Fighting suicide: With TikTok and self-help groups, Vietnam’s youth defy taboos on tackling mental health issues
- A recent spate of youth suicides has prompted a wave of activism among Vietnam’s Gen Z, who battle anxiety, depression and loneliness
- Pandemic pressures have added to underlying issues, as activists call for more resources and help for overworked social workers
“On TikTok I give advice, but in real life, I don’t usually do that,” he said. “When people message me for advice, I often ask them questions to guide them through their feelings and situation and empower them to self-govern.”
Binh, in his daytime job as a teacher and counsellor at an international school in Hanoi, uses one-to-one sessions to tackle sensitive topics such as suicide with students by focusing, among other things, on the media they consume.
His videos on TikTok cover similar ground, but he is able to be more subjective. On April 6, Binh used the platform to call out social media users for making disparaging comments about a video of an overworked 16-year-old student taking his own life by jumping from a Hanoi high-rise at around 3am.
The clip, accompanied by a suicide note attributed to the teen, had been shared so widely by April 2 that an alarmed Vietnamese information ministry instructed social media service providers in the country to remove it and related content from their platforms.
