*October 21st, 2010* *CHENNAI*: Vishal (name changed), a good academic performer in class X, mystified his parents when he suddenly began refusing to go to school for prolonged periods of time. After some investigation, it was found that because his grades had slipped in class XI, he feared his performance in school would become worse and wanted to avoid dealing with it all together. However, Vishal's case is not an isolated one.
With school students increasingly exhibiting signs of emotional and behavioural instability, principals are turning to psychologists and counsellors to help sensitise teachers and parents to this issue. Clinical psychologist Dr Sangeetha Madhu, director, Chennai Institute for Learning and Development (CHILD), for instance, is all set to chart out a schedule to carry out these sessions with A V Meiyappan (AVM) Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Virugambakkam and a school in Mogappair as well. "If parents catch the signs early, it really helps children from developing mental health problems as adults. Many of them may be susceptible to depression, anxiety, personality disorder, bi-polar mood disorder or developing suicidal tendencies. There is substantial research which indicates that adults who have problems showed early signs of mental ill-health in childhood. Students from affluent and educated families are more vulnerable to mental illness because their parents tend to expect more of them," she said. School principals added that one can see signs of behavioural issues as early as eight years of age. Nidhya Guhan, correspondent, AVM School, said parents themselves were coming forward to ask teachers for help because they found they were unable to deal with or relate to their children. "Since both parents work in most homes today, they are not able to adequately care for their children. We have had students exhibiting aggression, disobedience, lack of interest and parents don't know how to deal with it. They are looking for some guidelines on where to draw the line and on how strict they can be with their children," she said. The school plans to hold a group counselling session for parents and teachers on this issue soon. Pointing out that schools currently adopted a "band-aid approach" wherein children are sent for counselling only when the problem became severe, Dr Madhu said it was important for early intervention to be a sustained effort between schools and parents. Terming her programme a bid towards "promoting positive mental health," Dr Madhu noted that she wanted to give students an emotional tool kit to help them understand themselves better. Programmes like Zippy's Friends' that run in primary and kindergarten schools in the UK are built around stories on issues confronting children such as friendship, communication, loneliness, bullying, dealing with change and loss. These initiatives can be tailored to fit the local context, psychologists say. According to G Neelakantan, principal, Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya Senior Secondary School, any intervention adopted for children with behavioural issues at the school was done with the purpose of finding out the reason behind it. "Rather than branding children who do not perform well as dull',we try and get to the possible reasons behind it. We understand that a child is a package deal' from home and that he/she replicates what they see and learn from home," he said. Noting that some of their students have exhibited hyperactivity, insubordination, use of foul language and violence, the principal added that the first step is to talk to the children to understand the situation. "If we find there has been aggression, there must be somebody who is a take-off point for that -- either in the family or at school. We talk to parents about it. If we can't handle it, then we send children to a counsellor," Neelakantan added. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6777339.cms -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
