Depression is a prevalent thing in our society but we were always taught by our parents to NOT talk about it. Recently though, there has been a change in the younger generation whereby they are actively voicing out their mental illnesses. Because mental illness is no joke!
A woman on Twitter shared her experience on voicing out about her depression.
She had told her university’s counsellor about her mental health state. And this is after thinking about it for a very long, and finally deciding to seek help by the way!
Unfortunately, the unprofessional counsellor made her feel exposed for revealing it infront of the whole class.
The counsellor asked the woman, “X, do you still have depression?”
WHAT? Why would you even do that????
Ever since she was 13, she has been studying in a full boarding school. The young girl didn’t really have access to the Internet there, so she didn’t know where to seek help for her depression which was affecting her so much. After thinking about it, she thought that going to the school counsellor would be a good choice.
Too bad it back fired on her completely.
She said she did not ask for the counsellor to solve her problems or anything of that sort, she just wanted to know how she can get help as going to the hospital is a very arduous process for students living in the hostel.
X felt so humiliated by the counsellor that she thought was trustworthy. A few weeks later, she went to the hospital all by herself with bruised knuckles and cut arms. The doctor diagnosed her with depression.
The woman then linked her tweets with an article by Berita Harian about the government urging the school counsellors to be more proactive in identifying students who show signs of depression.
We also urged the public, especially people of authority like lecturers, teachers, and counsellors to take mental illness seriously – not ridicule their students infront of the whole class.
We do agree that school counsellors should be more proactive in looking for signs of mental illnesses among students. It is also essential for them to be professional in the sense that they should be able to keep the secrets that the students tell them unless it is a big issue like abuse or harassment.
Also read: 13yo Penang Teenager Hangs Himself Because He Was Unable to Finish Homework