Ranchi :Look in the mirror, that’s your competition…
This is a lesson conspicuously missing in our home and school as children are groomed to join a rat race where failure often fuels death wish. As the stakes of cracking school and competitive exams continue to rise each year, more and more students are seeking medical help.
Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (Rinpas) for one has been counselling no less than 10 to 15 youngsters every month.
“Children are no longer afraid of the dark. In today’s performance-driven society, they fear failure,” senior Rinpas resident Siddharth Sinha sounded the alarm bells.
“Student suicides continue to happen in Jharkhand and elsewhere unabated. What is more worrying is that children of Classes VIII to XII as well as those appearing for competitive exams, suffer from anxiety, sleep and eating disorders, partial memory loss and hallucinations, which are all tell-tale signs of the struggle to cope with life,” Sinha said.
According to the expert, most of these children are overworked because most parents refuse to accept anything but a stellar performance.
“The children live in a state of constant fear. Lack of outdoor activity and spending long hours indoors while playing on consoles or staring at computer screens only make matters worse. This all-work-no-play syndrome is affecting emotional development, leading to anxiety, depression, problems of attention and self-control,” Sinha revealed.
Rinpas experts say the fear of failure has acquired epidemic proportions today.
“Till Class X, children do not need to focus beyond school curriculum. Then suddenly, they are required to prepare for their board exams and put in ten times more effort for IIT-JEE or AIMPT preparations. Hothouse parenting add to the stress. The fear of falling behind, failing to live up to expectations, the threat of being ridiculed by parents and relatives, et al, add to the problem,” Sinha pointed out.
The senior Rinpas resident cited an example.
“A 17-year-old Ranchi boy was recently brought here for counselling. A bright student from a reputable school who scored over 90 per cent marks in Class X, he was found to be suffering from loss of appetite, sleep disorder and lack of concentration. After prolonged session, I discovered to my dismay that this child was petrified at the thought of being sent off to Kota (considered an engineering prep haven) by his parents. The fear of having to fend for himself far away from his comfort zone had put him under unspeakable stress,” Sinha said.
Not that students who stay home are feeling any better. On any given day, they spend anything between 12 and 14 hours attending classes, first in school and then at a coaching institute. They come home late in the evening only to begin preparations for the next day. Most of these students are sleep-deprived, finding not more than 4-5 hours on bed, which makes them more vulnerable to stress.
Sinha cited yet another example. “A 22-year-old had appeared in the UPSC exams and failed. He has now decided to give the Jharkhand civil services exams a try. But, he is no longer sure of himself and is unable to concentrate.”
The remedy, the expert said, varied from child to child. “While we prescribe limited dose of anti-depressants to boost their morale, we hold interactive sessions with every individual to get to the root of the problem.”
(Source: The Telegraph)