It’s time to talk openly with Hong Kong’s youth about suicide and stress
Anisha Abraham says it’s vital to understand the related problems of stress and depression among Hong Kong’s young people, and how to deal with them. Equally important, our youth must be encouraged to open up about their feelings and learn to handle adversity
There has been a startling number of suicides among young people in Hong Kong in the past few weeks. The spate has helped spur discussion about stress and depression and the need for change. As a paediatrician and teen health expert, I have spent the past two weeks speaking to young people in the city’s secondary schools about stress, identifying strengths and cultivating resilience. From my discussions, it’s clear some of our students are struggling with issues and need a way forward.
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Why are kids in Hong Kong reporting high levels of depression, attempted suicide, cutting and other behaviour? Having lived in Hong Kong for years and recently moved to the Netherlands, a few key factors stand out. One is the pressure to perform well academically. When speaking to students, they uniformly agreed that academic pressure is one of the top reasons for stress. One told me that parents often set unrealistic expectations. She cited a friend whose mother would severely chastise her for any grade lower than an A. Another teen told me that he sometimes receives text messages from friends who are thinking about hurting themselves because of the pressure to fit in and to do well.
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A second factor is the lack of downtime. Students are often required to go from one tutorial or activity to another, with a rare break for relaxation.
We’re not adequately preparing young people to face failure or rejection and to be resilient
A third issue is the difficulty for young people to openly communicate their feelings of worthlessness and frustration to others, and the stigma that exists about having an issue and receiving counselling. One student disclosed she had been cutting herself for a year, but was afraid to tell her parents.
Another factor is the significant use of social media and the internet. Quite a few of the students I spoke to knew someone who was often on social media or video game sites. The heavy use of “screen time” may lead to disengagement from regular interactions and contribute to feelings of poor self-worth and addiction.
Yet another concern is that we’re not adequately preparing young people to face failure or rejection and to be resilient. I’ve seen students fall apart once they joined university or started a job because they didn’t know how to handle having poor grades, conflict or face other challenges.
