“Unrealistic marriage expectations and Depression- An Integrated teaching plan for college students in India”

Abstract

In India Post- Nuptial depression is real. In 2018 a national survey has been conducted on 152 women, in which 12% diagnosed as depressed post wedding. Post nuptial depression is not only about women and abuses. The other prevailing factor is the unrealistic marriage expectations which both genders develop at a young age due to factors such as media, people around them, fantasies, etc., Depression begins when the discrepancy is too large between the expectations and reality. This article is based on the recent 10 years marriage expectations and depression literature and concludes by the ideology of developing an integrated teaching program for college students in India along with their subject curriculum. The possible benefits of this program is to encourage students to apply the content in their real life and help them understand the consequences of discrepancies, prevent them from depression and to mould them in their appropriate age to handle the expectations efficiently to have an overall satisfied psychological and marital wellbeing. This article contains the proposed theory named “Expectation-depression cycle” which is developed after analysing the literature. This can be used in therapeutic counselling practices for breaking the unhealthy cognitive patterns which creates unrealistic expectations in individuals.