Adolescents and Mosque Youth Hold Urban Mental Health Discussion

Jakarta, MINA – The high level of mental health problems among teenagers needs to be watched out for. According to data from the Indonesia-National Adolescent Mental Health Survey 2022, 15.5 million (34.9 percent) teenagers experience mental problems and 2.45 million (5.5 percent) teenagers experience mental disorders.

This raised awareness among various teenagers who are members of the Gen-D community to hold a discussion entitled Urban Mental Health at Katar Corner Petamburan, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta recently.

“Concern over the increase in mental health disorders, especially among teenagers and young people, is currently moving us to hold this discussion activity,” said Zulfikar, Head of the Gen-D Community, to MINA on Saturday.

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He continued, the presence of this community began with ideas from teenagers and young people from members of various youth organizations who were aware of the future of teenagers and young people in Jakarta.

Various problems discussed in this discussion include negative adolescent behavior, self-doubt, mental blocks, barriers to creativity, leadership problems in organizations and Islamic perspectives in treating mental health disorders.

Present in this discussion were members from HMI, GMNI, PII, IPNU, IMM, PMII, Karang Taruna, PRIMA DMI and councils who are members of the mosque youth association in DKI Jakarta.

“There is an interesting example regarding the mental health of Palestinian teenagers. Generally, war victims experience trauma and fear, but not Palestinian teenagers and young adults. They are mentally strong. “In Indonesia there is no war but mental health disorders are increasing,” explained Zulfikar, who also serves as Chair of PD PRIMA DMI Central Jakarta.

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At the end of the discussion, he invited to strengthen friendly relations between mosque activists and Islamic youth organization activists so that they could collaborate on programs.

One of the programs in question is a fundraising collaboration for the Palestinian people which is currently underway in Jakarta in collaboration with the international organization Friends of Palestine (FoP). (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)