We continued chatting about the obvious rise of depression among millennials and generation Z especially, stems from a multitude of factors among which is mainly stress of ever-increasing cost of living and not being able to live up to societal expectations. These main stressors almost always lead to feelings of inadequacies. We concurred that so many things in life these days are measured to how appealing it would look on social media and is damaging on so many levels and causes unnecessary problems in our already challenging lives.
We even had the opportunity to skirt around the topic of how parenting styles have an impact on the kind of person you grow up to be whether it be positive or negative. This topic clearly warranted a whole different and longer conversation, so we did our best to limit our discussion to matters on the surface. Daarshini like many other mental health professionals agree that some psychological issues that manifest in some adults could be traced to childhood experiences. Some of our emotional and physical responses are closely linked to how we were brought up, things we were exposed to, even observation of how our parents and those closest around us behaved and responded to situations.
She elaborated further that many studies have been done and are available for our consumption, highlighting how parenting styles have profound effects on a child. There are four typical parenting styles which have been identified by researchers being authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved or neglectful parenting. Each parenting style has its own unique effects on children which can last well into adulthood.
With Daarshini’s emphasis on how a childhood riddled with negative factors can give rise to behavioral and emotional problems later in adulthood, we concluded in agreement that we should work towards being more conscious of our behavior and words especially around tender aged persons as they tend to do as we do, not as we say.
As our conversation came to an end, we mused on how ideally mental health services should be made more accessible to everyone and how going to see a mental health professional shouldn’t be a sign of someone having problems or issues but rather as an act of self-care like a facial or spa day.
Among many gems Daarshini shared with us during the conversation one sage advice she gave truly stuck – building mental resilience to face life in general can be done simply by helping someone else through difficult times. As you listen to the problems and difficulties the other person is facing, you inadvertently put yourself in their shoes to give appropriate advice and suggestions on how to navigate through it. There is wisdom in seeking help and giving help. Daarshini then encourages us to have compassion for ourselves when things don’t go accordingly and do not hold back on showing gratitude to people around us and of course to ourselves as well.
We admire and appreciate Daarshini’s passion for her dedication in her profession and eagerly await to celebrate her success of completing her Master of Clinical Psychology.