Stress, peer pressure making youth more aggressive, depressed, claim city psychiatrists

THANE: A quite and shy Shivtej Kumar used to be the butt of all jokes among his friends circle. The 17-year-old would silently soak up all the insults and bad mouthing; until one day he couldn’t take it and started thrashing up all those who were making fun of him. He also mouthed the choicest of expletives. This came as a major shock to Kumar’s friends and family.
This happens due to years of pent up frustration and anger. Since the last three years, psychiatrists and counsellors in the lake city have witnessed a rise in the number of youth suffering from stress and aggression. Sometimes, youth also show signs of depression and have suicidal tendencies.
Mumbai-based Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr. Avinash DeSouza, said, “Three to four years ago we used to get barely one or two cases of aggressive children on a weekly basis. This number has doubled. The youth nowadays go through a lot of stress. This could be because of a number of issues like bad parenting, exposure to violence in the family and friend circles or on television and video games, lack of acceptance among peers, sibling rivalry and so on.”
Psychologists believe that these issues coupled with lack of communication between parents and children at home are the reasons behind a child’s aggressive behaviour.
Madhavi Kulkarni, a counsellor at the Institute of Psychological Health in Thane has been organizing a number of anger management workshops. “Our workshops are for everyone, but the maximum cases we get are of young adults and teenagers. The youth today face a lot of competition. Many don’t have anyone to share their problems with, which adds to the pressure. This is why there are a number of cases of children committing suicide or a crime.”
They assert that the only way to avoid such cases is a healthy parent-child relationship. Parents must teach their children the importance of emotional regulation.
‘‘Anger is an inbuilt emotion and should be channelized towards productive goals like sports or even poetry and arts,” Dr DeSouza said.
‘‘Parents must ensure that they have a strong relationship with their children. They need to make them feel that they can talk to them about anything. If the child is under depression or cannot control his aggression, they should immediately consult a counsellor,” said Kulkarni.