Symptoms

Conditions such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, lucid dreams, phobia, insomnia affect our mental health. Overthinking plays a very huge part when we talk about mental health. Many people tend to think too much about the situations which will probably never happen. People don’t have control over how much they overthink. There are many solutions to overthinking if you search it up on the internet but, in reality, it’s not very elementary. You can experience these conditions at any point of your life, no matter the age, sex or ethnicity. Some people can be more prone to depression than others because of well, life situations, peer pressure, sexual identity and whatnot.

According to a study by WHO, half of all mental health conditions start by 14 years of age. Adolescents are at greater risk of mental health conditions due to their stigma, discrimination or exclusion, or lack of support from their parents/friends. As per the same study by WHO, suicide is the third leading cause of death in older adolescents because of mental illness and lack of access to help/therapy. There is a growing consensus that healthy development during childhood contributes to good mental health.

Lancet’s Study

Lancet has found the efficacy of “brief lay counsellor delivered, problem-solving intervention’’ for mental health problems in adolescents from government schools in Delhi. This is for adolescents who can’t afford to pay for therapy sessions. The premium for Adolescents (PRIDE) is a six-year research programme dedicated to making psychosocial interventions for improving the mental health of adolescents in India. “The study established that with limited resources and counselling intervention, we can give practical tools to adolescents to manage and deal with their mental health issues. This also makes mental health treatment accessible to those from underprivileged sections of society,” says Dr Kanika Malik, a clinical psychologist. The programme is going really well and is pretty successful. More than 250 adolescents were enrolled for the programme between August and December in 2018. For the treatment, they made a problem-solving booklet in a comic format to keep up with the interest of the adolescents. The book has many chapters which teach the kids to deal with domestic problems. This is very important because domestic life can be a major source of stress for the students and they don’t have the resources to tackle these situations but the comic book gives them tools to work through them. Not only did they distribute the booklets but also hired and trained the members of the community to counsel students.

According to a study by the lancet, more than 99% of adolescents and children with mental health problems remain undiagnosed in India. If these students receive proper treatment right now, they are less likely to suffer from serious mental health conditions in the later stage of their life. The initiative that lancet took for these adolescents is exceptional. 

Vulnerable Teens 

Another problem that students face while growing up is whether or not they should tell their parents about what they are going through. Adolescence is a very crucial period in our lives. Your decision-making power is not the best at this age. Parents are also requested to listen to their kids, to understand them, to tell them that it’s normal to feel this way. Many kids have abusive parents which makes it even more difficult for them to go through the illness. 

Look out for yourself and other people

 Mental illness is a very serious condition and it should not be neglected. Your brain is just as important as your heart and other body parts. It can only handle so much. Also, we should not forget the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic right now and this COVID situation is not helping. This is for all the parents, if your kid is struggling, love him/her. This is for all the people who have friends with mental illness, support your friends.

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