"I never had any mental health issues in my life. And no one I knew had any problems either. Why is your generation always talking about depression and other such issues?"
I assure you, my readers, that this is not a blog post meant to offend any generation or their values. However, I believe that it is critical that everyone understands where we stand in terms of addressing major issues in our lives. Growing up in an Indian household, I was exposed to the above-mentioned conversation on a regular basis. And, as a psychology student, this is a statement that has consistently made my blood boil and my voice rise. But let's not get into that right now. In simple terms, mental health awareness is the ongoing effort to reduce the stigma around mental illness and mental health conditions by sharing personal experiences. Generation Z is the demographic cohort that follows Millennials and comes before Generation Alpha. Researchers and the popular media use the mid to late 1990s as starting and ending birth years, respectively. As the world around us changes, new issues appear that can have an impact on the current generation in various ways, including mental health. Keeping this in mind, what is more important to address is where we, the Gen Z generation, stand with relation to mental health awareness.
As an ambassador for the Well-being Ambassador Program, an initiative of the SIMHA project by the TATA Institute of Social Science, Mumbai, I have been working towards understanding the current status of mental health awareness within the student population. By doing a needs assessment for the WAP programme, I was able to see that there has been a noticeable increase in mental health awareness . The prevalence of dialogues about one's feelings in friend circles is one indication of these advances. Another important finding is that more Gen Zers are not only speaking out, but also actively working to teach others about the value of talking openly about mental health. These developments represent a significant departure from the state of affairs that existed and continues to exist among the older generations. In the past, people's refusal to admit their mental health issues was mostly a result of their fear of stigma and estrangement. After speaking with a few millennials, it became clear to me that their difficulties were never addressed, largely because society did not recognise their problems. A clear difference may be seen when comparing this to the current scenario. Not only are Gen Z's more accepting of many once taboo issues, but they may also be more understanding of others' mental health situations. These changes can be seen in how words are used in discussions, participation in social media, openness to asking for assistance, etc.
Even though I have mentioned positive changes in how Gen Z’s broached the topic of mental health, there is still a long way to go. By speaking up, we can raise awareness of the problems with mental health that we could be currently experiencing. We don't want to live in a society where we feel alone in the world and we don't want other people to feel the same way. Maintaining good mental health is crucial for our wellbeing and how we interact with others around us. Speak up, be heard, and fight for mental health awareness!
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