Talking about the great emptiness before it is there: This should soon happen in all secondary schools in the city.
17 percent of Zurich secondary school students show signs of possible depression or anxiety disorders.
It’s a topic no one likes to talk about, least of all those affected. And yet, talking is the first step to getting help.
Depression and anxiety disorders in young people are not just a marginal phenomenon in the city of Zurich. Every sixth young person has evidence of corresponding symptoms. Which lead to the city student survey already five years ago. Girls are slightly more affected than boys.
“When we saw that, we thought: we have to do something about it,” says Claude Hunold, director of the city’s school health services. “Young people usually help each other well. But when things get really serious, they often find it difficult to get outside help.”
Talking openly about the great emptiness, getting support from parents and teachers: the city now wants to achieve this with a prevention program. “Be careful!” It is said that it costs an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 francs a year, and over the next three years it will be extended to all secondary schools in the city. It includes special lessons for students, information evenings for parents and further training for teachers.
“I don’t want anything to do with this psycho stuff”
On the one hand, the goal is to provide everyone involved with basic knowledge about mental illnesses. Above all, however, the pupils should be shown how they can help themselves and others in crisis situations. This is done with the help of concrete examples and role-plays on how they can react if their colleagues suddenly behave aggressively or withdraw into themselves.
Seven schools have been testing the program voluntarily since summer 2021. On Friday, the city drew a positive interim balance from this pilot operation. According to a survey, ninety percent of the teachers involved are satisfied with it. However, there is still potential for improvement: only half of the students state that they have learned something new thanks to the program.
It is actually not always easy to reach the young people, says Matthias Obrist from the city’s school psychological service. He conducts school lessons on mental health himself. “Some say: ‘I don’t want anything to do with this psycho stuff.’ But you also notice that others are happy to finally be able to talk openly about fears and helplessness.”
According to Obrist, it is particularly difficult to sensitize young men to the topic. “If you ask them what they do when they’re not feeling well, most of them say: sports or games. That doesn’t have to be bad though. But we want to encourage them to talk about it with each other.”
Do not overload the helpers
This approach – the so-called peer-to-peer help – is not entirely uncontroversial in psychological research. Social support from peers is important – especially for young people in puberty crises. But if someone develops a mental illness, this support is no longer sufficient.
On the contrary: the helpers run the risk of overtaxing themselves – and thus endangering their own mental health. That’s why the city wants to encourage young people to talk to parents and teachers about problems – and to tell the latter where they can find the best help for their protégés.
“The message should be: Depression is an illness like any other,” says Obrist. “And when you have it, you need help.”
In a lesson with him, for the first time, one of the students dared to tell their class about their time in youth psychiatry. “The others were amazed at first – and then listened to her.”
The fact that depression is an issue at school is not always easy for the parents either. The city has noticed that an information evening for them must first be held before the actual school lesson on mental health takes place, says Claude Hunold from the school department. However, participation in parents’ evenings has apparently not been overwhelming so far.
Depression often occurs during puberty
Despite all this, the importance of early prevention in the field of mental health remains undisputed. at 75 percent of those affected develop a mental illness before the age of 24. According to developmental psychologists, there is a clear link between the hormonal changes of puberty and the onset of depression and anxiety disorders.
About one in thirteen young people is between the ages of 15 and 19 according to the World Health Organization affected by it. The fact that the city of Zurich considers every sixth young person to be at risk seems high in comparison. But this discrepancy is not uncommon. Because a depressive mood does not always lead to clinical depression.
Preventing young people from becoming depressed in the first place: That is the approach of the new urban prevention program. “We usually take care of those children who already have a problem,” says Obrist from the school psychological service. “Now we wanted to choose a different approach for once.”
It remains to be seen whether the implementation of this idea will be successful. However, one thing is already clear: the young people from Zurich who have been involved in the program so far are willing to support each other even in difficult moments. When asked if they would talk to colleagues if they weren’t feeling well, eighty percent said yes.