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🇲🇾 Malaysia /Culture & Society

Teenager's diary, bar codes showed emotional stress coping: Psychologist

From Utusan Malaysia · () Malay

Translated from Malay, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • A child psychologist testified that 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir used journaling and bar code markings as coping mechanisms for emotional stress.
  • The psychologist stated that stress becomes negative only when individuals lack solutions, and Zara Qairina's methods indicated positive stress management.
  • The court heard that peer relationships were a factor in Zara Qairina's stress, and the psychologist disagreed with a previous expert's view on masking behaviors in stressed teens.

A child psychologist testified that 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir possessed her own ways of managing emotional stress, suggesting it did not necessarily escalate into anxiety disorders. Dr. Noor Aishah Rosli explained that the victim channeled her stress through diary entries and by creating bar code-like markings, which she described as coping mechanisms.

Stress only becomes negative when an individual lacks solutions or mechanisms to overcome it.

— Dr. Noor Aishah RosliDuring the 80th day of the inquest into the death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir.

Dr. Noor Aishah clarified that stress only becomes negative when an individual lacks solutions or mechanisms to overcome it. "Negative stress occurs when an individual has no solution to overcome the stress. Because there is no solution, anxiety will occur," she stated during the 80th day of the inquest into the student's death.

Negative stress occurs when an individual has no solution to overcome the stress. Because there is no solution, anxiety will occur.

— Dr. Noor Aishah RosliExplaining the difference between positive and negative stress during the inquest.

Responding to questions from lawyer Shahlan Jufri, representing the victim's mother, Dr. Noor Aishah identified peer relationships as a factor contributing to Zara Qairina's stress. She noted that how friends treat each other can cause stress, prompting the victim to use the bar code markings as a coping strategy. The expert agreed that the stress Zara Qairina experienced could be considered positive because she had mechanisms to manage it, including writing in her diary.

If someone has a way to overcome stress, then the stress is positive and cannot be categorized as anxiety.

— Dr. Noor Aishah RosliClarifying the nature of stress management during the inquest.

Furthermore, Dr. Noor Aishah cautioned that individuals who suppress their feelings without resolving problems risk their stress developing into anxiety and depression. "The best approach is to solve the problem. Suppressing feelings can develop into anxiety and depression," she advised. She also disagreed with a forensic psychiatrist's earlier view that behaviors like masking true feelings, over-adapting, and suppressing emotions are common in stressed teenagers, suggesting such masking is more likely in high-functioning individuals with autism.

The best approach is to solve the problem. Suppressing feelings can develop into anxiety and depression.

— Dr. Noor Aishah RosliAdvising on mental health strategies during the inquest.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Utusan Malaysia in Malay. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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