Therapy, or any sort of help for mental health issues, may be long neglected concept in Bangladesh. But the need for it is long overdue.
Through pop culture or the media, pretty much every single one of us young people has come across the idea of therapy, and many of us have considered giving it a shot. However, a regrettable majority out of this group of people have not been able to show up to receive any kind of help.
For young people living at home, therapy is not accessible without your parents supporting you, or at least knowing about it. The concept of mental health is approached differently by us, the young generation, and our parents and grandparents, the older generations.
“One big struggle I face is actually gathering the energy to go up to my parents and tell them that I would like to try therapy since they will most likely take it as a personal insult. My parents have a certain reluctance to not only take me to therapy but even acknowledge its existence,” shares Zuhayer Khan, a grade 11 student at Scholastica, on why he had never been to therapy despite considering it.
“If I do mention the desire of therapy to them, I would be met with a tedious process that may end in me getting therapy. But I do not feel going through all that would be worth it.”
Brac University student Nusrat Chowdhury* thinks that the hectic schedules of young people are another prominent barrier to receiving therapy.
“When you need to go to therapy sessions regularly, oftentimes your appointments may clash with class or work. And due to our mindset around mental health and how it is not yet considered a valid reasoning we can give to our teachers and employers, a lot of people feel guilty about missing work and let go of therapy altogether,” she says.
Given that many young people feel the need to go to therapy because they feel anxious and overwhelmed due to their workload, it is important to take some time out of work to care for their mental health, otherwise, it often deteriorates more over time and jeopardises the work they were worried about to begin with.