Students in Kuwait are at great risk for depression: Research
Kuwait: A study on student depression and suicide risk in Kuwait was recently conducted by Dr. Juliet Dinkha, psychologist and Associate Professor and Sarah Mobasher a senior student at the American University of Kuwait. The sample of students that was studied was taken from three private universities in Kuwait.
The sample was given the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI ـ II) which is a questionnaire used by psychiatrists to measure the severity of depression. The findings were that 10 percent of students were severely depressed, 14 percent were moderately depressed, 19 percent were mildly depressed and the remaining 56 percent were in the minimal range.
The severely depressed students are more prone to having suicidal tendencies. Dinkha explains that suicide in Kuwait usually takes the form of overdoses of street drugs and prescription drugs especially benzodiazepines such as Valium. She also suspects that due to the religious prohibition of suicide in Islam, car crashes are another method. Dinkha added that according to the study the listed methods of suicide include jumping off buildings and the use of sharp objects.
Dinkha reported the results of the study have identified the symptoms most seen in the sample as crying, self criticalness, loss of pleasure, indecisiveness, tiredness and fatigue as well as punishment feelings, difficulty in concentrating, pessimism and feelings of guilt. Dinkha explains that her research has shown that “students in university today are at a greater risk than the general population for depression and the end result of untreated depression is suicide.”
According to Dinkha, “Depression and suicide education as a mandatory part of the educational process would assist in remedying the current as well as future needs of the entire culture.”
Workshops on Depression Encourage Students to Speak Up.Joanne Hands, a licensed professional counselor and the director of a counseling center at an educational institution, told AlـWatan Daily that an average of 2ـ3 severely depressed students seek counseling each semester. Hands explains, “Although we thankfully never had a suicide case, we did have a minor attempt by one student. The student who was on medication took an overdose on purpose.”
Moderately depressed students on the other hand approach the counseling center on an average of 20 students per semester. Hands explains that with this category of depression the causes are usually a result from societal pressure. This can include trying to appear in a certain way. The student would feel that they do not look attractive enough and go through diets, surgeries and excessive exercise without attaining the figure they seek.
Another cause would have to do with emotional expressions such as love, where the student would feel his family does not accept him or her or has relationship problems with someone of the opposite sex. The problem here, Hands explains, is that many of these depressed students do not seek counseling because of taboos. Families view counseling as shameful and something that would damage the family’’s name and reputation. This is why many depressed students end up with no support from their family or a counselor.The counseling center in an effort to spread awareness of how it can help depressed students holds a workshop on depression at least once every semester. Hands explains that the turnout for this workshop is much higher than workshops pertaining to other topics and usually after these workshops are held the counseling center gets a larger turnout of students seeking counseling.
