By Patricia Mukhim
The news of death by suicide of 21-year old Bimlesh Kumar from Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district and studying at IIT-Guwahati on September 9, just a day before World Suicide Prevention Day, observed on September 10, comes as a rude shock. Bimlesh Kumar a 3rd year BTech student was pursuing his Computer Science and Engineering programme at IIT- Guwahati. He was found dead inside his hostel room. This is the second such incident in the campus within a span of a month. In August this year Soumya, a female M.Tech student was found hanging in her room. Some students have spoken to the media on condition of anonymity that academic pressure is pushing them round the bend. Students had failed due to low attendance, even though they excelled in their exams. The student said in his batch at least 200 students failed due to low attendance. Students have complained that a toxic environment has been created by the institution which demands 75% attendance rules across all courses. Failure to meet with this would result in mandatory extension of the course into the next semester. In the past too students had died of suicide in IIT-G. The question is whether any steps are taken by the Institution to remedy the causes that lead to suicide.
At that level of study, students also have projects and internships with different institutions they are placed with, to add to their experiential learning. The stress they face in trying to maintain attendance with those other responsibilities leads to burn-out, stress, anxiety and depression. Sometimes they wonder what they really signed up for and whether it was worth it. From listening to students air their views anonymously it would seem that they attend classes merely to fulfil the attendance requirement rather than to be fully engaged with what’s happening in the classroom. In such a situation the student while being physically present in the classroom is not invested in what is being discussed because his attention is elsewhere. Psychiatrists would say that such mindless presence in the classroom could detract from the ability to think critically, which is a much-needed skill for someone in the field of engineering.
If we have to be upfront as parents, we have to admit that in India parental pressure on children to pursue engineering or medicine is overwhelming. No parent enjoys the prospect of their child/children taking up the Arts as if there are no job opportunities in those streams. This has happened over several generations. Doctor parents want their children to follow their profession whether or not they have the aptitude for it. So too parents that are engineers. Some parents who could not achieve their goals in life want their children to fulfil those goals. Just imagine the pressure on the young minds.
Going through the World Health Organisation literature on mental health one learnt that globally, one in seven 10-19-year-olds experience a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group. Depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds. The consequences of failing to address adolescent mental health conditions extend to adulthood, impairing both physical and mental health and limiting opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults.
We grew up learning that adolescence is a period of storm and stress with hormones running riot. The physical, emotional and social changes especially for those battling poverty even while sitting in the same classroom with other mates that come from affluent families can be very daunting. Children coming from families with drunken fathers who turn violent and abuse them or their mother can make adolescents vulnerable to mental health problems. What is needed is the facility – the space to protect adolescents from adversity; to promote socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being, and ensuring access to mental health care which are critical for their health and well-being during adolescence and into adulthood. But where is that space in Meghalaya?
Meghalaya is a state that is reporting very high drug use but with not a single government run facility for de-addiction and rehabilitation. The only known rehab centres are Sanker Nursing Home and Kripa Foundation. But these two cannot accommodate the growing numbers of addicts. And it is not as if these young people have simply got into drug addiction for pleasure. They must have been driven to drugs because real life is just too tough to figure out, hence a temporary release from stress is what pushes them to drugs. I am no psychiatrist or psychologist to be saying this but talking to a few young people who have got into this habit reveals a lot about the turmoil they are going through and the fact that no one cares to listen to them. In fact, there is in our society a general disdain for drug addicts as if they are the rejects of society. They are the socially excluded group.
Coming back to mental health, a principal of a leading school in the city recently shared that he is deeply concerned about the mental health status of students, especially adolescents. His concern is exacerbated by the fact that parents don’t seem to read the signs in their children or to admit that the child needs psychiatric care or to talk to a counsellor. These days most schools, colleges and universities have counsellors but it is reported that students don’t wish to talk to those counsellors because they seek anonymity. They don’t want to be labelled as “mentally unwell,” because often that could lead to social exclusion, discrimination and stigma.
Yet adolescence is such a crucial period for developing social and emotional habits that promote mental well-being. My own observation is that the mobile phone addiction among adolescents is a predisposing factor. Most adolescents sleep in their own rooms and with their mobiles because parents don’t want to quarrel with their kids every single day over the mobile phone. It creates so much tension in the family. So when the adolescents retire to their rooms they are hooked to their mobile phones, sometimes into the wee hours of morning. Their sleep patterns are disrupted. They can’t get up in time for school and there follows a series of recriminations from parents. Clearly it’s not easy to be a parent of an adolescent kid today.
Mental health includes adopting healthy sleep patterns; exercising regularly; developing coping, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills; and learning to manage emotions. Protective and supportive environments in the family, at school and in the wider community are important. But how many of our families are able to provide that supportive environment at home? And are our school environments really able to provide that much needed support to adolescents with mental health disorders? Are teachers trained to recognise the signs? Is there enough time in the classroom for personal care and attention?
In most families where parents are not educated, symptoms such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and mood swings are considered normal. It’s also a fact that among students, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders are extremely common. What is of concern is the mental health research conducted by the Sapien Labs Centre for the Human Brain and Mind, over 50% of youth in the 18-24 age group have poor mental health. The report is based on information collected from 1,06,427 respondents using the Mental Health Quotient which is calculated by analysing 47 aspects of mental feeling. The study showed that 51 percent of youth were distressed or struggling in 2023. Shailendra Swaminathan, Director of Sapien Labs Centre for the Human Brain and the author of the study says that data on mental health is scarce because of the stigma associated with it. He is of the view that the current policy is to treat mental health ailments through crisis intervention but what is needed is a preventive approach.
When mental illness of which depression is a major factor leads to suicide it is just so tragic yet this is happening with such frequency in India in engineering institutes and coaching centres. There is an urgent need for us adults to refocus our lenses and allow the young some freedom to choose their paths in life. Let them choose what brings them happiness. They have a right to it. Why drive them round the bend? Will life not be a little bit easier if parents and children can have more conversations and share their deepest concerns with each other instead of turning the home into a battleground day after day? A child that finds comfort and solace at home is less likely to seek succour from social media and turn their mobile phones into their partners.
Most of us parents have gone through life not knowing how mental health issues take a toll on our children. We can at least learn from literature and from talking to experts in their field. Who knows we ourselves might be carrying our own unresolved mental weight!