Now that the exam season is on,telephones at local counselling centres have been ringing off the hook.This year,there has been a 20% rise in the number of callers with more and more students calling up to discuss exam-related stress.Interestingly,a third of the callers are parents whose wards are appearing for one exam or the other.
Parents,too,have started approaching counsellors as they get worked up about their childrens performance in exams,especially in the board and competitive exams, said Akheel A Siddiqui,director,Roshni Counselling Centre.
Around 25% of the total calls are from parents grappling with their very own form of exam stress.The most common concern is that children wont pass or will take their mind off studies.Allied concerns are over relationships and infatuations which they feel will affect the childs concentration, Siddiqui added.
He said that their organisation had seen a 30% rise in the total number of exam-stress related calls this year.
Secunderabads New Life Counselling Centre has registered a 20% rise in such cases of which nearly 30% are parents while Dawn Organisation for Counselling Psychiatry has recorded a 40% rise in this category with 20% of the callers being parents.
Talking about the reason behind the rise in these figures,psychiatrist Dr Purnima Nagaraja,said: Academic pressure is so immense nowadays that children dont have time to unwind or relax.Many times,teachers or parents try to reprimand children and use phrases like youre useless,thinking it will motivate them when really it affects them negatively.
Also,there are too many exams conducted these days;every alternate week there is some test or the other.It is no surprise therefore that,in the last three years,there has been a 15% to 20% rise in students and parents who approach us.
Nagaraja also revealed that many new centres have sprung up in the city to cater to the increased demand for counselling.
Dr Praveen Chintapanti,psychiatrist at Tranquil Minds,an organisation just two-and-a-half years old,said: At our institute,cases of both students and parents trying to deal with exam stress have doubled.It is great that more parents are coming forward for counselling.