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mental health
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2020-10-06
Fear, Fiction, and Facebook
(HIST30060) Content warning: suicide mention. As the pandemic has developed over the course of the year and Victoria has progressed through lockdowns, a Facebook friend of mine from high school has taken to discussing COVID-19 extensively. She posts very regularly (on average between 20 and 30 times per day) with commentary on the pandemic, ranging from sanctimonious to outraged, sharing posts from conspiracy groups, pandemic-denying politicians, and other Facebook users that downplay the existence or severity of the virus. The series of unsubstantiated claims and recurrent mentions of ‘breaking news’ from various unnamed rogue health workers results in some of her Facebook friends querying her content and questioning the validity of her sources. When they reply to her posts, her Facebook friends often attempt to share news articles and updates from verified, fact-checked sources, but when this happens she talks past them, avoids the question, engages in a range of logical fallacies, or outright denies the validity of the information with which she’s been presented. In particular, she received significant backlash from her friends when she shared a post about the Australian suicide rate in 2020, crediting an alleged (untrue) increase directly to the lockdowns: one friend responded to say ‘I’m swiftly losing respect for you and the misinformation you keep posting.’ Earlier in the year, her posts gained greater traction among her Facebook friends: people would react to them, comment with information, speculation, or gentle disagreement; by now (November), the engagement her posts receive has dwindled down to the occasional like, but usually nothing more than that. Seeing her posts when I checked Facebook began to remind me of a conversation I’d had with my housemate about the role of fear and a desire for control behind belief in conspiracy theories; namely that these belief systems might bring warped comfort on some level. In situations that are scary, believing in some nameless, faceless ‘them’, or connecting with other people who claim to have secret insider information hidden from the general public, might help ease a feeling of powerlessness by believing someone is in control. I would allege her Facebook posts stem at least in part from fear, which I feel is more than understandable given an underlying experience for many people this year has been a deep, semi-constant sense of paralytic uncertainty. While I empathise with this, and genuinely feel compassion towards her for what she’s going through, I can’t help but think the way she has responded to these feelings is irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst. I find her advocacy of the importance of independent research and critical thinking approaches irony, as the ‘research’ she describes appears to consist of discussing factually incorrect information with other scared people who are also searching for stability and predictability. I don’t begrudge her the fear she feels in any capacity, nor do I want to pass judgement on how others cope with this experience, but I can’t help feeling that this does more harm than good; I worry it proliferates false information, and further demoralises those who read it. While individual conjecture, ideas, philosophising, and critical thinking are absolutely necessary and a healthy degree of scepticism is vital when reading anything, I believe there is a degree of responsibility one assumes to check, even cursorily, that the content they’re sharing has some basis in fact, especially in instances like this where people are quite literally dying. While the experience of the pandemic is undoubtedly having a severe effect on her, I feel irritated reading her advocacy of things that will objectively place other people at risk of illness. It seems to me insensitive to spread deliberately divisive misinformation, given there are people who are assume risk every day when they go to work (even in a country that has implemented measures to control the spread of the disease, when many countries overseas have not). I worry about the broader social repercussions of the division and polarisation that misinformation contributes to, both in the case of COVID-19 and in other contexts. When I look over the things she’s been posting on Facebook, I feel overwhelming pity and compassion for what she is going through individually, and what everyone in Victoria is undergoing as a collective. I understand that everyone is coping with an extremely stressful and emotionally taxing experience and is attempting to manage as well as they can. I’ve seen parallels drawn between the COVID-19 pandemic and previous pandemic disease outbreaks and major historical events in general, and the comfort people derive from a sense of shared experience during difficulty. I think in part the pandemic has cemented in my mind the confronting fact that being alive is just living through a series of major historical events; that history is not something that has happened to other people, in other places, at other times, but is happening now and will continue to happen, over and over. While this is incredibly confronting to think about and dredges up an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness at times, it seems to me by looking at both the past and the present that people working to mutually support each other make upheaval, fear, and uncertainty much easier to bear. -
2020-07-05
'All ears'
HIST30060 This illustration represents the importance of reaching out to people in times of need. I chose this because it was sent to me by my sister as I suffer from severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and during COVID my mental health measurably deteriorated. -
2020-04-21
Jewish Melbourne: "Second Generation Holocaust Survivor Triggers During The COVID 19 Crisis"
This is a video recording of a conversation between Liora Miller and Simone Szalmuk-Singer of Jewish Women of Words. It was hosted as well by the ZIonist Federation of Australia. -
2020-04-01
Caring Mums - Powered by NCJWA Vic
The Caring Mums program is a service providing emotional support to mothers of babies and pregnant women. The program matches trained volunteers, all of whom are mothers themselves, to new mums with the goal of developing a secure trusting relationship. Through regular weekly meetings for up to a period of 12 months, mums’ feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression decrease, while their parenting confidence and sense of belonging grow significantly. Caring Mums adapted its program so that its aims and values can still be upheld during the current pandemic. We continue to see mums in our current catchment whilst growing our service into new areas, using technology, as we understand the impact this reality has on vulnerable and isolated populations, including mums already facing many new challenges. -
2020-05-09
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Bobo Matjila
“My social life has become non-existent, but my relationships are still quite strong. Isolation has forced me to be a better friend because it has required me to check up on people in ways that I never did before. For me this feels a bit like a break from the constant rat-race of life (but not a vacation). Everything feels slower, which I kind of like. I’m no longer forced to go to events or go out. I'm an introvert, so I love spending time at home. Life feels simple, and slow, and more intentional now. I’ve been able to catch up on lots of reading. I am also enjoying being able to walk down the street and not be harassed. I expected something like this to happen sooner or later. I always had the sense that the pace at which this city runs is not sustainable, so pretty soon it will collapse. I've been mentally and emotionally prepared for this to happen. Everyday people are dying, suffering, and in the depths of misery, which I feel is the norm of the human condition. Peace is the exception. I think that’s why I’m mentally not so affected by the pandemic, because I don't have hopeful expectations for humanity. If we all agreed on the basics that homelessness and suffering is unnecessary, then we could get rid of all of this in a couple of months and save the future of humanity. There’s a lot we can do to prevent this, I just don't think we will do it.” Instagram post on Bobo Matjila, podcast host & writer, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives. -
2020-05-06
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Montana
“People are often saying that it sounds so nice and relaxing working from home, but I've been finding the opposite. It’s really exhausting, more so than a day at the office. I think it's because you’re fighting so many distractions, both consciously and unconsciously, all day. For me, art is often mental health focused. The reason that I do the art is for my personal mental health, it's a really good outlet for me to feel calm and understand my feelings and thoughts. But I also make the art to share it with others and build a community of people that can support each other and feel reassured by relating to others’ feelings. I love that people are turning to art as an outlet during this time. I'm a big believer that creativity can help people to reach a state of mindfulness and act as a preventative measure to mental health issues. I’ve noticed that people are being so generous and compassionate. As I go for walks, I notice that people have got baskets out on the nature-strip, offering their things, and sending letters to each other. It’s really wholesome. COVID19 has made me realize that there are so many things we do everyday that contribute to the decay of earth, but are completely unnecessary.” Instagram post on Montana, illustrator, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives. -
2020-04-24
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Taliah Bulesic
“I’ve wanted to be a flight attendant since I was a little girl. I have now been a flight attendant at Virgin for 8 years. At first, we were all a bit naive with the severity of the virus in Australia. Once borders started shutting, that’s when I realised this is it for aviation travel. That was a bit scary, especially as Crew, because we are mixing with many different people everyday. Of-course we’re worried for our jobs, and it is scary to realise that aviation wont go back to normal for a really long time. The fear of flying and spreading the virus will be around for a while. I did not anticipate Virgin’s administration, I was hopeful that someone would help. I understand why the Government said no to a bail out. They are doing what they can, but it was disappointing from a staff perspective to not see help come through. The culture at Virgin is something I've never experienced before. It is different from other airlines. We’ve all come together and really supported each other, which has helped with the mental health of many staff. Everyone is very optimistic, and our CEO is confident we will be able to get out of this. There’s a real never giving up attitude. I never thought I would live to see something like this. You have days when you get upset, ‘a selfish moment’, when you think about your life and how it has changed. But I try to educate myself about what else is going on around the world, and it makes me appreciate where we are. I love flying, but I've stuck it out for 8 years because of who I work for. I think it would be a huge culture shock moving airlines, and it won’t happen anytime soon. But who knows, maybe one day - aviation is in your blood.” Instagram post on Taliah Bulesic, flight attendant, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives. -
2020-04-20
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Gemma Gringlas
“The hardest part of this pandemic has been that I have had to put on hold many initial psychological assessments of kids, as they cannot be done online. Families wait a long time to get into see a psychologist and get an assessment, so it leaves a lot of parents worried about what might be going on for their child, which is really tricky. Some of the kids that I see have social anxiety or are on the autism spectrum, and I have found that telehealth actually removes a lot of the anxiety for them. These kids have difficulty being one on one with someone else, and therapeutic environments can be stressful. They’re a bit more relaxed when on screen because they’re slightly removed from me, which is really interesting. Everyone is being responsive to the difficulty of working at home. I'm trying to see my clients in the time when Teddy is sleeping. We’ve all had to learn to adapt. I am very concerned about the general mental health of people in society. People have lost connection, their social interaction, their daily scheduling, and also financial stress and uncertainty. As a society, it’s important to reach out. We need to take care of one another during this time.” Instagram post on Gemma Gringlas, clinical psychologist, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives. -
2020-04-16
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Joshua Batten
“My album release date was set for April 3rd. I was going to organise a launch show and some other stuff. But most of the gigs and festivals where I was earning money have either been postponed or cancelled. In replacement, I’ve been doing some live-stream concerts to people all over the world. I was playing 2-3 gigs a week, and earning a good amount to get by, but since COVID19, the only income I get is from album sales, which is not much. Fortunately I still live it home, so the conditions are not that bad. But from a mental health standpoint, it really sucks not to be able to go out, see people, and play music in the traditional sense. We’ve been looking for other options, but I have really had to change course. For many artists, it is incredibly stressful. The government hasn’t offered nearly enough support in our sector. Musicians are also parents, music is their main source of income. And it’s not just the musicians; it’s the behind-the-scenes people too. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help. In order to support artists at this time, people can check out the website ‘I lost my gig’, Tipjar or schedule in time just to listen to new music. I think the arts industry will be one of the last things to get back on its feet.” Instagram post on Joshua Batten, musician, and his experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives. -
2020-04-16
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Ani Jordens
“I’ve been feeling fully immobilized by this pandemic. I’ve noticed many people jumping into new interests and hobbies, and I'm just struggling to work out: who am I outside of work? What hobbies do I have? What are my interests? I just don't know! I’ve been observing my friends and family who have lost the jobs and livelihoods that gave them a sense of purpose. An important part of self-esteem is drawing it from multiple sources. If all of your eggs are in one basket and it gets taken away, then you will have a massive drop in self-esteem. But right now, people have lost multiple sources of self-esteem, which puts intense strain on mental health. Perhaps we need new structures and more supportive systems. The working-at-home thing has revolutionized able-bodied peoples’ lives, and could be used in a really productive way post-pandemic to make careers more accessible to people with a disability. Hopefully we learn something from this.” Instagram post on Ani Jordens, a university student, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives. -
2020-04-12
Sharing herbs with neighbours
In Young Street Annerley we started a Facebook group 'They Young Ones’ and shared garden edibles, books and art materials. -
2020-04-21
Ballarat 3 21 April 2020 Being Sick In This Time - But Not With The Virus
An account of how lockdown has affected delivery of some medical services -
2020-03-25
COVID-19 Alarming Times
A piece of prose that highlights global opinions and assertions that were made in March of 2020. The author notes the state of Australian citizens and how people in general there, and worldwide, are being affected, either in a positive manner, negative manner or somewhere in between those two extremes . (Added by curator)