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Joyce Guizar

Judith Ridigal McCann

ENGL 1301.129

09 November 2022

Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in High School Students of Karachi, Pakistan

Anxiety and depression is something pretty common nowadays, but overtime the number

of people that have to deal with this has grown more. The thing is that most of the population

with these mental problems are teenagers, especially high school students. A highschool in

Karachi, Pakistan did a study on the students to see risk factors and relationships of anxiety and

depression with different variables. In (Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in High School

Students of Karachi, Pakistan) , Salma Ibbad et. al. uses ethos,pathos, and logos to inform us on

factors that lead to anxiety and depression in teenagers.

To begin with, the main things that the authors have to do is be able to show their

credibility. The authors do a very good job in showing their credibilities. In order for them to be

able to conduct these studies they need to get permission from their board in order to begin their

study. They get ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board of Jinnah Sindh Medical

University (JSMU/IRB/2020/330). The scale that they used for the study showed good

reliability with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.824. In order for them to do their research on the students,

consent forms were handed over to the principal to take the permission from the parents of those

students who were below the age of 18 years while written consent was taken from students aged

18 and above. They also even reassured them that their privacy would be protected, respected,

and that their responses would be kept confidential.

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At the end of the study, students, parents, and principals of schools were also provided

with a list of psychologist and psychiatrists working in government and private sector of

Karachi for referral upon diagnosis of anxiety and depression. (Salma Ibbad et. al.918)

This show how they are even willing to help the high school students after the research

depending on their diagnosis.They also gave use the Districts in which they conducted these

studies. Meaning that if we were to search up these districts they would be real, proving to us

that they were not lying. This makes them credible and trustworthy, so this helps us know that

what they are saying is true.

Secondly, the authors use pathos throughout the article.The pathos that they used causes

us emotion on wanting to know what causes anxiety and depression in high school students of

Karachi, Pakistan. The authors start off their articles with pathos, “Anxiety and depression are

serious mental health problems.” This is trying to cause people emotion by telling us that it can

cause a problem. The way that this particular part of the article expresses emotion is by making

you feel bad for people that have to go through these problems. One of the more obvious

sentences in this article that exudes pathos was,

Treating such conditions is not an easy task considering the multifaceted physical,mental

and biological changes that an individual goes through during a period. Mental issues

during this age are a major burden on the health system and particularly because of their

importance in an individual’s growth. (Salma Ibbad et. al.916)

These sentences stuck with me personally because this describes exactly how many people tend

to feel. Dealing with these problems is something that can be so overwhelming for many people.

The author's use of pathos really worked when connecting to the audience of the article. It helped

bring awareness for anxiety and depression, encouraged people to help teenagers who feel that
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way , and helped give insight on what goes on in teenagers' minds when they feel anxiety and

depression. Makes the audience want to find factors that deal with these mental issues and how

we may be able to prevent it.

Lastly, the article uses a lot of logos by including data that is backed up by

statistics,stance, or argument. The authors do a very good job on backing up their stance with

their use of logos. They used a study to show what factors lead teenagers in High School

Students of Karachi, Pakistan to get depression and anxiety. In the study they collected data from

each student such as age, gender, type of school, family history of anxiety and depression

disorder, parents’ profession, other physical disability and educational history. They used the

Aga Khan University - Anxiety and Depression Scale (AKU-ADS) questionnaire for the

prevalence of anxiety and depression among the high school students. The questionnaire showed

more than 19 indicating factors of anxiety and depression. It is a 24 -item, 5-point Likert Scale.

The data was put into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Frequencies,

distribution and percentages were used.They even provided us with tables so that we could see

the results. The following is the data the authors collected from each of the students,

A total of 400 students were used for this study. 61.5% belong to the age group 15-17

years with 72% females, 61.2% were from private schools, 57% with good academic

grades, and 91.7% never failed before in their classes. Exactly 99% had no physical

disability and 91.5% didn’t report any history of recent trauma. 15.5% of students

reported a positive history of anxiety and depression in their fathers whereas 19% of

students reported a positive history of anxiety and depression in their mothers. (Salma

Ibbad et. al.918)

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These were some contributors to the essay and in total 46.7% (185 students) didn’t have

prevalence of anxiety and depression among high school students while 53.25% (213 students)

had prevalence of anxiety and depression among high school students. They were also able to

find a high prevalence of anxiety and depression among female participants. Studies forms

many places all over india showed that, “Females have been found to be depressed and anxious

in their professional colleges as well as cited by numerous local srudies.” All of the forms of data

used helped support the authors points,and showed the audience the contributing factors which

lead to depression and anxiety.

In conclusion, the authors did an excellent job in using Aristotle's three methods of

persuasion, also known as, ethos, pathos, and logos to inform us on factors that lead to anxiety

and depression among teenagers. Salma Ibbad et. al., tried to make the audience understand the

information they collected from their research by using logic,ethics, and emotions. So one way

or another the audience is able to understand.They answered the questions that we have always

wanted to answer, such as , what factors lead High School Students of Karachi, Pakistan to have

depression and anxiety. Apart from this they also found out that being a female student of public

secotr school and those who had a family history of depression and anxiety were more likely to

develop anxiety and depression. They recommend that shcools have proper guidance in school

for this age group and students who were diagnosed with anxiety adn depression were referred

for proper diagnosis to get help if needed/wanted. They provided us with solutions on how we

can help High School Students of Karachi, Pakistan who have depression and anxiety.
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Works Cited

Ibbad, Saima, et al. "Prevalence of anxiety and depression in high school students of

Karachi, Pakistan." Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4,

2022, pp. 916. ProQuest,

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/tamiu.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/

scholarly-journals/prevalence-anxiety-depression-high-school/docview/2682804169/se-

2.