What causes mental health disorders? Although the exact causes for many impairments are unknown to even science itself, most of the diagnoses of common mood disorders take into account the social environment of the daily engagements of the patients. Though our diagnosis feels really personal to us, it has a wider connection to the social institutions within which we function; and the one institution that plays a major role in our emotional and mental well-being during our college years is, of course, the college itself.
A total of 91.1% of respondents agreed with us on this. It's not enough, however, to just know that college impacts us emotionally and mentally. We wanted to figure out what was it about college, as it is presently structured and developed, that affects people(gentle reminder that this survey was taken before campuses in India were turned into war zones). So we asked the respondents list down all these factors, and to specifically categorise them as positive and negative.The pattern that emerged was that same three factors played both a negative and a positive role, depending on how they interacted with the respondent’s experiences:
Friends:A positive impact was reported when there was a presence of inclusive,encouraging, and long lasting friend circles.However, friendship break ups, unnecessary and suffocating peer pressure, isolation, and discriminatory behaviour (knowing and unknowing both) meted out on the basis of socio-economic or other factors were tagged as sure shot downgraders of mental health.
Teachers: Personal attention was regarded as a significant help for mental health struggles, and a lack of personal connect was considered as unfortunate. Unfair and discriminatory behaviour by the teacher(s), on the other hand was a fuel to mental health issues.
Societies: While for some societies were an escape from the stifling atmosphere of a classroom, for others societies were a site of added pressure and competitiveness, and their failure to provide any sense of fulfillment was also a negative factor.
This brings us to those factors which were solely identified as negative:
Pressure and competition: Whether academic or non academic (society, peer, placements), there was a universal reporting of pressure as an omnipresent, acute problem weighing the students down. Cut throat competition was both derived from, as well as fuelling the pressure.
Attendance: Again, in most of the responses the system of having compulsory or marks based attendance was seen as a significant disruptor of mental peace. Though it can be viewed as another manifestation of pressure, the point to be noted is that the majority ultimately do not enjoy going to classes, and have to be coerced into (or feel they are coerced into) attending lectures. The hidden issue here is that classrooms have failed to become captivating spaces for students, (and have hence translated into just another burden) which could also be having potentially negative effects on their well being.Some have specifically mentioned boredom and sub standard lectures as a negative factor.
Ambience was the one factor that was seen as solely positive. The campus architecture, greenery, and hustle bustle were identified as boosters to mental health.
The college's relation with mental health isn't just to impact it by virtue of its culture and so on. It can actively create a framework to support mental healthcare. So the next question to investigate was how much has the college done in this direction, and what more needs to be done?
Around 53.6% of the respondents knew about some steps taken by the college administration, departments and societies for supporting mental health, which is good news. Across the colleges, some common steps were: arranging for an on-campus counsellor, holding seminars, awareness weeks, workshops. In some cases, an event was organised in order to create a non-judgemental space for students to vent out whatever was on their mind.In other instances, some teachers were allotted as personal helplines to the students, for them to go to whenever they needed help. The success of this particular practice, however, was seen as doubtful as not all teachers were viewed as approachable or understanding.
Despite all these attempts, however, a whole 75.3% felt that their college had not done enough in this direction, 72.5% thought that certain practices/systems of the college needed to be changed in the interest of the better mental health of the people, and 92.2% thought that the education system in general is unfriendly towards mental health. Students expressed the desire for having common relaxing rooms, meditation centres, more awareness and sensitisation of teachers (65.4% think that the faculty is not sufficiently sensitive towards mental health).Many wanted an overhaul of the entire academic and non academic system for creation of more breathing space.A relief from pressure was greatly longed for, and suggestions such as making all societies open societies, doing away with the system of extra and back to back lectures of the same subject, allowing students to switch courses more easily and making the overall atmosphere more inclusive were put forth. A specific request for doing away with the overlap of counselling and classroom hours was also made, so that students don’t have to trade off lectures to go in for a session.
Colleges should not take these requests into consideration just because they need to correct whatever negative impact they might be having on the students. We live in a country where despite high prevalence of mental disorders, less than one per cent of our health budget(which in itself is among the lowest in the world in terms of percentage of GDP) is spent on mental health, the number of mental healthcare professionals is such that we have just one professional for over two lakh people( the ideal ratio is 1:8000), and it was only after 30 years, in 2017, that the main piece of legislation regarding mental health was updated (but even the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, contains gaps of its own). In such a scenario, whatever steps the college takes to promote mental health care can be life saving for many.All colleges should try and do their bit. The existing facilities in colleges should be strengthened and each student trying to bring about a positive change in this sphere should be thoroughly encouraged.This will not just help those have diagnosed illnesses, but positively impact the overall level of well being and happiness.
This brings us to a concept that is closely related to, but perhaps even less understood than mental disorders: the concept of happiness. After the World Happiness Report by UN( where India stands at the 140th rank out of 156 countries) and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index remaining in the spotlight, tons of books being written on it, Madhya Pradesh even having a dedicated government department for it (Rajya Ananda Sansthan, which brought out an Anand calendar to dedicate each month to a different aspect of happiness), and even certificate courses being available on it, we still don’t have a common understanding of what happiness actually means. Campus Perspectives was therefore curious to know how our age group views this much sought after state of mind, to gain a peek into their aspirations and mental framework; and broadly, three themes came to the fore.
Happiness as satisfaction or contentment, including a feeling of self worth (being okay with who you are);
Happiness as freedom to do whatever you want to do or be whoever you wish to;
Happiness as being around loved ones.
This is not asking for a lot; these in fact, look like a set of simple things which should be a natural part of every human being’s life. Yet we are part of a world where many are involved in a never ending complex struggle to achieve even seemingly uncomplicated goals. Some of us are fighting daily battles of a gigantic magnitude on our personal front to get there. So the least we all can do to help fellow beings, in our individual capacities, is to ensure we are sensitive, aware, and patient; and maybe, in the process, we might just get the apparatus to help ourselves.
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