In the backdrop of over 21 intermediate students, who failed in exams, ending their lives, psychiatrists, counsellors urged people not to brush away when anyone in distress gives indications of ending their lives.
Stressing on giving mental space to children, they urged people to re-evaluate which factors (money, power or creativity) are respected in society. They explained how a student feels when they ‘fail’ to achieve a goal pushed by society.
Speaking from his experience of counselling students who wanted to end their lives, former superintendent of Institute of Mental Health at Erragadda P. Raghurami Reddy, said that one could help the students by giving them a compassionate hearing. Dr Reddy said that in 1999, he had launched a helpline for students to help stop them from ending their lives.
Students in distress
Explaining the thought process of students in distress, he said that they identify themselves with a compulsive goal and feel they are not significant if they do not attain it.
“They question if the life is worth the while if they do not ‘achieve’ the goal. Adding to their woes, parents, teachers, people in society keep prodding them about results of their exams. This leaves the studentswith no other option,” Dr. Reddy said at a public awareness seminar on ‘Prevention of suicides in students, long term approach’ organised by Indian Psychiatric Society-Telangana State Branch, here on Thursday.
He stressed on the need to expose the students to alternate career opportunities, and said that intelligence and creativity gets sidelined as an infant grows into a child conditioned to societal norms.
Respect in society
Student advisor of Vignan Group of Institutions Pariplavi Mokkapati questioned the parameters based on which a person is respected in society. “If a person is respected for the power they have, size of cars or bungalows, then the society is going to produce more and more of it. If we respect educational institutions for the number of MBBS or engineering seats they have, irrespective of what happening to students, then we will land up with such a situation,” Dr. Pariplavi said, hinting at distress among intermediate students.
Comparing the spaces where students are trained for competitive exams, like IIT-JEE, to poultry farms, she said that students have to be given air and space.
G. Angela David, a counsellor at Sahayam Psychological Counselling Centre, urged people not to brush away if someone gives hints of ending their lives.
Superintendent of Institute of Mental Health-Erragadda M. Uma Shankar said preventive steps have to start withn family, teachers, friends, as a person spends most of their time with them.
