Depression and frustration among today’s students are increasing at an alarming rate. Our academic community unfortunately does not have enough time to engage in a ‘friendly talk’ as we are very busy with ‘lecturing’ on a serious note. Allotting some time for private conversations and occasional distractions even in the middle of serious classroom lectures will have a positive effect on student’s emotional and physical well-being. This technique will not only beat the boredom but also bring the students to focus. The academic pressure that is generated in the classroom and force that is applied on students to perform and outperform others do have serious physical and mental consequences which should not be ignored. The following are some of the signals that the students who are subjected to damaging peer pressure will send while facing severe stressful situations.
The first signal is that that they get irritated quite often. They begin to feel that they are worthless. Deep sense of negativity goes inside them and brings to them so much of depression and restlessness. And, because of this effect, they tend to withdraw themselves from social relationship. They spend their time in isolation or in using mobile phones for longer periods or they are lost in deep, unproductive and fearful negative thoughts or they are found to be drowsy and tried all time. They don’t feel hungry often. They either eat too frequently or don’t eat enough. Some will go for ‘mindless shopping’ or loitering. It is because of the chaotic manner in which their mind dictates and their body responds to it.
They can’t focus on anything. Even the books that they wish to read or the movie that they want to watch or any other activity that should be interesting to them will no longer be of any interest to them. Some students are irritated when they find their fellow students performing well or enjoying normal campus life. This is a signal that they are restless and stressful. We all know that quality sleep is one of the best recommendations in this situation. But, the depressed ones can’t get good sleep. Their sleep patterns are disturbed; they feel sleepy in the daytime and stay alert, active and agitated at night.
First, as teachers, we should identify such students and pay special attention to them by being with them and trying to understand what is disturbing them. Establish trust so that they can have frank and open conversation with us. Try to understand their fears and frustration. Many a time, when the problems are identified and shared, they will be minimised. A long walk or having an understanding conversation with their mentors or friends will help the students fight the stress and depression.
The stressful students should reduce their screen time, and they should not get solutions to their problems from Google. This will aggravate the situation and will result in serious consequences. But, if possible, let them write down what they feel or what bothers them to get clarity of their deeply confusing thoughts. Choosing to write will have an effect of doing meditation. Hence, help them pen down their disturbing thoughts to let them understand the patterns of thoughts emerging in their thinking.
Meditation can also help them recover from depression. Students should be trained to spend at least 15 minutes a day to practise meditation every day. Also, train the students to engage in positive self-talk and this will boost their morale and increase their self-esteem. Let’s direct our students to reading and writing habits. Reading will help them focus on their minds and will result in exploring ‘many hidden treasures’. Similarly, when they choose to write, their mind gets an intensive training to be disciplined and well-organised. This process will help the thoughts clarified properly and the students can easily identify and distinguish between ‘wasted thoughts’ and ‘productive thinking’.
A good diet, regular exercise, meaningful pastimes, genuine friends and relationships, a caring environment, sensible expectations, sensitive teachers, a cooperative administration, and above all an enabling condition on our campuses which respects and recognises talent and nurture it to protect and promote our diverse ways of thinking will go a long way in ensuring optimum conditions required for academic growth and individual development.
sat.ansari@yahoo.com
