Understanding Childhood depression

[amna.]

Depression also happens when parents for children to become what they desire.

[Roshina]

^ Amna, like parental pressure to become a doctor, yeah? Or an engineer, as is the case with some of my friends.

That's true. Such severe pressure does lead to depression.

When parents fight and/or abuse each other in front of their children, that also affects the children very negatively.

We're going to be needing a LOT of psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers, counselors, etc., what with the wars we're going through and children becoming homeless and parentless and parents becoming childrenless and limbless.

Anyone here studying anything related to the above-mentioned fields? I hope so.

[Roshina]

I want to be a Psychiatrist. I just need someone to guide me.

Excellent!

What kind of guidance you looking for? Moral and academic, I can help with. I work with a psychiatrist, and if I were to ever go into medicine, that's what I'd opt for.

What are you majoring in (or planning to)? I can tell you which classes would be most useful and how to look up to see if your school has them and all.

And are there any good academic counselors at your institution?

[Roshina]

Oh please help me.

Yes there are but they give the generic advice. None really want to help from the heart.

do I make sense?

You make perfect sense, and that's a problem with many, many, many, MANY, many "academic counselors"! They don't do what they're supposed to do. One even once told a friend of mine, "Now, WHY would you wanna study psychology?!" (She's a psychology major.) My friend never went to her again and reported her to the school.

So, where do we start? What do you need help with specifically, guley?

[tor_khan]

As a primary teacher, I had some Bosnian children in my class some years back - and one of them, a little boy was an extremely playful character, but the moment he heard a drum or a door slam - any kind of bang, he would begin to tremble, cower and withdraw. On one occasion he was sobbing in the bathroom and it took me ages to coax into the open.

When a 6 year old is so traumatised by the sound of bombing and shelling, you learn that psychological damage runs deep and that mental issues in apparently young children really do exist.

[Roshina]

As a primary teacher, I had some Bosnian children in my class some years back - and one of them, a little boy was an extremely playful character, but the moment he heard a drum or a door slam - any kind of bang, he would begin to tremble, cower and withdraw. On one occasion he was sobbing in the bathroom and it took me ages to coax into the open.

When a 6 year old is so traumatised by the sound of bombing and shelling, you learn that psychological damage runs deep and that mental issues in apparently young children really do exist.

That's really sad to hear! But it's exactly what happens during wars and other disasters.

Ever heard of the Little Albert experiment? It was conducted in 1920 at Johns Hopkins University (USA). John Watson, the psychologist who thought of and carried out the experiment, believed that he could instill fear in a child of something that children normally wouldn't fear at all. He and his colleague gave a little white rat to a kid (Little Albert, about 11 months old, I think?) to play with, and Little Albert was totally fine. But after a while, the psychologists started to make a loud noise behind him to see if he'd eventually hate the rat :S And ... the kid grew up to hate AND be terribly scared of everything white after that (including a white jacket).

[Palwasha]

When a 6 year old is so traumatised by the sound of bombing and shelling, you learn that psychological damage runs deep and that mental issues in apparently young children really do exist.

It's so distressing to see. I heard of story of Palestinian child, who woke up to the smell of burning flesh of his family.. now he can't even smell meat, understandably.

Ever heard of the Little Albert experiment? ... the kid grew up to hate AND be terribly scared of everything white after that (including a white jacket).

Yeh, I've heard of Little Albert, the whole classical conditioning thing. I never knew it impacted him so greatly in his later life.

[amna.]

Never become something you don't want too.

you will hate your job.

[Roshina]

Everytime I hear about an Afghan majoring in anything. I get happy.

Same here!

I get even more happier when I hear of Aghans attending IV league schools in the west! Anyone here? . . .

[Roshina]

Yay!! Good to hear, Kandahary! :D

[Admin Khan]

Qrratugai,
I have a lot of Pashtun friends who attend very good universities like Polytechnic institute of NYU(Formerly known as Polytechnic University) and etc. So I can assure you that they are holding it down.

[Roshina]

Relieved to know! Just making sure we're taking good advantage of the opportunities we're blessed with and have enough confidence to apply to excellent schools (whether we get accepted or not)

[Admin Khan]

Relieved to know! Just making sure we're taking good advantage of the opportunities we're blessed with and have enough confidence to apply to excellent schools (whether we get accepted or not)

Don't you worry at all.

I have this friend of mine from Nangarhar, He is getting his Ph.D soon, a lot of my Pashtun acquaintances are very well-educated.

I am really worried about the 2nd and 3rd generation though.