To no one's surprise, being locked up in our houses and fearing for our lives while consuming every piece of media to prevent any thought  from  forming, is actually extremely jarring for people’s mental health. This has especially affected teens who were robbed of their teenage years in society and instead had to ponder over the fact that death is inevitable and unpredictable. While the previous generations had got the chance to live their teen years to the fullest, they got dealt a shorthand. To no one's fault might I add. However, blamelessness does not mean zero consequences, we are viewing the outcomes of this catastrophic event today, in real time. 

As of right now, in Pakistan, more people have become socially inept or socially awkward, more people find it incredibly difficult to even place their orders at restaurants. Other examples include shying away from talking to someone else, always being on a device and rarely going outside. The older Pakistani generation did not have to face anything as irregular  as the pandemic, despite having lived through major political turbulence and reforms, they have never understood the plight of the youth. More importantly, they have never tried to understand the struggle, having been brought up with equally indifferent elders. 

This generational ignorant attitude has led to parents or guardians neglecting their children's emotional or mental needs. With such a validation centric society, even teens do not speak up about their struggles, letting their mental health rot silently. Cases of depression and anxiety have risen greatly, shocking the elders who had previously never even heard these terms. Pakistanis live in a tightly-knit hierarchy society with the older generation always being at top, their opinion and voice mattering the most. So, as a result, when they spoke of how dramatic the youth is in relation to new advances in mental health, more and more teens are forced to feel that discussing mental health related topics is taboo causing them to suppress and hide their mental disparity. In turn allowing it to fester and spread until one is so wholly consumed by it that everyone around them is in the danger zone. These issues are not new, they were just ignored and allowed to metastasize until it corrupted entire humanity. A prevalent example is how by neglecting and suppressing the mental needs of mostly men, they later grow up to be aggressive and violent towards their families. 

Religion is a main pillar or rather the entire foundation on which Pakistani society has been erected. Playing an important role during the pandemic as in those moments of struggle, everyone ran back to their safe spaces, their belief system. However, this resulted in producing more eccentric and extremist followers, clouded by a thick haze of the belief that everything can be achieved or fixed if other people prayed to God for it, despite their zero input and lack of  hard work. This muddled belief affected those around them, children were told to simply be more religious in order to cure or better their mental health instead of seeking out help. During and after the pandemic more and more teens were told their spirituality was lacking, the idea of an unstable mentality was not even entertained. 

However, due to globalisation and the uncontrollable spread of social media, many teens of Pakistan have started to realise the importance of mental health and have negated the stigma around it. Many have tried to explain it to their parents and other elders although, to no avail. Many people of older generations have still not dropped their harmful understanding of mental health. With the quick spread of media, many other teens were made aware of this predicament, they started to gain back control, go  for  therapy, acknowledge their mental states and health actively. These great positive changes resulted in the newer generation being able to see the importance surrounding mental health upkeep. It must be said that not all is fixed, as the people who were made aware are teens, they have little to no power in dictating their lives and making changes in it without the support and agreement of their parents and older guardians. They gained the insight but nothing could be done. 

At our expense, it seems the Pakistani parents are still not agreeable to taking off their rose tinted glasses. This needs to be corrected urgently, it is now more than evident that Pakistani teens need to break this stigma around accessing mental help. There are a few ways this can be implemented, many of which are already underway. A meagre number of elders were persuaded by simply conversing with them and presenting the ever horrifying facts and figures. Sadly, this remains a case for a handful. Firstly, it is the call of the hour to get loud. To raise our voices. Many adults criticise this generation for not being passionate towards anything anymore. It is imperative to break that stereotype. With protests and rallies, they might start to understand our side of the story. Secondly, we must start speaking and responding to talks of mental health openly, with no filter and using appropriate medical terms, this will normalise and increase their exposure, allowing them to not regard the topic as taboo. Lastly, by trying a more advanced approach, school therapists and psychologists should be hired. If a person cannot or is not allowed proper mental health help, it should be provided in schools. This also applies for the workplace, it must be compulsory to meet a work mandated therapist after certain periods of time. Slowly but surely the stigma around accessing mental health can be abolished, resulting in Pakistani youth to live their lives to the fullest potential as it is their right.