Teenage or adolescence is a difficult phase of life which is found between childhood and

adulthood. During that period of time, teenagers go through various mental turbulences because
that period is a crucial one. That crucial period of time is the foundation of the personality of an
individual, as said by Erik Erikson (1950), Every adult, whether he is a follower of a leader, a
member of a mass or of an elite, was once a child. He was once small. A sense of smallness
forms a substratum in his mind, ineradicably. His triumphs will be measured against this
smallness; his defeats will substantiate it. At this young and decisive age, many of the teenagers
even become victims of depression. However, teenagers are not the only targets of depression;
adults also fall prey to it. Seligman (1973) referred to depression as the common cold of
psychiatry because of its frequency of diagnosis. It affects every aspect of the lives of teenagers
who are its victims. Along with the victims, depression also has a negative effect on the family
members and other close people of the victim, and also the society. Teenagers, who are suffering
from the evil repercussions of depression, are likely to be suffering from it again even when they
will be adults. If these people receive no treatments, they might even not live till they are adults
as this condition often leaves them open to other illnesses. There are also many among the
victims who decide to end up their life and some end up doing it if their problem remains
unattended. This loss causes pain to close people. Lopez (2011) stated that the aftermath of
teenage suicide is the beginning of a painful journey of intense and complex grief for family,
friends, classmates, the neighbourhood, and the school community. The phenomenon of teenage
suicide due to depression is becoming a threat to the society.
One the most serious problem related to depression is suicide. The rate at which figures of
suicide are increasing is stunning. In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60%
worldwide and suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged
between 15 and 44 years old, both male and female (Buglow, 2012). Researchers estimate that
each year approximately one million people die from suicide, which represents a global mortality
rate of 16 people per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds and it is predicted that by 2020 the
rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds (Buglow, 2012 ) Statistics of the last five-six
years show that in Mauritius the situation of depression and problems related to it are alarming.
According to the Government Information Service (2012), the year 2011 saw 8 cases of
teenage suicide. For the year of 2012, the number of completed teenage suicide (13-19 years)

recorded by the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life are 11 cases (5 for males and 6 for
females). There was an increase of 3 teenage suicide cases for the year 2013, that is, 14 cases (7
for males and 7 for females) and in 2014, 11 cases (8 for males and 3 for females) were recorded.
What is more shocking and a matter of growing concern is the number of attempted suicide
among teenagers. The number of suicide attempts recorded in 2011 was 90. According to official
figures from the Ministry of Health and Quality of life, this figure rose to 271 in 2012 and to 263
in 2013. An article of the Mauritian newspaper Le Mauricien dated 11th September 2015 states
that according to a research recommended by the Ministry of Social Security and carried out by
the Mauritius Research Council in 2014-2015, 13% of the respondents asserted to have thought
at least once of committing suicide. These statistics give a clear picture of the teenage depression
in the country. Two of the most recent tragedies resulting from cases of teenage depression are
the suicide of two students of the Queen Elizabeth College. An article in the Mauritian
newspaper Le Mauricien dated 13th May 2015 reads: This is the second case of suicide that has
afflicted the QEC this year A girl, depressed due to the divorce of her parents, committed
suicide in April 2012 in the suburb of Plaines-Wilhems. The reasons leading the teenagers to
commit suicide varied from case to case but eventually most of them were consequences of
depression.
From an educators perspective it is of high importance to know the problems that the
students are facing which are affecting their academic performance, their mood, their behaviour.
For that the educator has to be a good observer. This is because educators are accountable for the
students performances. The responsibility of the teacher, however, does not end there; educators
also have to cater for the affective domain. In the newspaper Le Mauricien which dated 11th
September 2015, in the light of the research made by the Ministry of Social Security, Fazila
Daureeawoo, the Minister of Social Security made a humble request to educating personnel to be
vigilant about the distress of students. Pastoral care is essential for students, especially nowadays
that both parents are working and do not have enough time to spend with their children and talk
to them about school, about their friends, about their boyfriend/girlfriend or about their life in
general. Moreover, students spend one sixth of their day at school. So, the educators have a huge
responsibility towards the students concerning informal education too. Emotional education

forms part of such an education. Handling teenagers is not an easy task. It requires much
understanding and also efforts.
During teenage it is very common for teenagers to feel the generation gap between them
and their parents. They feel that parents, along with other adults, do not understand and also that
they are not making any effort to understand them. This feeling distances teenagers from the
adults and makes them rebel against their authority. In such a situation, it is not an easy task for
parents to express their point of view about a particular situation to the adolescent as for the
latter it is like a whereby losing is not an option. Moreover, teenage seems to be magnifying
emotions. This is why teenagers take things such as infatuations and crush so seriously that they
end up being depressed. This is also true for any other sadness such as being a victim of bullying,
unsatisfactory results, conflict with parents, death of near and dear ones, separated parents or
domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, and neglection by parents. The symptoms of
depression are often visible weeks, even months before it gets unbearable. Sometimes those
depressed teenagers only need someone who will listen to them. Parents, teachers and the society
need to be at their disposition. In my opinion educators must be given special training to identify
those depressed students so that they can attend to them as soon as possible. Parents or teachers
should not be harsh on students if they obtain low results. Instead they should try to understand
what is going wrong so that the students will not feel all the pressure on them. Parents should
show care and affection towards the child and educators should do the same. It is the duty of
parents and educators to make the children feel valued.
The behaviourist theory sees depression not as an illness but more of a behaviour which
one can learn and hence, once also has the possibility to unlearn it. The effect of the environment
on a person is seen as the basis of this theory as it focuses on not only the observable behaviour
and its consequent imitation, but also on the conditions necessary for the learning of the
behaviour to take place which are known as classical conditioning. Another key word in this
theory is reinforcement which is also an external factor. Operant conditioning occurs when
positive reinforcement is removed from the environment, causing depression (Lewinsohn, 1974).
Negative reinforcement from the environment also causes depression or adds to it. For example,
the first case of suicide of a student of the Queen Elizabeth College acted as a negative
reinforcement which contributed to the second suicide. In the case of the teenager of Plaines

Wilhems, she was having less reinforcement than before. When one loses a positive
reinforcement, it is important to find another source of reinforcement to replace it (Lewinsohn,
1974). That is why she was not being able to cope with it. For some reason she despised her
father, so she wrote in her suicide note. Maybe her father was responsible for the separation of
her parents. According to the Freud (1917), there are similarities between the state of mourning
and melancholia (severe depression). He also stated when someone loses a significant
relationship, depression occurs. This case may also have another explanation. According to Dr.
Albert Ellis' Cognitive Theory of Depression, there are three main types of unsound beliefs
meant to be depressive thinking which have a tendency to become absolute statements. One of
them is: The world should always give me happiness, or I will die. This might also be what has
happened to that teenager.
Teenage is a crucial phase of life. It is full of turbulences. It has to be handled with
extreme caution and delicateness otherwise it may have negative effects on teenagers. If they are
not taken care of with love and understanding, they might feel neglected, and hence, start to feel
down. There are many more reasons why they might be depressed. It is the duty of the
stakeholders to see to it that the teenager has a healthy mental state otherwise they might have to
face the loss of that young member of the society. As the statistics have shown, the suicide rate in
Mauritius is alarming and what is more worrying is that it keeps on rising year after year. The
number of suicide attempts also needs to be considered as they reflect the most cases of
depression. This is because if depression is not treated at the right time, it might lead the
teenagers to want to get rid of their problems by getting rid of their lives. Parents and educators
have to be more observant concerning the moods and mental state of the adolescents. If
identified at an early stage, depression can be treated. Many people do not go to psychiatrists and
psychologists thinking that people would laugh at them. They should change their mentality
about seeking mental help. People should be sensitised about depression. I think every secondary
school must have a psychologist permanently as it is at school that a teenagers character is built
and developed. If the government agrees to this, the country will find itself with motivated and
sane young people who will be the new workforce as well as the new members of the society.