Nagaland: Holistic parenting need of the hour, says psychologist

KOHIMA — With youngsters increasingly becoming victims of depression and anxiety, research scholar and recipient of Prof. Erika Voigt Young Scientist Award 2021, Areni Tungoe, on Saturday said mental health awareness and holistic parenting are the need of the hour.

Tungoe was addressing a day-long seminar on ‘Mental awareness and parenting’ and ‘General well-being of women,’ organised by the Kohima Lotha Eloe Ekhüng (KLEE) at the Indian Red Cross building conference hall, Kohima.

Sharing her experience as a counsellor at various institutions, she said some of the major problems faced by youngsters in schools today are bullying, body shaming and consuming ganja (cannabis), which needed to be addressed at the earliest.

‘Women tend to accept the imbalance in their emotional well-being as part of their lives, which affects not only them but the whole family. This needs to be addressed promptly,’ said Tungoe, who is a psychologist, counsellor and currently serving as children’s pastor at Kohima Lotha Assembly of God Church.

Unlike in the olden days when Nagas were known as headhunters, people are now taking their own lives – suicide, which is mainly because of unaddressed mental health issues, she pointed out.

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Maintaining that the connection between a mother and a child is very strong because it is the mother who gave birth to the child, she said mental health of parents affects children’s mental health as well.

Holistic parenting improves a child’s mental health, who in turn contributes to society, she added.

W Nyanchumi Kithan, former women leader of Kohima Lotha Baptist Church, spoke on general well-being of women at the workshop which was attended by around 200 women.

She highlighted various common elements, including stress that women face while discharging their responsibilities — spiritually and physically — both as a wife and mother.

She further likened woman to the root of a tree with many branches, ‘which she alone can balance and mould’.