BENGALURU: Family conflict emerged as the top cause behind children and teens in Bengaluru needing psychological help, revealed a report released by Cadabams Hospitals on Tuesday. The city-based organisation conducted a study with Karnataka (mostly Bengaluru) students involving 58,000 touchpoints (including students themselves, teachers, parents and others) across 3,569 documented counselling sessions conducted by its psychologists.
About 92 per cent of the touchpoints – taken from 20 institutions across the state – were from Bengaluru with other districts like Mysuru accounting for the rest. Students between ages 10 and 21 were assessed for the study. Expectedly, anxiety accounted for nearly one in three counselling concerns (29%). As a cause, family conflict (14%) ranked ahead of academic stress (10%), followed by relationship distress (8%) and loneliness (7%).
Students aged 16 to 18 years studying in pre-university colleges (PUCs) emerged as the demographic with the highest percentage of self-harm concerns among all educational groups assessed, highlighting a vulnerable stage in adolescence when academic expectations intersect with emotional and family-related pressures.
Engineering students most commonly sought help for relationship distress and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder related concerns, and recorded the highest rate of self-referrals. Medical students struggled with academics and clinical responsibilities. Management and architecture students had concerns of loneliness, homesickness and career uncertainty, and law students recorded the highest high-risk mental health cases.
“Whenever a student struggles emotionally, our instinct as a society is to look at examinations, marks and academic pressure. While academics certainly play an important role, this study shows a different reality. Students are walking into classrooms carrying psychological distress that often begins at home. Family conflict, strained parent-child relationships and emotionally difficult home environments are emerging as significant contributors to their mental wellbeing,” said Neha Cadabam, senior psychologist at Cadabams Hospitals.
