Learn to identify and deal with emotions, says IIT-Guwahati counsellor

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among students and most often parental pressure, societal expectations, peer pressure are blamed to be the trigger point.

But, it is not always right to blame parents or society for suicides as there is a need to focus on other causes as well, says Pallabita Barooah Chowdhury, counsellor at IIT-Guwahati, where the 18-year-old BTech student recently committed suicide.

"Our education system does not teach students life skills and handling emotional distress. In schools, we are never taught to identify the emotions and feelings, which makes students inexpressive. Most of them are not even comfortable talking about their emotions," says Chowdhury.

Today most students reaching out to her are looking for an advice to handle their relationships and stress related to their emotional well-being and self-image.

"Large numbers of students visit the counsellors to seek advice on romantic relationships and dealing with stress related to time-management and self-management. Many suffer from mood swings and often mistake it as depression, since we all have limited information on mental health," she adds.

Chowdhury advocates for teaching mental hygiene practices in schools. Due to low awareness and limited information, students are not even comfortable to seek help.

"Children are not taught to build resilience, have high self-esteem, and have a positive self-image. With our outreach programmes we have to first educate students to be comfortable with the concept of seeking help more than they actually need help," says the counsellor.

Lack of open communication with parents, lack of apathy among peers, growing social isolation of the youth are also some of causes that lead to severe cases of depression and consequently suicides.

The trauma that is felt by people surrounding the suicide victim also needs treatment. She adds that it is important for peers and families to identify suicidal tendencies and seek clinical intervention. "Just like if an infection is persistent it needs medication, if one has low mood clinical supervision is advised. Ignoring these signs can lead to severe mental disorder," says Chowdhury. It is natural for parents to have expectations from their children because they know their potential and personality traits. But there is a need for open communication to sort out disagreement, and external intervention should be sought, adds Chowdhury.