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Are We Student Suicide Capital Of The World? I Guess So.
India becoming the suicide capital of the world is no wonder because the prejudiced mind of an average Indian even to this date, measures the saneness of a person based on the way they appear in public. We have either failed to pick up the subtle symptoms of mental health problems or termed them as normal. It is not just the perspectives of the people but also how they have been formed over the span of decades. Entertainment, I believe, has played a crucial role, where the movie makers usually portray a mentally ill patient as an insane who behaves 'oddly' and is easily identifiable.
As core Indians we have always cared more about our supposed 'image' in the society than how our child, spouse or other close family member or friend is feeling. The only emotions we are allowed to display is either happiness, which we strive to achieve since being born, or anger which is a disguise for the rest of the emotions. We very rarely are given a safe space to express our sorrows.
An infant who is surrounded by the caregivers' only coping mechanism being anger and suppressing down every other emotion, ends up being an adult who doesn't know how to deal with feelings of sorrow, envy or despair to name a few. We're never taught to communicate well about how we feel. The pent up emotions come out at the most unexpected of times as panic or anxiety attacks and impulsive decisions like taking one’s own precious life. They are fighting life-long battles with their own selves, on their own because they were made to feel ashamed of feeling such emotions and crying was considered a sign of weakness, which is by the way, an understated coping mechanism.
Talking about suppressing the emotions, it is not alarming to see India as a diabetes capital of the world too. We seldom realize that most of our chronic physical ailments are nothing but those pent up stored emotions trying to find a way out.
And I do not blame our caregivers because their generation was only trying to survive and have their families thrived, getting their physical needs fulfilled; the things which money can buy. Our caregivers had to work relentlessly to earn pennies to provide for and fulfil the material wishes of their families. It has never been easier to earn money than it is right now because of the tech-trends. And I totally believe that it is upon our generation to solve this complex generational issue as our physical needs like food and shelter have been met.
We cannot undermine the impact of the surroundings of a child, on their overall personality and understanding of different aspects of life. And that is why it should be on the top of our priority list to have the mental health and aspects of psychology included in the child’s mandatory academic curriculum. It is the need of the hour to make mental health led discussions convenient, listening to the unsaid needs of your closed ones and having an effective communication with them, creating an emotional security, a safe space.
It is not as easy as it sounds but we need to take some step. First one should be to sign this petition started by Sree Krishna Seelam under his two organizations WeDidIt and Middlemen.asia. The goal is to gather 10,00,000 or 1 million signatures in 100 days after which the PIL will be filed in the Supreme Court of India to mandate mental health education as a compulsory subject in schools from first standard. You can strengthen the PIL by showing up that you care about the future generation, about your little ones and sign the petition on the link given below.
Link for the petition
Link for WeDidIt
Link for Middlemen.asia
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