I once watched a Korean drama series called “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” starring Kim Soo-hyun and Seo Yea-ji. The series was aired on TVN and Netflix with 16 episodes. The story is about the caretaker of a mental hospital and an anti-social children’s book author. The drama actually focuses on the healing process – whether it is how the main characters got healed together or how the psychiatric ward healed the patients. It takes up the theme of mental health because of the stigma in Korea, where the subject is considered taboo. As stated by Nagar (Harvard International Review, 2022), in 2017, about one in four people suffered from a mental disorder, with only one in ten receiving treatment, leading to the highest suicide rate of all OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries.
Compared to Indonesia, according to the National Adolescent Mental Health Survey (I-NAMHS) (Salma, 2022), at least one in three Indonesian teenagers experienced a mental health problem in the last 12 months. One in twenty Indonesian adolescents also suffered from a mental disorder in that decade. To put these figures in perspective, each equates to 15.5 million and 2.45 million adolescents. The survey clarifies that the types of mental disorders experienced by Indonesian adolescents are anxiety disorders (combination of social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder) at 3.7%, major depressive disorder (10%), conduct disorder (0.9%), and PTSD and ADHD (0.5% each).
If this condition continues, it will obviously lead to the failure in achieving Indonesia’s goals. As stated in the 2020 Population Census, about 20% of the total population in Indonesia are aged 10-19 years. They are actually the driving force for the realization of Indonesia’s Golden Generation 2024. If they are suffering from mental health, how can we achieve the goals?
For sure, we need to take this issue seriously and actively find the solution to overcome it. Not only for the government, which should think of the solution, but also for all of us – especially the social community. As citizens, there are some things we can do:
Be a good listener—when someone comes to us looking for someone to listen to their story, we have to be a good listener. Try to hear their whole story and do not judge them. Without realizing it, we often compare our hardship with other people’s, which makes them feel that their feelings are not validated. There are also people who judge someone suffering from depression as ‘weak’ and ‘ungrateful’. But these words only make the symptoms worse. If someone says they are sad or having a bad day, just listen to them and if they are looking for a solution, offer a solution with kind words without judging their condition.
It is okay not to feel okay, so seek help if you need it—if you are feeling persistently sad and even disrupting your daily life, ask for help. Find someone you feel comfortable talking to. You may think your story is a burden to them, but they may not feel the way you think. Ask them for their solution and if they cannot help you – in the worst case – find a professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist to help you. Remember that not feeling well is not a sin. As quoted by Baek Se-hee in her book “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki”, she said, “Emotions have something like passages, and if you keep blocking your bad emotions, you will end up blocking your good emotions as well.” So if you feel sad, try to validate those feelings and seek help if you need it.
Often we have found that people hide their true feelings because other people’s reactions will only make them feel worse. But I love this saying by Baek Se-hee in her inspirational book “I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki”. I will quote it below and wish that everyone who reads this will have more courage to validate their feelings and cheer them up to fight.
“When you’re having a hard time, it’s natural to feel like you’re having the hardest time in the world. And it’s not selfish to feel that way. PRS.
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