Suicides among teenagers, which was unheard earlier, is now a worrying trend. Globally, suicide is the third leading cause of death among those aged 15–29 years old. This calls for a better understanding this behaviour as by discussing the developmental and psychological challenges faced during school years one may be able to develop effective strategies prevent suicide in this age group.
Dr Hamed al Sinawi, a senior consultant psychiatrist at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, says suicide can be attributed to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. Family Environment can also play a part especially when there is Dysfunctional family dynamics, abuse, or neglect.
“Academic pressure and high expectations from parents and peers and fear of failure or getting low score can also lead to suicidal behaviours. Bullying is another factor that needs to be addressed whether it’s physical, verbal, and cyber bullying as there are evidence linking bullying to poor mental health which increases the risk of suicide. School children who are experiencing social isolation are also at risk as they tend to have more loneliness and difficulty in forming relationships.”
He goes further adding that easy availability of methods to attempt suicide and television movies and video clips showing suicide also provoke someone to self-harm. Many of the above-mentioned factors apply to the situation in Oman, particularly bullying which can have devastating impact on young people.
N Nandhini, a psychotherapist, says that she has personally seen how academic and social pressures can impact a child’s well-being through her elder son. “He struggled to balance his studies, playtime, and friendships, which began to affect him emotionally. We decided to enrol him in a residential school to give him more space for growth and social interaction, and we’ve noticed a remarkable positive difference.”
Dr Sinawi suggests some preventative measure need to be implemented to address suicidal behaviour starting from awareness programmes for parents and teachers to be mindful about behaviours that would single emotional distress on the student.
“School should also adopt strategies to deal with bullying. One may ask if school children these days are less strong to face adversities? In my opinion, parenting styles have changed over the years. We see more overprotective parents who provide everything the child demands which teaches him or her that everything is available and when they are faced with the harsh reality they don’t know how to cope with it. Also, parents who demand high grades from their children put them under more stress and the child becomes constantly preoccupied with how not to let their parents down.
Dr Vijay Ram Naresh, a psychiatrist, raises a few points which will answer all the questions that the parents have confronted with, helping the children handle adversities which is a social/cognitive skill just like any other skill.
“Will our children ever learn swimming if we just visit the pool or sea without taking them along. They can’t learn to swim without getting into the water and wetting themselves. ”
His second point is that both school and parents are not ready to accept the range of normalcy and uniqueness of an individual. Lata Mangeshkar never played cricket. Sachin Tendulkar never attempted singing. But now every parent wants their child to be the best in everything (all-rounders). This definitely brings stress, he said.
“Thirdly, exposure to social media has increased the element of “fear of missing out, FOMO” in children so the current generation is stressed from within too,” said Dr Vijay.
Combination of these is keeping our “generationext” more stressed and vulnerable, he said.
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