JOIN USChuck away the fears!
Gen Y is unpretentious and believes in flaunting even its vulnerability on its sleeves. Sex, relationships, alcohol, drug abuse and career choices top the list of problems besieging this generation. Most youngsters nowadays don’t think twice before going to a counsellor, the frailer ones wilt and take the extreme step.
It is now the result season. Results of school exams are out. SSLC, PU, ICSE and CBSE results are round the corner. The air is rife with jubilation, despondency and nervous anticipation and there could be no better recipe than this for depression. Counselling is what the young ones need and they admit it.
Most counsellors in the City believe that talking to anxious youngsters, especially those worried about the results and the aftermath, really helps. The period between completion of the exams and the results and the days that ensue after are crucial. Metrolife spoke to a few counsellors in the City and sought to know how best students could deal with their anxiety.
Experts strongly feel that every school and college must have a 24-hour counsellor attached to the institution. They aver that there are some issues that girls and boys may not want to discuss or even disclose to their parents. In such cases, they feel more comfortable with a third person.
Mahesh S Prasad, a counsellor with the Shakti Deaddiction and Rehabilitation Centre, says it pays to talk a lot with youngsters who are steeped in depression just before their results are out. “As part of our counselling session, we ask the young to scribble their thoughts and fears. One must focus on the present rather than delve into the past or even talk about the future. The idea is to get the person in need of counselling to externalise as much feelings as possible,” says Mahesh.
Another counsellor, Ricky Wilson, thinks that lack of time and understanding on the part of the parents and great expectations from children drive the young to seek help outside their homes. Dysfunctional and broken families add to the stress. He feels one must first get to the root of the problem. “Students go through a phase of rejection, dejection and struggle to accept the situation the way it is. It is only when young people can’t express their fears that they take to drugs and alcohol as an escape route,” reasons Ricky.
Dr B P Malini, a career counsellor, Banjara Academy believes that it’s best to calm anxiety-stricken children. “The depressed must be counselled to come to terms with the present situation. Parents and friends must be around the young at all times,” she
advises.
Most youngsters feel uncomfortable to open up to their parents because they feel they’d shatter their parents’ expectations which might result in them sinking into a slough of despondency. Swathi Santharaj, a second year PUC student, went through a bout of anxiety and nervousness during the exams but she has learnt to take it in her stride.
“Just give it your best shot and leave the rest. Neither will I score more marks by
being anxious nor will the ituation be any different. Then why bother?” she wonders. And Sujay Acharya, a class ten student of Presidency School, has never been anxious about his performance, “I have done extremely well and I am just curious to know my percentage,” says Sujay.