Depression And Anxiety Among Students: Reasons And Solutions By Sunjot Benipal
by  Sunjot Benipal, B. TECH NIT Jalandhar

The world has experienced a major transition from “once contended minds” to “now depressed minds”.The very meaning and nature of depression is known to all in today’s scenario. Particularly amongst students the words “depression” and “anxiety” have a well-established notability. But have “you” ever wondered how the students, who are considered to be the flag-bearers of a nation, are so acquainted and do experience the so-called “depression” and “anxiety” at least once in their lives?. Well, let’s get to know about it. The first- ever seed of depression gets sown in blooming minds when they are made to know about the comparison- based- judgement in our society. The commencement of Depressive attitude tends to hinder the perennial flow of imagination and creativity of a student. The ignoble immaterial entity tends to inhabit the minds of students when they are pressurized by their parents, peers and society to perform better and excel in the examinations so conducted in order to evaluate their “true potential”. Depression takes a new turn when the fear of failure overshadows the desire to succeed. In such situations the capability to strive and work hard is dominated and underrated by often-occurring day dreams and thoughts like, “What if I am not able to perform up to my level best?”, “Shall I ever be able to achieve my goal-cum-destination?”. The conversion of Joint families to Nuclear families do account for a significant reason of increased depression amongst children. Busy schedules of Parents pour-in another drawback amidst the accelerating cases of depression. Children do not open up about how they spent their day. In fact they seem to be the least bothered to spend some time with their family. The only and solely entity which according to their “mature brains” provide them a sigh of relief and relaxation is their “Mobile phone-in-hands”. Mobile phones do push students in the deep well of anxiety, from which escape is next-to-impossible, provided only the negative aspects of mobile phones are taken into account. The over-aggressive attitudes of students do create a gap between them and their well-wishers, of-course their parents, teachers and family, which ultimately is filled by bundles of difficulties, stress and anxiety. Running after celebrity culture in posh societies also has a role to play in ever-increasing levels of depressed minds. Holding over the entire responsibility of children to house help, generally nanny, in some cases, do worsens the situation even more. So, in order to increase the patience level of the young generation so that they are able to cope up with the difficulties they do face, “Mental Stability” and its significance needs to be understood deeply. Prioritization of Contentment, Cheerfulness and Merriment is a must now-a-days. Children should be only made to know about the importance of hard work in order to lead a dignified life rather than the fear of failure. The extent of pressurization, though it cannot be fully eradicated, must be reduced significantly at least. This would prompt and tempt the children to fully utilize their worth. After all it is rightly said, “Incorporate that fire within you which prompts you to strive every now and then”. Moreover, Parents should share their struggle stories with their children which will add-up the required values in their life. There should be at least a twenty minutes conversation between parents and their children daily, which would help the children to open up about any sort of elation and frustration they did encountered the whole day long. Spending time with grandfathers and grandmothers is an asset not everybody is entitled to. Listening and knowing about their experiences in life do help a long way ahead. Personal and Professional life, however, should not be merged at all. It will help to eradicate numerous worries in a going-to-be- professional, that is a student’s life. Least heed should be paid to the variations in marks of examinations, to winning and losing a competition and most importantly to something which is never-ever achievable. Eventually, it depends on one’s priorities on what to choose first : a blissful life with not-so-perfect possessions ……or a life destitute of happiness with countless possessions.

PUBLISHED ON SUNDAY 19th February, 2023
Reviewed by     Physical Science Society