Bangladesh, Oct. 11 -- "There was no mental illness in our time. Why do you have so many mental health problems now?" a father asked his teenage daughter.

During a conversation with the Grade 10 student, I learned that her sister was experiencing depression. Their father, however, had taken no steps to seek treatment because he did not believe that children and young people could have mental health conditions. The student also told me that a classmate had died by suicide a few months earlier. According to her account, the death followed a reprimand from the girl's parents over her examination results.

These accounts reveal how easily young people's distress can be dismissed or overlooked. They also raise an urgent question- how can chi...