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| The caricature of anti life. photo by Glorypearl Dy |
Value of Life is not a new and elegant concern triggered by films like Eat, Pray, Love. Care for one’s existence confronts a person as early as ages 13 to 16 years old during puberty stage. Thoughts about ones reason for existence usually arrive and inability to find leads to suicide. The same concern also revisit during middle age when contemplating on personal experiences leads one to discontent. Search for the reason to continue life wander and dismay may progress to hopelessness. If lack of sense of value of life leads to thoughts of suicide, the person concerned is already considered depressed. That person needs an urgent help.
While studies may have provided substantial evidence to prove the causes and symptoms of depression, the action plan to avoid it has been a difficult task to prevail. Lack of strategies from schools and negative representation in media seem to cause more than heal depression.
In a state university, there is only one, if not a few, guidance councilors who are not even that approachable. Kids who are prone to anxiety due to academic pressure do not have a person to express their thoughts to, without expected judgment they usual get from direct family. No seminars or classroom visit to micro-inspect emotional stability of kids are done. Annual retreats sometimes serve as simply as religion strengthening more than soul healing. This is even more drastic in high schools where depression is seen as something trivial by teachers and councilors often see a temperamental behavior as a simple manifestation of hormonal change.
The media, too, promotes a negative image that "emo" is cool. In effect, kids praise drowsy and hopeless looking Bela in films like Twilight.
The national government has also indirectly supported suicide in its recent take on Angelo Reyes; shocking decision to take out his own life while the rest of the nation witness. His patronizers insist that he died for a noble cause and even succeeded in burying him in the Libingan ng mga Bayani as a nationalistic ritual. But his death was no noble since it was an obvious escape from accountability.
Reyes buried in a gallant place for his suicide twisted a negative perspective for the young. Indirectly, it aggravated the lingering idea that suicide is an option for escaping malady. Kids can decide to resort death even for simple problems about love. This also adds deranged ideas to highly depressed individuals who might think that suicide can generate applause. However sick the thought is, it isn't impossible to produce a Black Swan from an extremely emotional and isolated person.
Generally, Philippine culture also do bad more than good when depression is easily connected with superstitious beliefs. People in grief and act uncannily are easily rumored as been possessed by bad spirits. Religious beliefs also blame sadness with some divine design pointing the finger on the devil. People who act strangely are directly judged as a psychotic and images of naked, dirty and untamed nuisances caught in the street come to mind. Common Filipino interventions, when it comes to this, are by rituals if not a bottle of beer or with collective laughter.
But depression is more than just emotions. Other than social support, people with depression need overall change like proper eating habits to generate good nutrition for the brain which can be achieved through sufficient medication and therapy. Sadly, medication for depression is not even looked as a priority, in the Philippines, and psychological visits are even too expensive for the low class.
I think people, especially here in the Philippines talk about suicide in a shallow perspective. It is only discussed whenever suicide has already been done, or the suicide attempt has been performed. Suicide is kind of a heavy topic to discuss especially the causes that leads to the act. In schools, there isn't much of a choice for people who are depressed to tell what they really feel. Even voicing this out to friends is not enough... It needs professional assistance, and I agree that school counselors are not approachable enough or trustworthy enough. Maybe this is something that should be discussed in school... No subject seems to be discussing this area.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree about your point made about what the power of the media has done to some teenagers/children. this is one of those problems that has not been fully given attention to.
Very nice entry. Thanks btw for dropping by my blog. :) Have a nice day.
yes tessa. emo -is -cool seems to be lightly accepted but there is an undertone of negative effects to the kid's minds as they follow norms like smoking and drugs, also, to conform with the look. hayz... well thanks for dropping by my blog. see yah!
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