependent on their parents and live with them, the stress is somehow managed. After 18, more often than not, they have to leave their hometown in search of better colleges. This overrated freedom, however, comes at a heavy price. Dwelling far away from their parents and their loved ones amidst people who don’t necessarily want their good, these teenagers inevitably start manifesting stress and tension in their minds.
In search of a livelihood, they join a multinational company, where they indulge in work which isn’t remotely close to what they have learnt in college. Living far away from home, working in a job which is both dull and unrewarding. The freedom that they once enjoyed dons a dark mask. This perpetual loneliness gives rise to a life full of depression and anxiety.
The stress reaches its peak between ages 25-30. Once you reach that age, you’re expected to do well in life. You need to have a good job. People in their late 20s are supposed to get married. Settling down happens to quite a daunting task. All of this pressure starts accumulating. It adds to the emotional baggage.
Because of the social stigma associated with mental illnesses, people hesitate to seek professional help. In the absence of proper medical care and counselling, many of these youngsters start doing drugs in an attempt to find peace and solace. This, of course, further damages their mental health and intensifies the problem. Others -mostly introverts- turn the canon inwards and worsen the problem by not trusting anyone with their problem.
Youngsters have a habit of rushing through everything and hence try to -by no fault of their own- find a quick fix for this problem too. But in this case, the problem cannot be fixed in a matter of days or weeks.
The cycle continues, and they enter into a downward spiral where their deteriorating mental health keeps getting worse. I apologise for being pessimistic. If you accept the problem, you’ve already won half the battle.
Depression is eliminated slowly. This includes understanding your mental health in a better way and taking up hobbies and goals which can replace the sorrow associated with loneliness. Alcohol and drugs don’t help and provide a transient relief. Alcoholics know this but are not ready to accept it.
Youngsters need to be able to differentiate what they are expected to do and what they actually want to do. Yes, they need to sort out their own problems and aspirations, but that can only happen when we tell them which one is the problem and which one the solution.
While looking at the patients; their parents, their loved ones, and sometimes even the doctors forget to take into account the loneliness that young people have gotten used to. This loneliness is also a trigger that gradually pushes them towards depression.
What you do every day, they do with a disease slowly eating away the inside of their minds. Make the world a place where they can come out in the open and talk their hearts out. It might be their war, but they don’t have to be alone in it. Remember, a house that has a weak foundation may look sturdy on the outside but falls very easily.
#StoryofanAnxiousPerson