Excessive Stress is the main cause of suicidal tendancy among students at the time of examinations. There are various causes of exam stress. Some of those causes are, having low self-esteem, spending too much of time on social media, chronic procrastination, inconsistency, poor time management skills, negative thoughts, and high expectations from parents.
The stress of scoring well in examinations and the anxiety of failing in an exam can make life very challenging in some students. Actually, little stress is necessary, as it motivates students to study, but extreme stress is bad for health , as it increases blood pressure and other serious causes other health issues.
There are different ways to release exam stress. And, there are different ways of dealing with it. After studying hard for few hours, many students prefer a break. Some students listen to music, some prefer exercising and others take up some sports activity. This motivates them to continue studying further and may even reduce stress.
But, not all the students try out such methods. They don’t mix up easily with other students and become home sick and also experience loneliness. At a prime Institute like Indian Institute of technology, Powai, Mumbai, they have a separate department for counselling, which is called Students Welfare Centre ( SWC) which has a Core team of Psychologists. Magzmumbai recently met Ms. Hima Anaready, In Charrge of this SWC team.
We were curious to know , as to how this team does the counselling of students who are either undergoing exam stress or feel lonely; especially at this premier educational institute, which offers a cream of scholars who graduate successfully every year with their specialisation degrees. Our focus was obviously on suicide cases among students living in hostels.
Ms. Hima told us that to avoid such cases, they have this SWC team which does the counselling part very effectively to enable such students to overcome stress and come out with good results. “Counselling is very necessary to remove exam stress in students. In some cases, such students quickly understand their problems in few sessions, while in few cases, more sessions are required. Regular communication with such students to understand their fear is a must. Today, many ex students who have undergone counselling sessions for their problems, have passed out with good results from this institute and are doing very well in their respective careers. They recall their experiences and write their success stories on our website. And, we feel happy about their feedback.”