Depression is rapidly increasing in academic environments, especially among students who are unable to meetup with payment of required fees and bills or those who have just received a bad news.
Students in this situation attend lecture classes but they do not easily understand the subject being taught.
How can a teacher help such students?
If I were the teacher, I would suggest that the student seek help for depression.
That's a very god question. A person with depression may have problems with concentration, motivation and interest. Decision making and long term planning is effected. Depending on severity of depression, various psychological factors may reduce performance in academics.
A teacher needs to understand that such a student would learn at a slower pace than others. He may not lack intellectual ability but the speed of learning and rate of thoughts would decrease. So unnecessary pressures to learn in time should not be there. The depressed person has to make lots of efforts to cope with low mood. So academics should become part of daily routine and studies should not be neglected, but a proper schedule should be made which must include some part of the day devoted to studies.
A teacher needs to be in regular contact with mental health expert with whom student is seeking consultation. This is necessary to adjust expectations with the student. A depressed person forgets easily due to poor concentration, so repeated attempts be made to help him learn. This would be more than an average student.
A good teacher-student relationship is required to keep the student focused and motivated. A student needs empathy from the teacher which can be shown through good understanding of the problems of the student. A student well understood by the teacher would do magic in future as the teaching and support would be itself therapeutic. Education is the ultimate therapist.
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