Clinical psychologist Nazia Osman says this is a critical time for parents to support and create safer spaces for their children.
Her statement follows the release of matric results.
Osman says students who did not receive the results they had hoped for, will be vulnerable and could be depressed or harbour suicidal thoughts.
“Depression is one of those things that can creep in. If I’m talking about clinical depression, I’m talking about two weeks of these symptoms and it’s a silent killer. Most parents who we speak to, their children have hurt themselves, they will tell you that they are shocked by this and they didn’t even know.”
“Parents should keep a look out for symptoms of depression, a low mood, having a lowered frustration threshold, there’s a change in them, change in their feeding patterns, eating, very dark in their humour and you would notice a very low self-esteem,” adds Osman.
Below is the podcast:
According to the Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, the 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) overall pass rate has reached 80.1%, an improvement of 3.7% from the class of 2021.
The Free State is the leading province at 88.5%, an increase of 2.8% from 2021; Gauteng achieves 84.4%, an increase of 1.6% from 2021, followed by the Western Cape at 81.4%, an increase of 0.2% from 2021.
