Fikayomi possesses a degree in Agricultural science, which is quite suitable in an Intensive Agricultural state like Kano. Her role at her place of primary assignment is Supervisory. This entails walking around an enormous expanse of farmland to supervise farmers now and then and taking an inventory of stocks before they are dispatched in large trucks to major cities.

Fikayomi is ecstatic at the chance to work and earn money at first, “the first responsibility of adulthood” her father says about jobs. But sadly, this feeling does not last as she quits after one month. A week later she secured a new place of primary assignment, but she quit after a month. This pattern continues in eight other jobs she secures until the end of her service year. She is denied from passing out with her mates as she failed to offer proof of having a place of primary assignment and the requisite final clearance letter. Fikayomi is distraught and drinks a poisonous substance to commit suicide, and, as luck would have it, she is discovered on time.

People had a lot of questions about Fikayomi’s case, but the most prominent was why she quit ten jobs in a year. Everyone who knew Fikayomi knew she is focused and goal-oriented and truant behavior wasn’t a thing with her, then what happened?

The truth is Fikayomi has an anxiety disorder called Heliophobia. Heliophobia is an intense, sometimes irrational fear of the sun. People who have this phobia when exposed to the sun often experience feelings of dizziness, quick temper, panic attacks, inability to relax, problems with concentrating, palpitations, aches and pain, migraines and headaches and fatigue, etc.

Before moving to Kano State, Fikayo had lived all her life in Jos Plateau State, one of the coldest states in Nigeria with a 17-degree temperature. Kano is one of the hottest states in Nigeria with a 36-degree temperature, twice the temperature of Jos. Fikayomi struggled with being productive in an environment whose weather triggered anxiety in her. Her degree in agriculture science offered her job opportunities which were more in the field than in an office. This meant frequent exposure to the sun. Fikayomi battled with the understanding of the sudden anxiety that comes over her from waking up to prepare to go to work, to commuting in an overcrowded bus to work each day. She struggled with understanding the prickly feeling she did get beneath her skin during the daytime as if she had hundreds of beetles crawling around her insides and laying eggs. Nor could she understand the migraine and body ache she felt while supervising the work at the field and the general uneasy feelings of low productivity which loomed over her like dark clouds on a windy night.

I am a Fikayomi. There are lots of people like Fikayomi in Nigeria. Sometimes we are the ones the society’s hustle culture describes as lazy because we cannot leave the house when the sun is out. Sometimes we are the ones who ignore social interaction with our peers during the daytime and later worry about being alone. We are the ones with heightened mood swings, sweaty palms, and panic attacks on sunny days.

The term Environment connotes the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. Components of our environment that can influence our mental health range from aesthetics, people, culture and values, sensory familiarity, etc. Each part should be treated to be of equal importance as the other.

The totality of our environment undoubtedly influences our mental health. From the institution of the home as growing children to friends, religion, culture, climate change, etc. It all plays a role in the sort of stability we would have. 

In a personal survey I conducted in Abuja on November 18, 2020, only one in two hundred people knew what Heliophobia was. Fikayomi’s story is only but one example of how the environment can influence our mental health and that’s why it’s important for every one of us to always come from a place of understanding, love, and support to people around us as we can never tell the battle they face behind closed doors.                  

Bio:

Stanley Okeke is a Human Rights Lawyer and a writer. He is passionate about a mental health free-stigma Nigeria and he is open to working with brands and NGO’S to make this a reality.
Twitter – @Theestannis

Facebook – Stanley Okeke

Instagram – Stanley Okeke.

The post INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON MENTAL HEALTH appeared first on Project Covid.

Those were the last words that managed to come out of her mouth, as her eyes were now dry from all the tears she fought to hold back. Slowly but writhing in pain, she dropped the android phone. That night, that very influencer on the bird app killed her. Not with a gun or a spear. Not with a knife or a rope. Not by poisoning. He murdered her that very moment he trended the “AT 23” topic. She was just an innocent lady trying to survive. He was just an innocent guy trying to get engagements. She lay there in her own pool, as she breathed her last. It was her thirtieth birthday!

Just like Tolulope, the lady up there, many are fighting depression and low self-esteem because of what they see every day on social media. From fear of missing out, to fear of being a failure, to cyberbullying, we’ve seen many confused souls pick up a journey into a life in yonder. There are perhaps, no truer assertions to the claim that social media can greatly affect our mental health. There is a fine but myopic line between SM and depression or loneliness.

Although there are lots of positive aspects of social media. The negative ones, have a way of ruining the day. Of course, only those affected can testify. Social media has a unique way of bringing in inadequacy about one’s life and/or appearance. With lots of users living a fake life online, one may be left with no choice, but to ignorantly view oneself as a waste or total failure.

New trends emerge every day that gives room for one to showcase one’s accomplishments. Instead of tweeting and leaving, most of these guys do not become satisfied, if they have not yet said a depressing thing to other guys on the social media street for not having one or two of what they feel is an achievement, forgetting the country itself is enough to bring suicidal thoughts to one’s mind.

With that we see every day online, one may be tempted to ask whether social media is a place to celebrate one’s achievement. The question itself is, Must you post it? What is your motive for posting what you want to put out? To show people that there’s no limit to what they can’t achieve or what? To pepper those you feel are your competitors? What exactly is your motive?

One the other note, it is however important to know that what rocks a neighbour’s boat, may sink one’s, and what is sauce for the goose, is most times, not sauce for the gander. The best competition is the one one has with oneself. Nothing beats that!

#SayNoToSuicidalThoughts

OKEDARA SAMUEL.

Bio:

I am a student of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

I’m a Mental Health Advocate, a Screenwriter, and a Storyteller. 

Twitter. @s_okedara

IG.          @s_okedara

FB.          Samuel Okedara

The post MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA; THE UNNOTICED NEGATIVE ASPECTS appeared first on Project Covid.

The poverty-mental health symbiosis is so profound that at times it is difficult to differentiate the  ravages of abject destituteness from those of some debilitating mental health challenges. The  poverty-mental health relationship is so overwhelmingly negative that not a single scientific claim  exists to show if there is any desirable culmination of poverty for health (mental and physical).  However, let us consider the dissuasive ramifications of the poverty-mental health symbiosis. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1995 declared poverty as the most prolific cause of  suffering and needless death all around the world, with mental health distresses prominent among  its direct causes and effects. One in four adults and one in ten children worldwide are said to  experience mental health problems in any given year. Hence, the need for an understanding of the  social-epidemiological relationship between poverty and mental illnesses cannot be gainsaid.  

It is reported that poverty is both a consequence and cause of mental health to the extent that  poverty and lack of material conditions is implicated as the only second to physiological and  parental factors as risk factors for mental illnesses according to Elliot, in 2015. In essence, poverty  is the maturational eventuation of mental health challenges that can also be due to poverty; such  as problem drinking, problem gambling, homelessness, untreated/undiagnosed mental and  physiological illnesses and sexually transmitted infections. 

Poverty, just like mental health, is multidimensional and there is sufficient empirical evidence that  links one form of poverty or the other with a form of psychiatric condition or the other. Job losses  and other consequences of declining income have been found to precede episodes of mental  illnesses. To this end, a 2019 report in Indonesia documented how a reduction in socioeconomic 

activities among agrarian communities preceded a spike in rates of suicide and depression. Ditto  for a developing country like Nigeria that emerged as the poverty capital of the world in recent  times.  

Further arguments can be made in line with the obvious relationships between poverty and  maladaptive behaviors such as truancy, youth recalcitrance, substance use and other graver  consequences such as the increased risk of mortality and vulnerability to life-threatening illnesses  and psychiatric disorders. 

Precisely, the intricacy of the poverty-mental illness symbiosis justifies the need to further ponder  upon how specific characteristics of poverty aggravate threats to individual and community mental  health. For one, poverty hinders access to those facilities that should mitigate the development of  mental disorders, such as hospitals, social care and medication, and increase the likelihood by up  to two-fold according to a 2019 study by Hastings and others.  

Considering the most popular mental health distress, depression and its coterminous conditions  such as suicide ideation and attempts, some of its major causes are poverty related. Such factors  as job losses, loss of earnings and inability to meet major social milestones are both causes of  depression and effects of depression. Another manifestation of this symbiosis is in the marriage  between subpar environmental conditions and life stressors that are associated with poverty, such  as poor nutrition, poor environmental conditions (overcrowding, noise and air pollutions), limited  access to medical care and a robust social support system, and mental illnesses.  

Some of these conditions provide both the initial motivations for experimental drug use, and  increases the likelihood of individuals succumbing to self-injurious behaviours that can pose dire  consequences for mental health. It is apt that interventions for the mentally ill and vulnerable  populations should encompass programs that understand the extent to which poverty is a barrier  to health promotion among the poor. 

References 

Elliott, I. June 2016. Poverty and Mental Health: A review to inform the Joseph Rowntree  Foundation’s Anti-Poverty Strategy. London: MHF.Hastings, P D., et al. 2019. Predicting psychosis-spectrum diagnoses in adulthood from social  behaviors and neighborhood contexts in childhood. Cambridge University Press 32:2

Bio:

Saheed Olayinka Bello studies Psychology (Personality and Social) at the University of Ibadan, and works as Grants, Research and Learning Associate at Sozo Networks. In 2020, his unpublished novel “The Daughter of Clerambault” was a finalist for the Quramo Writer’s Prize, 2020. His core interests are teaching, writing and research. He is a 32-year-old resident of Ibadan; where he works and schools, and Kaduna; where he writes and volunteers as a facilitator of social inclusion for vulnerable social groups such as persons living with disabilities, the homeless and other socially disadvantaged categories.

Facebook:  https://web.facebook.com/belo.saeed/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saedbelo/

Twitter:     @saed_bello (Until the ban is resolved)

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Social isolation refers to inadequate quality and quantity of social connection between humans at the different levels social interaction takes place (Zavaleta et al., 2017). These levels could include the community, interpersonal or the family levels. A person who is socially isolated lacks sufficient emotionally and physically fulfilling relationships. Carpenito-Moyet (2008) further defines social isolation as a state where a person has a desire for more social interaction but is unable to make the required connection. The longer someone stays socially isolated for, the higher the chances of it taking a toll on their mental health. Markers of social isolation includes having infrequent social ties, little to no social network and living in solitude.

A study by Horan et al., (2006) observing the social network of people with the onset of schizophrenia discovered that people living with severe mental disorders (SMD) having lower social interactions had higher negative health outcomes compared to those who had better social networks through family and community circles. Severe mental disorder is a wide range of conditions that affects an individual’s ability to think, understand and conduct themselves. Some mental illnesses allow the ill person to perform their daily functions however, with SMD comes many limitations. Some SMD that negatively influences one’s lifestyle could include psychosis, bipolar disorders and dementia. By aggravating negative emotions and invoking a behavioural response, social isolation is said to further spur these already vulnerable people into the onset of delusion, hallucinations and other health complications. 

However, some scholars argue that solitude puts one’s mind in a state whereby your mind is free from the influence of other minds. It is believed that to activate one’s critical thinking abilities, one needs to spend time alone. So how does solitude worsen mental health? Existing studies have established that even though productive, social isolation not by choice but borne out of circumstantial conditions may have deleterious effects on an individual’s mental and physical health (Linz, 2013). One can conclude that solitude is only helpful for a healthy mind. 

Interpersonal and mutually benefitting relationships are very vital in the lives of all people. Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs maps out a need for love and belonging as one of the top needs of humans. People with SMD are not exempt from desiring this form of connection. This is not to insist that people with SMD must interact with others in the society especially if it is at their peril. However, even in professional settings, people living with SMD are said to have better outcomes when they connect to their careers not just in a service user to service provider dimension but also through interpersonal connections (Ljungberg et al., 2015). Bearing in mind that sometimes for people living with SMD, loneliness could be more of a perception than a truth and also their difficulty in establishing friendships, interpersonal connections have still proven to be helpful in their treatment. When people living with SMD are viewed as individuals, heard and seen in a trustful professional-patient relationship, they are able to respond to treatment and function better in their regular lives (Gunnmo and Fatouros-Bergman, 2011).

Society’s segregation for the mentally ill is a major driver of social isolation. Unlike loneliness, social isolation is not a perception or subjective. Social engagements as simple as physical activities or even providing some form of employment or routine has been said to reduce symptoms and help coping for people living with SMD (Blomqvist et al., 2017). The facilitation of mental health literacy in the society needs to be encouraged more. This will help members of the society create a conducive and better enabling environment for people living with SMD and as a result, improve their lives.

References

Blomqvist, M., Sandgren, A., Carlsson, I. M. and Jormfeldt, H. (2017) ‘Enabling healthy living: Experiences of people with severe mental illness in psychiatric outpatient services’, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, https://doi-org.ezproxy.wlv.ac.uk/10.1111/inm.12313.

Carpenito-Moyet, L. (2008) Nursing diagnosis: Application to clinical practice (12th ed.), Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Gunnmo, P. and Fatouros-Bergman, H. (2011) ‘What do individuals with schizophrenia need to increase their well-being’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 6(5412) https://doi: 10.3402/qhw.v6i1.5412  

Horan W., Subotnik K., Snyder K., and Nuechterlein K. (2006) ‘Do recent-onset schizophrenia patients experience a “social network crisis”?’ Psychiatry. 69(2):115–129. doi: 10.1521/psyc.2006.69.2.115 

Ljungberg, A., Denhov, A. and Topor, A. (2015) ‘The Art of Helpful Relationships with Professionals: A Meta-ethnography of the Perspective of Persons with Severe Mental Illness’, The Psychiatric Quarterly, 86(4), 471–495. https://doi-org.ezproxy.wlv.ac.uk/10.1007/s11126-015-9347-5 

Wang J., Lloyd-Evans, B., Giacco D., Forsyth R., Nebo C., Mann, F., and Johnson, S. (2017) ‘Social isolation in mental health: a conceptual and methodological review’, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(12), 1451–1461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1446-1

Zavaleta D., Samuel K., and Mills C.  (2017) ‘Measures of social isolation’, Social Indicators Research, 131(1), 367-391. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.wlv.ac.uk/10.1007/s11205-016-1252-2 

Bio:

Faith Babajamu is a public health professional who currently works in content creation for Fiftyfifty institute. She has previously worked with teams that have achieved health promotion through provision of better commodities, education and mental health facilities to people who are in dire need of them. She is passionate about health promotion, health system strengthening and community advocacy. She graduated with honors from the University of Ilorin, Kwara state Nigeria and has a master in public health degree from the University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.

Instagram and Twitter @Fayth_bbj

The post Effects of social isolation and loneliness on severe mental disorders appeared first on Project Covid.

INTRODUCTION

Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health illness, affecting 3 to 4% of the world’s population._1. A study by Hollingshead revealed that persons who are members of the lowest social stratum and the poorest have a higher incidence of presumed serious mental illness while another study showed that improving a person’s economic situation reduces their risks of anxiety and depression.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Poverty is defined as a state or condition in which a person or a community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living.

According to WHO, mental health is a state of wellbeing in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to contribute to his or her community.

BRIEF CASE STUDY

At a young age, I noticed that the reaction of teachers between the second and third week of the month was usually strange. During this period, many would have exhausted the peanuts paid to them as salaries and with the pressure of life weighing on them; they transfer this mental stress onto innocent pupils through indiscriminate flogging, use of rash vocabularies and unnecessary punishments. On my way home from school, I pass by unpaid civil servants who soliloquize while trekking back from work. Some lost in this act find it difficult to properly coordinate and respond to the horns of oncoming automobiles. On reaching home, my dad who is a civil servant will usually remain moody and unresponsive to some conversations until salaries are paid. On a visit to the hospital during the middle of the month, it is not-uncommon to see nurses being hostile to patients though they were trained to behave otherwise. Similar scenarios play out as one visits the bank hall during the same period. At such times, the climate of the banking halls are usually filled with hisses, complaints and quarrels from both the customers and bankers. However, towards the end of the month when salaries are expected, it is easy for someone to be stepped on without retaliation while on the queue. On several occasions when I have been down emotionally, I came to discover that once I got a credit alert within that  period, my mood changes in a split of second into a lively one. Presently I tutor at a primary school in my community and despite the passage of time, the trend has continued. My colleagues at work flog pupils at the slightest opportunity mid-month but towards the end of the month when wages are paid; there is usually a sharp decline in such unwarranted treatment.

DISCUSSION

 With practical experiences of mine from the case study examined, is it safe to say there is a relationship between poverty and mental health? The case studies exploration shows that there is a form of madness associated with everyone especially when poverty leads the equation of life.

That a relationship exists between poverty and mental illness was first established in the landmark New Haven study conducted by Hollingshead and Redlich in 1958_2. Their principal conclusion was that there is a significant relationship between socio-economic status and mental illness as regards the type and severity of the illness suffered as well as the type and quality of treatment provided to the victim.

Furthermore, a study conducted by Christopher Hudson between 1994 and 2000 in Massachusetts revealed that increased economic hardship across a community resulted in increased rates of mental illness and psychiatric hospitalizations for that community. From his study, it is remarkable to note that a strong and consistent negative correlation exists between socio-economic conditions and mental health.  

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

It is an established fact that poverty plays a great role in determining the mental health of humanity. With the harsh economic climate caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, international organizations should adopt preventive strategies while making effort to cushion the impacts of unemployment, food insecurity and economic development in underdeveloped nations. This will bridge the gap between poverty and mental health thereby, addressing the long-term global health state of man.

REFERENCES:

1. Https://www.aaas.org/news/exploring-connection -between-poverty-and-mental-illness
2. Hollingshead, A., Redlich, F., Social class and mental illness: A community study, John Wiley, Newyork, 1958
3. Https://www.madinamerica.com/2012/03/poverty-mental-illness-you-cant-have-one-without-the-other
4. C.F., Pols, H., “August Hollingshead and Frederick Redlich Poverty, socio-economic status and mental illness”. American journal of public health, October, 2007.
5. Hudson, C.G., “Socio economic status and mental illness: Tests of the social caudation and selection Hypothesis,” American journal of Orthopsychiatry, vol. 75, No. 1 pp.3-18, 2005.

Bio:

Ekoja Solomon is an agripreneur from Benue state who employs the skills of research, creative writing and critical thinking to create change. Presently, he’s tutoring students in mathematics, the gospel of Christ and career talks. Some of his work can be found

on www.sodacoffee.com/contributors/accessekoja

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ekoja7

Twitter and Instagram name @accessekoja

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Mental health is a state of one’s psychological, emotional and social well-being. It is a robust determinant of how stress is handled, what choices are made and the way relationships are built and maintained. Good mental health promotes good physical health, productivity and a healthy lifestyle. On the contrary, poor mental health, otherwise called a state of mental illness, contributes to low levels of educational attainment, reduced productivity at work and poor physical health. Common mental illnesses include depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. The symptoms of mental illnesses make it difficult for their victims to work, live independently and achieve a good quality of life particularly when they have little or no access to healthcare. 

The mental health status of individuals is influenced by a variety of socio-economic factors. A number of these factors are inequality, unemployment levels, personal safety, relationships, parenting, economic status of the community, health and social care services. A strong link has been established between mental ill health and poverty or socio-economic disadvantage. People who are homeless, jobless or those who have to work with a slim budget to cater for family expenses have been identified to have higher risks of developing mental illnesses (Elliot, 2016). This is not to say that only the poor suffer mental illnesses. It is however worthy to note that poverty creates and thrives in environments that readily endanger one’s mental health.

Poverty may come as a consequence of mental ill health. A major challenge associated with mental illnesses within the present day society is stigmatization. Stigmatization results from misconceptions and negative attitudes towards mental illnesses. Many believe that the sole manifestations of mental illnesses include aggression, destructiveness, loquaciousness and eccentric behavior. Another wrong belief is that mental illnesses cannot be managed by the health system and therefore victims of such illnesses are considered a threat to social order and public safety. A good number of Nigerians wrongly believe that mental illnesses are a consequence of demonic possession or divine punishment. The extensive ignorance about the cause and treatments available for mental illnesses causes stigmatization. Victims of such discrimination and stigmatization suffer low self worth, inferiority complex, social isolation and marginalization. All these are attributed to social poverty. 

Management of mental ill disorders attracts high health expenditure. Having to cope with symptoms and stigmatization that comes with them cumulatively reduces productivity at work. Under worse conditions, victims of mental illnesses find themselves unemployed. Their families and friends are also affected psychologically, financially and socially. This predisposes them to poverty also.

People living in poverty stand high risks of developing mental illnesses; when mentally ill, there are tendencies to drift into poverty; when poor and mentally ill, both conditions worsen each other and their negative implications are limitless. Having established this relationship, strategies to combat both conditions should revolve around preventing mental illnesses in people living in poverty, preventing poverty in people plagued by mental illnesses and helping poor people with mental illnesses to recover and to maneuver out of poverty. In other words, poverty alleviation schemes should be combined with mental health management schemes in order to make optimum impact. Some poverty alleviation schemes that can be employed include skill acquisition training, provision of loans and grants to start-up or expand businesses. These will help create job opportunities and generate income. Mental health awareness campaigns can be embarked upon for the purpose of sensitizing the general public on the peculiarities and treatment of mental illnesses. These interventions when combined will signify a better future for people living with poverty and mental illnesses. 

REFERENCES

Elliot, I. (2016). Poverty and Mental Health. Mental Health Foundation.

Idakwoji, P.S. (2002). Introduction to Community Development. Available from www.caritasuni.edu.ng/pro/management/pa12.doc

Bio:

I am Ala Oluwapelumi Adebayo, a 4th year medical student at the University of Ibadan. I am passionate about bringing about a positive change in the society. This passion has inspired me to volunteer for a number of medical outreach programs where underserved communities are provided with basic medical care. It is my belief that greatness only comes with deliberate and progressive efforts. In my free time, I like to watch football, play video games and watch medical television series.  

Twitter: @the_alaman

Instagram: @the_alamann 

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We live in an era where mental health is significantly trampled upon owing to the wide-ranging grip social media has on human beings. Social media in its real sense was created to achieve four fundamental purposes: Information, Education, Entertainment and Marketing. However, as much as these four elements suggest a positive impact on the phenomenon of social media, the downside to it cannot be over-emphasized, as they are also wide ranging. It is for this reason this paper tilts in the direction of the risk outweighing the benefits when we take into consideration how social media has affected the mental health of individuals to a very large extent.

For context, it becomes imperative to define what mental health entails. Thus, mental health according to the World Health Organisation is a state of well being in which an individual realizes his/her own abilities, can cope with the normal stress of life and can work productively, and is able to make contribution to his own community. To put simply, it is a cognitive behavioural and emotional well being of an individual. 

As stated earlier, social media as a tool can be leveraged for positivity in the sense that through social media, individuals can share information which often times than not, is beneficial; learn new skills, ideas whatsoever, interact with people from far and near without having to be there physically and finally, be used as a marketing tool to promote a product and on the long run, drive sales. These are the fundamental purposes of social media which clearly suggests its benefits. Conversely, this is not to say that social media doesn’t have its bane. Hence, in relation to mental health, the risks of social media without any iota of doubt outweigh the benefits when we consider the following factors

beneath.

To begin with, cyberbullying is not new to social media. Many people have been cyber bullied by trolls who simply hide behind their keypads to dish out hurtful comments; others are either intimidated or threatened. There are so many examples of cyberbullying across the world and the effect of this is that it can affect the mental health of the individual on the receiving hand and in some cases lead to death. For example, the unfortunate incident of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old gay student at Rutgers University who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. Apparently, he got to know that his roommate Dharun Ravi had made him a subject of ridicule on Twitter after streaming footage of him kissing another man.

Another risk to consider is the Fear of Missing out syndrome (FOMO) otherwise known as social media anxiety disorder. As the term clearly suggests, it refers to the emotion or acuity that others are having more fun, living better lives, or experiencing better things than you are. It involves an unfathomable sense of jealousy and affects self-esteem. Earlier this week, ‘At 23’ was among the top trending issues on Twitter. It involved individuals talking about what they did or achieved when they were aged 23. There were people that felt triggered by the achievements of others and at that point, their mental health was in jeopardy simply because they felt others were doing better than themselves. The result of this is that the possibility of such a person slipping into depression will be off the charts since they are made to believe that others are doing better than themselves.

Furthermore, inadequacy about life and appearance is another risk posed by social media in that, some people tend to compare themselves unfavourably with others on social media thereby leading them to do things they hitherto wouldn’t have done. However, because of what they see on social media, they think less of themselves and eventually slip into depression and battle things such as anxiety as well. 

On the whole, there are a lot of risk factors engendered by social media that cannot be captured in this essay. However, one thing is certain; stress, depression and anxiety play a significant role in affecting one’s mental health. All of these are an offshoot of the negativity orchestrated by social media in as much as FOMO, cyber bullying, depression & anxiety, isolation and the inadequacy about life and appearance are concerned. To this end, this essay submits that in consideration of mental health, the risks of social media outweigh its benefits.

Bio: 

Dawodu Oladayo Oluwadamilare is a graduate of History and Strategic Studies with a background in Mass Communications and keen interests in Digital Communication, Public Relations & broadcasting.  I’m also a Proven Content Specialist with substantial experience in the media sphere. I love football and wind up with games and music.

Twitter: @dideedre

Instagram:@dideedre

Facebook: Dawodu Oladayo Oluwadamilare 

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I would remember bugging him, asking him how I should do this? How should I do that? All he says are a few words, “I am coming, we will do it later.”

He never comes back later, and so my desire to write on this particular subject matter grew because it is a topic that we act as though we have control over this circumstance, but, instead, we are more addicted to it. Social media may be more harmful than we account it for.

The engineering of the invention called social media was structured in a bid to foster oneness throughout the globe, I think it is called globalization. Social media has connected people of different origins and backgrounds, but the problem now is, people hardly change, and to influence them to give you attention, you have to do what they like.

Social media, a beautiful and innovative as it is intended to be, has successfully shut down the door to self-awareness, and have created a place where anybody, and everybody, can say what they feel is right, and a large number of “Followers” that swallow this information without cross-checking with themselves if this information is certified as ‘fact’.

What started fine has become the syringe that injects individuals with dopamine shots. Now, I know that humans crave attention, I believe my brother can testify, but now, the likes, the increasing rush to get followers, the stress of keeping up with trends, the pressure to continually impress, that you are doing fine, that you should be important, that you have a ‘verified’ personality, that you deserve the love, although fake and just for show, but it is enough to have people leaving two lives; in apps and reality.

Social media has helped businesses, news agencies, and individuals promote their services to a larger audience, has helped long-time friends connect after what may have seemed like eons, however, we cannot deny the fact that it has indeed contributed to the vast spread of fake news, the almost damaging mentality of pop culture, and the addictive nature of always wanting to show that you are better than everybody else.  

Something meant to keep us together still keeps us apart, maybe because it was built on good intentions but later hijacked as a quick tool to make more money off people, or maybe because people aren’t ready for the change that comes with accepting other people without them being like us first.

Like my brother, who isn’t too busy to stare at a screen, social media has handicapped real-time communication between people, and have hijacked the human ability to meet new people the old and real way, but what do I know, except what I see from my favourite cartoons that show me enough to know that social media should be a tool and not a controlling part of people’s lives.

I guess my brother realized that because he promised to help me edit this essay when I had finished. We had a swell time working on it together, you see, we were present with each other, and not absent in the presence of each other, a scenario that modern-day social media habits have gradually continued to kill today.

Have time for apps, keep up with distant friends, but also live life one day at a time, at your own pace, having a mind for yourself because whether you like it or not, if you barely know yourself before entering into the social media space, people will surely show you how to live.

Social media is good, yes! But just like every good thing, it should be gulped with cautiousness because like it or not, we should be the guardians of our mental health. It goes a long way to help us shape the mindset we see life with.

Bio:

Patrick Adah Okochikwu is an 11 year-old from Benue State, Nigeria. He is the fourth of five children and is currently undergoing his junior secondary school phase in Command science and technical school. Like everyone else, he has dreams of one day becoming a Civil Engineer. 

The post [3RD POSITION] MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA; DO THE RISKS OUTWEIGH THE BENEFITS? appeared first on Project Covid.

My childhood days were some of the darkest of the days I have lived and it is all thanks to poverty. The euphoria of being a child was taken from me and was replaced by dread. Happiness, joy, and laughter were luxuries I could not risk to afford as a child because deep down within me I knew it would only last for a short while and be replaced by sadness, tears, and hopelessness.

I vividly remember those days when I had only one pair of trousers to wear on Sundays when going to church. It was a brown tattered trouser and I would wear it to the church on several consecutive Sundays. I could not join other kids when playing because I was always scared someone would make jest of my clothes and I would become a prey for the bullies. Instead, I would keep to myself and seclude myself from the happy crowd. That was the safest way to make sure my dose of sadness does not increase for the day.

My academic life was also not spared from the unforgiving claws of poverty. It grabbed the bright future I had in my academic performance and gave it a scar it would never heal from. It was always hard to concentrate in class on days I attended school without breakfast. My body would surely be present at the class but my mind would be on a voyage to search for possible answers on whether the conditions at home would be favourable or not when I returned home. 

As a child, I preferred to live my life in a world of fantasies created in my imaginations. In there, I could be whoever I want and have everything I could ever want. Reality is always a second option to fantasy when one is under the influence of not having enough to foster one’s personal needs.

Before poverty would have any other effect on an individual, it would alter the psychological balance of that individual. The stigmatization that accompanies it is so unhealthy that it twists one’s perception of life and spawns problems like lower school achievement, cognitive and behavioural altercation, depressive and anxiety disorders, psychiatric disorder, psychological distress, and suicide.

According to the statistical research carried out by psychiatric times, findings reveal that poverty leads to mental health and developmental problems that in turn prevents individuals and families from leaving poverty, creating a vicious, intergenerational cycle of poverty and poor health. The evidence is strong for a casual relationship between poverty and mental health. 

Poverty crushes hopes, obliterates the possibilities of joy in one’s life, it shatters confidence, it wreaks havoc on lives worse than narcotic does, and above all, it makes one anticipate the morrow with dread.

Poverty is a lethal disease. The weak easily perish under its influence, the strong? it is just a matter of when.

Bio: 

Dada Abiodun is a recent National Diploma graduate of the Federal Polytechnic of Ilaro where he studied Architecture. He is currently aspiring to further his studies in Architecture in the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University. He was born on January 3, 1998. He is a native of Ogun State. He is a passionate lover of art and enjoys spending his leisure doing fun activities like drawing, singing, playing board games, and reading books.

Twitter @Nerdy_Abbey

Facebook @https://m.facebook.com/dada.abiodun.52

WhatsApp @+2348146199131

The post [2ND POSITION] THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POVERTY AND MENTAL HEALTH appeared first on Project Covid.

But then, does it get easy? Limiting all these and trying to connect more with the real world? Well, in simple, truthful terms; No. I remember gisting one day with my sister about whatever girls gist about and whatnot, and then she began to talk about this Instagram post I missed, or that YouTube video that went viral about Will Smith and Jada Pickett, which I have to confess I haven’t seen till now, or that tweet that trended for days about Erica or whichever celebrity that surges in fame in a matter on clicking fingers. I remember sitting there and having that overwhelming FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, especially when she asked the question; but how don’t you know these things?

It’s easy to browse on what exactly are the effects social media is having on people these days and finding out tons of disadvantages upon disadvantages. I remember the first time I came across “cancel culture” and thought that was the meanest thing a human can do to another on the net, till I saw the rate at which people are being cyber bullied. I mean, just a few hours ago, my favourite Instagram poet, Nikita Gill, just shared the death threats she gets on a regular basis. To be frank, I have come to know that these are platforms in which humanity is lost. Also, I could remember another favourite celebrity of mine posting her birthday pictures and being insulted for her weight gain.

Speaking about birthday pictures, or pictures generally, the last time I dressed up and looked nice for a birthday shoot and posted it online, I had the feeling that I was not as pretty as my pictures, that if people should get to see me in real life, they’d figure I am this imposter sitting on my throne of “beautiful” lies. And then there are so many pictures of so many more pretty people, younger and more successful and I sit there in the mess of my quarter life crisis and wonder what exactly am I celebrating in myself. The depression that swept in afterwards took me off my feet; literally, I was holed up in my room for days.

But then, there is a saying that too much of something becomes toxic. Too much of eating causes health problems, too much of sleeping causes memory loss, too much of this or that will just end up making you miserable. The same goes for social media and the impact it has on mental health. My friends live on my phone, true, but I have pushed myself to meet more people most days in real life and formed connections with strangers on social media, something I would never have done without social media. I learnt I cannot learn everything that’s happening in the world no matter how bad my FOMO can be, so I take in what I can to keep in touch with this fast-moving world. I throw in my likes and pour the love of my compliments in comment sections, perhaps which will cheer you up and motivate you to create more content.

To me, social media does have both risks and benefits, and one outweighs the other depending on how you decide to use it, and I choose to make a change with it.

                                        Sarah Yousuph

Bio
Sarah Yousuph is a novelist, poet and medical physiologist. She is passionate about talks on mental health, writing and women rights. Her first published novel is titled, No Escape from You, and has been published on Wattpad.
Instagram: sarah_yousuph
Medium: Sarah Yousuph

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