Two incidents of violent behaviour involving young people last month in Bangkok and Nakhon Si Thammarat are a wake-up call for society to help address the problem as quickly as possible so as to prevent any future recurrence, according to experts.
Families can play a greater role in preventing young people from using violence to solve problems. Encouraging greater media literacy among young people is another way that can help them relieve stress and reduce violent and suicidal behaviour, they say.
Incidents
Experts cite the case of a 14-year-old boy who went on a shooting rampage inside Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, which left three dead and four injured on Oct 3.
The same month, a 19-year-old student in Nakhon Si Thammarat hanged herself after being scammed into buying a non-existent iPhone 13 on Oct 15.
TV screen captures show a schoolgirl who committed suicide after being scammed for an iPhone 13. She lost 18,500 baht and also wrote a letter to her mother asking her to pay for money she borrowed from her two close friends.
The gang, which put down an address in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district as the shop's listed address, tricked her into transferring almost 20,000 baht to various accounts controlled by its members, supposedly to secure the phone she wanted.
Fearing her family would reprimand her for borrowing money to splash out on a device they could not afford, she was overwhelmed with stress and hung herself at home.
These two incidents reflect the problem of violent and suicidal behaviour among teens. The Bangkok Post talked to a psychiatrist and specialists in child and family and media literacy to gain their perspectives on solutions.
Problems and solutions
Dr Varoth Chotpitayasunondh, spokesman of the Department of Mental Health, said violence can be found everywhere in society, such as in crime scenes in movies, social media, games and even news reports, which enable children and adolescents to absorb hidden violence.
Stressful environments at home or school can also lead to them exhibiting aggressive behaviour.
A boy was consoled by police after being arrested for a shooting rampage at Siam Paragon on Oct 3.
Any act of violence that harms other people or self-injury has usually developed from a mental injury which may have accumulated over a long time, he said.
Dr Varoth said people with aggressive and violent behaviour should not generally be seen as mentally ill. Most cases involving violence do not stem from the offender's mental health problems. However, mentally ill patients might be more likely to commit violence than other people.
"The family is the most important shaping factor for children and adolescents. Parents should make time to listen to them more. Communication with care and kindness will act as a form of immunity to help protect them and encourage them to share things with parents, which releases stress," he said.
Violence among adolescents is a key concern. According to information collected from its hotline service 1323, those aged between 18-25 are at two to three times higher of stress or committing suicide.
The biggest number of complaints involves the issue of stressful relations with other family members, friends or partners. Things worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic as many people were isolated to prevent the disease transmission.
The department has worked closely with partners, including state agencies and the private and public sectors, to provide effective channels to communicate with these risk groups.
Consultation
Child, Youth and Family Foundation secretary-general Chuwit Chantaros told the Bangkok Post that problems of violence among young people persist because families lack communication skills.
Many parents ignore their children and show little interest when they come to them with problems.
TV screen captures show a schoolgirl who committed suicide after being scammed for an iPhone 13. She lost 18,500 baht and also wrote a letter to her mother asking her to pay for money she borrowed from her two close friends.
"Many kids who encounter such situations feel insecure. After that, they tend to look for their own comfort zone to relieve their stress. Most parents do not understand them and tend to blame the problem on their children alone," Mr Chuwit said.
"So, parents should be less judgmental and try to do activities with children, such as watching movies or the news, to see things from the perspective of the young and exchange thoughts with them.
"They should also apologise when they do something wrong," he said.
Many young people also encounter issues with social skills as many schools focus on excellence and competition, consigning life skills to the back burner.
When children do something seriously wrong, some schools tend to expel them to protect their image and reputation. Worse, only a few teachers understand the real needs of their students and stand by their side, he said.
As a result, school-related problems also have an impact on children's mental health and may lead them to commit violent behaviour or suicide, Mr Chuwit said.
Speaking of the influence of social media, he said parents should teach their children to think carefully before sharing information on social media platforms as they may unwittingly get involved with spreading fake information or other problems.
They should also respect children's privacy in social media. Instead of judging what children should watch on social media, they should spend time with them to build their strength in using social media platforms.
Being too nosy will exasperate children and push them away. "Many cases involving young people were caused by poor family communication, which made children feel insecure when around their parents," he said.