Inner Space

Feel Like You arent fitting in?
Teens

Feel Like You Aren’t Fitting In?

At times, you just know that this is where you belong, with your own close knit circle of like-minded friends.
However, have you ever found yourself in a group of friends wondering you don’t really belong in here? It might have felt like you have to try so hard fitting in with them.

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cyberbullying in teenagers
Teens

CYBERBULLYING IN TEENAGERS : IS IT HAPPENING TO YOU?

R.M. is a cheerful 14 year old teenager who stays with her parents in Mumbai. She likes science and finds history very boring. She loves watching movies and spending time with her friends. She sounds just like you or someone you might know, doesn’t she? Just like you, she has a profile on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…you name it! And just like you, she can’t wait to get home from class and come online to update her status; chat with her friends or post a comment about something funny that happened at school.

Since the past week however, she has been behaving differently.

Last week, when she got home from school and signed into Facebook, a classmate had commented something in jest on her picture. It was funny at first, but then the comments got mean, and extremely hurtful. The same person from her class, then started posting mean status updates and sending her unkind messages.

She didn’t know what to do or how to make it stop. So, she hasn’t gone to school for most days of the week saying she’s feeling unwell. She’s been withdrawn and her parents can’t understand what happened. She has been avoiding messages from her friends. She feels hurt, scared and even a little angry. Wouldn’t you feel the same way?

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inner self
Self-esteem

TO THAT WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL IN YOU

You are able to live with yourself because you know you are fundamentally good!

You know that all your inadequacies and the not so good qualities exist either because they are judged that way by people around you or because you picked them up somewhere on the way because of the difficulties that life sent your way.

You are correct! The deepest core of you, of all of us, every person is beautiful.

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Rise in teenage suicide in India
Teens

UNDERSTAND TEENAGE SUICIDE: GET INTO THEIR SHOES

A classmate of mine in school and college successfully hung herself from a fan… It was devastating… Years later here I am-a psychologist- with several hundred sessions of having heard the teenagers side of the story-the hopelessness, helplessness and the frustrations. When Rediff asked me to write about teenage suicide, everything came together 🙂

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Anger
Teens

COMMUNICATING WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY: TIPS FOR TEENAGERS

If you find yourself getting angry and irritated easily and are ready to ‘give it back’ most of the time, you are also probably quite bottled up inside. Few people seem to understand you and most brand you as an ‘angry teen’. You may have tried ‘controlling your anger’ and ‘being less angry’ but may not have succeeded to your satisfaction (and those of others). Often, what we do to manage aggression is try “not to get angry” even when we are actually angered. Think about it. It’s like mom is repeatedly saying something to you, you’re fuming within but try to “be calm” and mask your anger. No wonder then that you end up snapping or yelling at her despite not wanting to. What we actually doing here is ‘controlling’ or attempting to suppress our anger. It’s like trying to shut an overstuffed suitcase. Suppression is never healthy, it only breeds sadness, frustration and makes us feel that the people around us are unfair.

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The Art of Listening