Mumbai: The recent suicide by the son of an IIT-B professor has prompted noted psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty to write a letter the faculty of the premier institution exhorting teachers to be more attentive towards the mental condition of their children and encouraging them to take up their counselling to avert such incidents in future too. The suicide by the 17-year-old son of a professor on June 16 is one of the three suicides by children of teachers in the past 18 months, which prompted the psychiatrist who practices in and around the campus to write the letter.
Dr Shetty has drawn the attention of the faculty to the fact that the children of professors are as prone to suicidal tendencies as other students studying in the institute. He points to the fact that being children of IIT-B faculty and having to live up to the expectations do have an adverse affect on the children which needs to be spotted in time.
The youngster who hung himself to death on Friday night wrote in his suicide note that he was under pressure owing to his studies and could not cope with it hence decided to end his life. According to Powai police the professor and his family had shifted from Chennai to Mumbai recently and the boy was unable to adjust to the new environment and was depressed.
“There is something happening with the youth across the country that probably we all are not able to fathom. Generic explanations of the reasons and causative factors that we all so spontaneously share and believe may not be always true and in fact not the holy grail at all. Yet one single fact is that depression is reaching epidemic proportions,” wrote Dr Shetty.
He advised the parents not to overlook the issue nor treat it as a stigma and get help as soon as they spot signs of depression in their children. “Most parents do not talk about it at all as it causes anxiety and they fear for their kids. Then, we brush it aside and repress it because it causes turmoil inside us,” the letter read.
Doctor’s suggestions
- Parents must get trained as 'mental health soldiers' and counsel children every quarter.
- Build a system and a permanent counselling centre with the help of alumni.
- Screen children for drugs.
- Keep track of social media shares of children as they give away intentions about suicide to friends.
