Early detection of emotional distress key to avert suicides among students

Hans India

3 days ago

Visakhapatnam: Even if victims drop apparent indications much before taking the extreme step, are parents or teachers or peers or friends able to decipher the hints?
In a highly-competitive academic framework coupled with an insatiable drive to be on the top of the score chart all through the academic life, students are often subject to relentless pressure both at home and in the school campus.
But, as a community, are there any concrete measures in place to help one another, spot early indications of suicidal feelings, flag warning signs and come to the rescueof the child before it is too late?
Emotional wellbeing therapists underline that suicides are very much preventive provided the risk factors are recognised early and an action plan is in place to extend support to vulnerable students. They emphasise that such students not only have to be monitored from close quarters but also be given confidence through counselling at frequent intervals.
The National Crime Records Bureau-2022 indicates a distressing data of about 1.71 lakh suicides recorded in India. Of them, 13,044 were students and over 2,000 of them were due to failure in examinations.
Following the tragic and unnatural death of a 17-year-old girl, who was undergoing coaching for the NEET examination in a private institute in Visakhapatnam two years back, and keeping the alarming statistics in view, the Supreme Court issued comprehensive interim guidelines to safeguard mental health of students across all educational institutions.
Underlining that suicide prevention is a binding obligation to safeguard the right to life, health and human dignity, the bench instructed the educational institutions to engage at least one qualified counsellor, psychologist or social worker based on the strength of the school with demonstrable training in child and adolescent mental health. 'Prioritising mental health for students is a welcome move. However, it would take a while for the educational institutions to appoint counsellors and adopt structured planning. Along with institutional support, massive awareness drives to detect signs of psychological distress among children play a pivotal role. Change starts from home. Parents attending parent-teacher-meeting should be made mandatory so that they would be made aware of the wards' emotional health along with academic performance,' suggests Dr. Pujitha Josyula, a psychologist and founder of 99 Mindfit.
Dr. Pujitha Josyula recommends setting short and long term strategies focusing on massive sensitisation drives among parents and hostel wardens, holding regular interactive sessions with students, being empathetic, identifying vulnerable students, monitoring them at regular intervals and connecting parents with counsellors as she says that they serve as an effective suicide prevention mechanism.
However, in most cases, the child is often conditioned by fear, high academic expectations and constant comparison-driven pressure. Unless such trend changes, clinical psychologists hint that bottled up emotions invariably make people feel singled out. 'There is a need to build a friendly atmosphere at home so that children would look forward to sharing their secrets and fears with any parent or a trusted adult. However, not many are open to communicating with their parents for the fear of being 'judged'. Coordinated efforts in keeping tabs of the warning signs rests on parents, teachers and peers,' asserts Dr. Harilakshmi Venkataramana, a clinical psychologist. Empathising and narrating real time stories with children and making them feel wanted are some of the strategies Dr. Harilakshmi Venkataramana suggests parents adopt for improving emotional wellness of their wards.