PM Modi’s advice on how to deal with depression, stress, anxiety at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0


Pariksha Pe Charcha,Mann Ki Baat,PM Modi Mann Ki Baat 2.0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with thousands of students at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0 at the Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi on January 29 ahead of board exams that will start in February.

A student from Agra said PM Modi, “Many students move to other cities for studies suffer from homesickness and depression and how should parents and teachers they deal with it?” Modi considering depression as a very serious issue said, “In a country like India, depression among youth is very disturbing. The fundamental structure of Indian society has a very simple system of releasing depression but the change in this structure has affected it. Earlier, in joint family, a child who could not talk about certain things with his father could talk to their grand mother. Certain things that a child could not share with mother they could share it with grand mother or grand father etc. So, a child had several options to express. But in today’s world opportunities for expression is less and options for suppression is more. A child tries not to open up about certain issues he/she is dealing with it and suppresses their feelings.”

This is the reason why a student’s mind is affected. A mind is like a pressure-cooker. If the pressure of thoughts, feelings, expression is suppressed a lot and is not released, the cooker can blasts,” he said.

Advice to parents

Parents should talk to their child in the way he/she likes. Children should be assured that their parents will understand what he wants and what he says even after he/she moves to a hostel. There should not be a communication gap.

But if the communication is poor and parents question only about how much marks he/she scored, where are they going, why are they returning late or with whom they are on call, this communication gap can affect very badly.

Depression takes time to attack. It does not occur suddenly. Parents should observe the changes their ward is going through. If it is negative, the child is not talking like the way he/she did, or he/she is eating too much than normal. This can be a sign of stress.