International Youth Day 2014 – Youth and Mental Health

International Youth Day was held on the 12th of August. The theme for 2014 is ‘Youth and Mental Health’ so we spoke to a few of our youths to gather their experiences and thoughts on this issue. Young people with mental health conditions are usually misunderstood and stigmatised, and this can stop them from reaching out when they need to. What can we do?

First of all, what are the kind of mental health problems that young people face? There are serious medical conditions, and also many pressures that, if ignored, could develop into something more serious. “I would think that an issue which is not being dealt with is the issue of self harm.” Says Sarah, continuing, “Since adolescents have to live their lives with stress, emotional pain, unhappiness etc., they will find their own ways to cope with all this, and self-induced harm is one way to shift the pain and focus of the situation they are in. They think that it helps them to deal with anxiety, to turn the emotional pain to physical pain, to deal with problems and to prove that they have control of their own body. If this thinking is left unchecked, it could even lead to suicide.”

Rejection is another thing youths are fearful of. Shania says, “I think the feeling of being rejected is a mental health issue. Not only by their peers but by their parents since most parents are busy working than spending time with their children.” Lithmal talks about the scope of the issue, “As youngsters, we experience a plethora of mental 'complications', day in and day out. These complications take various forms; some, are related to relationships, career options, food choices, education, and some are even related to our choice of music. They also range from trivial issues to life-threatening ones and that's just the tip of the iceberg!” while Dhivya points out that “low self-esteem and anxiety” is the crux of the problem sometimes while “busy, unhappy, broken families, pressure and high expectations” certainly contributes to the stress.
The kind of education youth pursue obviously affects them mentally, as many of the young ones we spoke to mentioned this. Kyra said “I think that mostly it's mental stress because of pressure to do well at school, sometimes they have the added pressure of being told that their whole family is relying on them so they need to do exceedingly well”. Jonathan attests to that “The only thing that stresses me out is studies, coping with Sinhala (O/L subject) and A/ls is hard. Trying to get the results I need to do engineering is a lot of pressure.” Yolani attributes this stress to the “constant pressure to achieve more” remarking that “Higher education, it's not optional for most of us” in contrast with the earlier generation. “So much of life revolves around doing better than the rest of our peers. The danger of course is when we fall short of expectations.”

These expectations can come from the extended family as well, as Natasha says that there is “quite some pressure from their extended family to have a level of success that they may not be capable of/simply don't feel is necessary to achieve, and that can also influence their immediate family to have very high expectations from them.”

What do young ones like you suggest that you do to cope with this?

Talisha -Don’t bottle it in, keep talking to people, especially older ones who have gone through similar experiences.

Sarah - Avoid judging people, and don’t make them feel guilty or ashamed or any worse than they already do. Try to build up a trusting relationship with them. Also, talking to a trained counsellor or psychologist will be very helpful in making the person overcome the cause and issues of the problem.

Shania - Most youths don't have time to spend with their parents and family which leaves them to face the world alone. Maybe events and workshops could be organized not only for the youths but for the parents as well.

Shavinki – Peer pressure and relationships can create issues. What they need is motivation and acceptance, let them feel that they are worth it.

Natasha –We can maybe explain how there is more to it than just pleasing others but doing it because YOU think it is the right choice. You don’t need to rush into decisions just cause of family.

Lithmal - We must understand that we might make mistakes, but there's no point in punishing ourselves or regretting it, because it's never too late; there's always a 'beautiful' solution to any problem! So enjoy life, each and every one of us was born to be awesome and stay awesome.

By Marissa van Eyck