What causes depression and anxiety?
There is no single event that triggers depression or anxiety. Risk factors include continual stress and sleep deprivation, substance abuse, family history of depression and certain kinds of medication. Severe cases of depression and anxiety can follow a traumatic incident (in which case the person can also be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome – PTSD), or appear for no conceivable reason. Some of our respondents reported having depressive phases as early as eighth standard. Campus-specific stress factors, however, are more predictable.
“You know that feeling you get when you binge-watch something over a weekend, and you feel useless after?”, Arun asks me. We’re at Guru, and I’m meeting him for the first time. Arun is one of the many respondents who provided their contact details on the survey so I could ask them intrusive questions about their personal lives. More than academic stress, Arun says that he was plagued by a nagging sense of unproductivity – the guilty feeling that you’re wasting precious time in the pursuit of worthless things (like another sitcom episode) while you could be doing more constructive activities.
There is no single event that triggers depression or anxiety. Risk factors include continual stress and sleep deprivation, substance abuse, family history of depression and certain kinds of medication. Severe cases of depression and anxiety can follow a traumatic incident (in which case the person can also be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome – PTSD), or appear for no conceivable reason. Some of our respondents reported having depressive phases as early as eighth standard.
Campus cultures like those in IITM tend to be individualistic, placing great emphasis on a particular ideal of achievement and success. ‘Being productive’ is a thing on campus – it is brandished as a moral tool, and used to describe activities ranging from a successful laundry trip to writing a term paper. Other authors have written about the culture of busy-ness that pervades contemporary life. Students on campus are constantly ‘having a tough week’, and it can be difficult to completely relax. Early in my insti career, I was introduced to the idea of the ‘night-out’, an event where you basically don’t sleep, so you can stay up at ungodly hours doing stuff. Night-outs, meetings, PORs and projects are shuttled back and forth between peers to establish their ‘busy capital’. A highly approved social tactic in insti is to complain of having ‘no life’, where life is a glamorous slew of activities like…I don’t know. I haven’t figured this one out yet. In truth healthwise, the average insti student is often deprived of sleep and nutritious food, battling vitamin deficiencies and pretending that not taking the lift one day counts as exercise.
Part of the problem is also loneliness, often exaggerated in millennial life by our particular cultural habits (special mention to our constant presence and self-monitoring on social media outlets like WhatsApp, Facebook and its equivalents). A lot of students wrote about feeling disconnected from their peers, either emotionally, or socially. For some, the large group of acquaintances, the quick intimacies formed through coordships, and the relative ease of online communication is a boon. For others, insti’s social groups can be disenchanting. “There’s a culture of elitism on campus”, says Phani Karan, Saathi 2016-17 Core, highlighting the socio-cultural gap that exists between students on campus. Despite the rhetoric of meritocracy that pervades institutes of higher education like ours, it is evident that not everyone comes to insti with the same advantages.
He notes that PG students especially live very solitary lives, and because of the nature of their work (research-intensive, with often no courses) have limited avenues of socialisation
Vipin, a PhD student at the HSS department and a Mitr student counsellor, echoes this sentiment. He notes that PG students especially live very solitary lives, and because of the nature of their work (research-intensive, with often no courses) have limited avenues of socialisation. In the few classes they have, they are often pitted against undergraduate students, who are much better equipped to handle course material. This of course isn’t universal; Vipin argued however that the credit system and classes are overwhelming for several PG students, who were trained at state universities and find it difficult to cope with insti’s academic structure. Another recurring theme in PG student narratives, according to Vipin and Syed (Mitr PG core), is issues with guides. “Their entire research career in insti is based on their rapport with guides”, Syed says. Vipin said that students are sometimes pushed to finish their theses early, and there is constant pressure on them to publish (with their guides as co-authors). “Some guides use their scholars as a tool for self-advancement”, says Vipin, and this is the biggest cause of stress and worry among several research scholars. Syed noted that PG students assume (and are forced by family and society to assume) that they are adults, and struggle hard to maintain a balance between work and their personal lives. In many cases, they are breadwinners, or married with children. Being in an undergraduate-oriented campus with an incompatible guide is a horrible combination, and many PG students have to deal with high levels of stress often.
Note: There are grievance committees in each department for PG students facing issues with their guides. A Professor on the Electrical Engineering grievance committee tells us that several problems between PG students and guides have sorted out over the years.
“Their entire research career in insti is based on their rapport with guides”, Syed says. Vipin said that students are sometimes pushed to finish their theses early, and there is constant pressure on them to publish (with their guides as co-authors). “Some guides use their scholars as a tool for self-advancement”, says Vipin, and this is the biggest cause of stress and worry among several research scholars
Specific academic systems, like compulsory attendance, presentations and an overload of coursework can prove to be heavy obligations to fulfill, especially in serious instances of depression and anxiety. One respondent, who suffers from OCD, wrote of a particularly harrowing episode that occurred in the middle of class, an event that upset him especially, as it was so public. Students suggested faculty sensitisation to issues of mental health, and relaxed attendance rules for people undergoing depression and related conditions. A lack of attendance shouldn’t be read as standard laziness – in fact, repeated absences can signify serious health issues, in which event a W only makes life much worse for the affected student.
Students suggested faculty sensitisation to issues of mental health, and relaxed attendance rules for people undergoing depression and related conditions. A lack of attendance shouldn’t be read as standard laziness – in fact, repeated absences can signify serious health issues, in which event a W only makes life much worse for the affected student.
It is evident from the survey that this is a large-scale problem that requires immediate addressal. Peers, faculty, admin and parents are important support systems, and their sensitive acknowledgement of the problem can go a long way toward helping students. Some respondents wrote of supportive faculty and understanding parents, and how the space they provided for recovery was crucial. Peers are the closest observers of fellow students, and can identify fellow students who’re going through a bad time. We need to assume a sense of responsibility for our own and our friends’ wellbeing, instead of approaching the issue feeling entitled to a neatly-wrapped solution. “You need to take responsibility as well”, says Aman, echoing other respondents’ view that while it is absolutely essential that support systems meet you halfway, you should push yourself to get better.
Peers, faculty, admin and parents are important support systems, and their sensitive acknowledgement of the problem can go a long way toward helping students. Some respondents wrote of supportive faculty and understanding parents, and how the space they provided for recovery was crucial
Fight, Jenny Lawson – depression survivor and bestselling author – exhorts.
