Stepping Toward Social Connection (and Better Mental Health)
Gender stereotypes continue to silence male victims of sexual abuse
What should I expect after being referred for mental health support?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
You could be forgiven for thinking that saturation of crime drama is beginning to result in repetition; just as the plot of the very first episode of CSI NY was influenced by Mark Billingham’s Sleepyhead, now we have Suffer The Children by Adam Creed (hereafter known as STC), which, like Ian Rankin’s Dead Souls 11…
“Thousands of Australian men have joined a viral selfie campaign to promote open conversations about suicide and mental health. The #ItsOkayToTalk campaign has gathered momentum globally after UK rugby player Luke Ambler posted a selfie that encouraged his friends and teammates to start opening up. Mr Ambler started the campaign after the sudden death of…
I think that second quote is really the key. We’ve seen studies that are reported as showing that kids who use social media get more depression and anxiety, but those studies do not address the question of whether there’s any proof that the causality is in that direction and not the other. In other words, do teens who use social media a lot develop depression, or do depressed teens use social media more. This study seems to indicate it’s the latter. As we continue with a lot of social distancing, and activities being canceled and in person gatherings are very limited, we know everyone will be relying more on social media to stay connected, so this is an important question, and I think what this study, and others, really shows us is that there are ways to use social media as a positive influence on our mental health, and a way to use it that will not be a positive influence on our mental health.
In the physical world, we have these same choices. Do we interact with people who are toxic? Do we spend all of our time comparing ourselves to others? Do we isolate? Or do we find out tribe, our group of supportive friends/family that can interact socially in ways that help our mental health?
We all make those same choices on social media, but the key difference here is that if we simply don’t choose, and make no effort to make conscious decisions about who we follow and interact with, social network algorithms will make the decision for us. Anyone already struggling with mental health is maybe more likely to not spent much time thinking about these things, and just let the app show them what it wants to show them, and that is not necessarily going to be good for our anxiety. Especially right now.
So, if you find yourself feeling more anxious, angry, irritated, etc. every time you hop on Twitter or Instagram, maybe instead of just being that way, spend some time thinking about who you follow, and what they are bringing in to your life?
For any of my social media using readers, can you share some of your favorite positive accounts that you interact with to HELP your mental health?
It’s difficult to get anyone to talk about being sexually abused, and we also know that for male victims they also get the additional stigma attached to not being “man enough”. But then there’s this: The study, which examined child rape laws in 40 countries, found that just under half of jurisdictions lacked legal protections…
Liz Briggs thinks the way we approach child sexual abuse is broken. I tend to agree, to a degree. Yes, it’s important that we have children who understand who they can turn to and get support if they find themselves in a situation where someone has tried to touch them. Yes it’s important that we…
