A recent raid in Boni forest, Lamu County by Kenya Defence Force soldiers brought forth the discovery of an abandoned Al Shabaab sex camp.
According to reports, the soldiers involved in the raid on Monday discovered sexual paraphernalia, alcohol and drugs.
The discovery of such items brought to question the Islamic militant groups ideologies after they have been seen criticizing the West over what they perceive is ‘sexual immorality’.
It is believed the assailants left the site in a hurry after it was discovered they had left behind several personal items.
A laptop was among one of the items recovered by soldiers and it has since been secured for forensic audit.
This incident comes a week after a woman, who was victim of the militant group, narrated how the Al Shabaab militants gang-raped her in one of their hideouts.
According to the victim, she spent over three years under the capture of the gang. However, she was able to identify a few members of the militia including Abdallah Ahmed and Ahmed Said Omar once she noticed they were wanted by the police.
Recently, several Al Shabaab returnees have managed to escape from the hands of the militia and have come forward to share their traumatic experiences with the terrorist group.
“Drinking and chewing miraa the whole night was a very normal way of celebrating,” said one of the returnees.
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Introduction
Young adulthood is defined as the
age between eighteen and twenty nine years. The period is signified by great
changes as the individual is maturing and ushering in middle adulthood. The
individual is therefore more susceptible to social stress as compared to the
period succeeding young adulthood. Prevalence of stress and depression is
higher during adolescence as the individual struggles to for self-identity and
fitting in the society. It is also a period when one can be recruited into drug
abuse which with time leads to more incidences of depression. According to
Ladegaard, Videbech, Lysaker & Larsen (2016), depressed individuals lead
less satisfying social lives than never depressed persons and in most cases
such people lead a socially dysfunctional life. They are often disengaged form
their marriages, families and social circles which may have existed before
depression peeped in. This paper will discuss the impacts of depression on
young adults drawing information from scholarly studies done in the field.
Causes
of Depression in Young Adults
Several risk factors have been
identified as contributing to cases of depression in young adults. No single
factor has been singled out as contributing to majority of the cases. Each case
ought to handled differently considering that issues such as upbringing and
environment can determine whether an individual will be adversely affected by a
given scenario or not. According to Mattwes, Danese, Wertz, Odgers, Ambler,
Moffitt & Arseneault (2016), social isolation and loneliness are the surest
factors which lead to depression among young adults. One of the fundamental
components of human life is social relationship. Young adulthood comes at a
time when the individual is either in high school, college, university or
during the initial years of employment. At such a time, the individual is
working towards creating social ties and developing social circles with
classmates, workmates and other individuals whom they may have similar
interests. Isolating them in any way or threatening their ability to interact
with the rest of the population can lead to depression. In some cases,
isolation comes as the individual breaks up with their loved ones. It is
important to note that majority of people get marry in young adulthood. If the
relationship hits a dead end, some get seriously depressed.
Another issues which comes up with
depression among young adults is the unrealistic pressure often piled on them
by their parents, teachers and the society at large. Young adults are always
under pressure to perform. Academic performance has been used as a parameter to
measure success. Very few individuals or parents take their precious time to
establish the interests their children have so that they can pursue a career in
that direction. On the contrary, majority of young adults end up leading their
parents’ choices. According to Smith & Blackwood (2004), although it is
established that negative life events can lead to depression, the association
is often hard to establish. However, while interviewing individuals who have
recovered and/or who are already going through specified therapy, those who
fail in life often attribute it to the choices they were made to adopt by their
parents or their guardians. According to Strickland (2014), social media has
also come as a very notorious channel leading to depression. Cases of
cyberbullying are so rampant especially in an age where the individual is so
vulnerable to have their self-esteem affected. Cyber bullying often happens due
to the ability to use pseudo accounts and prey on unsuspecting social media
users. The effects can be terrible with some cases of suicide being attributed
to cyber bullying.
Impacts
of Depression
In late teenage, it is common for an
individual to experience low and unsettling moods. The physical, social,
psychological and emotional changes taking places in the individual’s body
often lead to fear and anxiety. Once depression comes in, the individual may
get withdrawn from their social circles. Their performance start dropping and
they may even drop from school. As issues escalate, one effect of depression
can lead to more depression. For instance, dropping marks in school can lead to
more depression and hopelessness. Such individuals are less motivated to work
and succeed in life. According to Anderson, Cesur & Tekin (2012), mental
health problems often act as a motivation towards deviance. In a situation
where an individual is alienated by their friends and other social circles,
they may get deviant groups which are always ready to recruit new members. In
such a case, the individual starts engaging in acts such as drug and substance
abuse, premarital sex among others. According to Anderson, Cesur & Tekin
(2012), childhood depression has been found as a major cause in adulthood
criminal behavior. Therefore, another impact of depression on young adults is
engagement in criminal behavior.
In the United States, about 34
million individuals of all ages are affected by depression every year. While
considering young adults, the impacts can be classified as either behavioral,
physical, cognitive or psychosocial. Behavioral impacts include withdrawal from
the rest of the population. In some cases, the individual may develop a sense
of fear and anxiety and want to stay with other people. According to Lin,
Sidani, Shensa, Radovic, Miller, Colditz, Hoffman, Giles & Patrick (2016), social
media sites such as Facebook can lead to the start or end depression. As
discussed above, an individual may limit their social circles to social media.
Such an individual will be living in a virtual world always behind their
keyboards. In a situation where cyberbullying occurs, such as exposure of nude
images sent via the same media, the person is totally crushed and depression
may peep in. Another behavioral impact is reduced care on oneself. Depressed
persons tend to careless. They may engage in drug abuse and other actions
trying to bury the impacts or symptoms of depression. Physical impacts include
loss of weight due to reduced appetite. Depressed individuals may develop
bulimia in some cases and lead to additional weight. This is common among
females especially after divorce. Headaches may be rampant, insomnia, reduced
ability to concentrate in their respective jobs and physical pains whose cause
cannot be discerned. Impacts on an individual’s cognitive ability include
reduced ability to make simple decisions, memory loss and having suicidal
thoughts. Suicidal thoughts chip in when the individual is totally distraught
and there is no hope left. According to Berg, Rostila & Hjern (2016), if a
parent dies during the victim’s young adulthood, depression and suicidal
thoughts may haunt them. In some cases, it takes the intervention of a
psychologist to bring the victim back to their senses and view life without
their parents, siblings, guardian or partners. Scleider, Krause & Gillham
(2014), associate childhood anxiety with young adulthood depression. In some
cases, a child may be brought up in a dysfunctional family which can lead to
fear and anxiety. The impacts are felt in young adulthood as the victim may
find it hard to concentrate or develop negative attitudes towards some people
or situations. In a situation where an individual is raped in young adulthood,
depression comes in with the person takes years to forget and move on. Such an
individual may develop an attitude that may affect the rest of their lives. According
to Broman (2012), issues such as race differences ought to be considered while
addressing the issue of depression among young adults. With the increased use
of social media, cyber bullying can be based on racial differences adversely
affecting the individual’s self-esteem.
Conclusion
Impacts of depression among young
adults vary mainly based on the causative factors. However, the impacts affect
their cognitive functions leaving them isolated, lonely and hopeless. They may
tend to break off from their social circles and join new circles which may
grant a chance to become deviant. Social media has been identified as a major
component leading to depression. Victims are limiting their social circle to
social media platforms and in a situation where they are bullied, their lives
come down crushing. Impacts on their psychosocial ability include sense of
hopelessness, anxiety, being easily irritable and sense of guilt. In extreme
cases, the individuals end up committing suicide or attempting to do it. Young
adulthood should treated as a vulnerable age period where the individual needs
strong social circles to avoid ending in depression.