Will the pandemic lift the stigma on mental health?
Kasper Dilmaghani
Kasper Dilmaghani is studying communication and journalism at Laney College, in Oakland, California, and is a staff writer and copy editor for the college district’s newspaper The Citizen. He is part of On Spec’s Intern Mentorship Program. Follow him on Twitter: @KasperDilmaghan
In our society, it still feels like a weakness to discuss inner conflict.
But I know mustering up the courage to talk about our battles with mental health is an act of heroism.
When you listen to this On Spec podcast episode, you’ll hear about Sonia’s struggle in Tunisia. My exchanges with Sonia before our interview were extremely delicate. I sensed her feelings of doubt; her reservations about discussing her mental health during the pandemic were instantly apparent to me. She said she wanted to move past it; she didn’t want to just be known as the person struggling with mental health issues.
Listen to the accompanying episode:
I couldn’t help but relate to her. Mental health is still largely taboo. It’s shameful to have, and awkward to talk about — or so many people believe. For a long period in my life, my own neglected depression built up and swelled like a tumor. Like my father’s tumor, festering in his thyroid glands until he began treating it.
My father had a big influence on me, and he continues to be a role model for me. His struggle with cancer began when I was nine, and I can’t help but imagine the way people losing loved ones to COVID-19 must feel, especially not being able to be at their bedside.
Until I was able to truly confront his passing away, months before my 18th birthday, my mental health would continue to erode. Finally, nearing the end of my 28th year of life, I decided to go to therapy.
After more than two years, I finally began to see progress. In the past when I tried therapy, similar to Sonia, it didn’t help, it felt like I wasn’t ready. Something was different this time, I was more patient and open-minded about the process. Looking back on prior attempts, it was foolish when I expected results right away, when it had taken a lifetime to experience my trauma.
It’s not easy to talk about mental health, especially if you’re struggling with it.
When I identified my issues, my instinct was to get as far away from them as I could. I discovered that in struggling to confront one’s mental health problems, both fight and flight mechanisms are elicited. You need to fight and you need to move forward or away from the place where you confront the inner depths of yourself.
Listen to the accompanying episode:
Long periods of time can pass, and sometimes, entire episodes of our lives pass by before we are comfortable confronting our demons.
That’s why my podcast episode about mental health resonated with me. I recognize what we’re collectively experiencing during the pandemic — it will probably take a long time to sort out and confront its effects on mental health. Around the world, people have lost their loved ones, their livelihood and their sense of normalcy. All of that has happened in a very short span of time. Regardless of how long it’s taken, that collective suffering can be described as one thing: trauma.
The effects of the pandemic have been far reaching. In my five-month tenure as an intern with On Spec and a staff writer and copy editor for The Citizen, I’ve seen two separate newsrooms transform their coverage completely to follow news around the pandemic. This event is clearly unprecedented. The suffering it’s causing isn’t.
Irregularity, unemployment and death are traumatizing issues people have dealt with for nearly all of human existence. During much of that time, people experiencing those burdens have gone unassisted, a fringe concern of those not dealing with the problems themselves. Such experiences have reached a critical mass during COVID-19.
Sonia and I are no longer on the fringes: most people are experiencing life-altering events all at once around the world. The collective trauma caused by the pandemic will inevitably lead to collective mental health disorders. Updates about people struggling to cope with depression, anxiety and a range of other psychological ailments appear daily in my social media feeds.
What will come in the wake of the growing number of deaths, lost jobs, rampant poverty and uncertainty about the future? The fallout from COVID-19 will most certainly be broad, but issues around mental health will be very clear.
I’ve faced many of my demons, and others still remain. Due to the pandemic I’ve encountered many more: unemployment, life setbacks and isolation. Even occasions to celebrate, like transferring to a university, have been marred by campus closures and uncertainty.
Listen to the accompanying episode:
I hope that in the world that emerges from this pandemic, people will continue to discuss mental health more often and more openly. If we are to heal from our collective trauma, we have to kill the stigma of talking about it. Like Aaron Stadlin-Robbie from Talking Mental Health says in this episode:
“I think the last thing I’ll say is, with regards to mental health, we want to talk about it in a way which, you know, we can chat over a beer.”
In Reporter’s Notebook, On Spec correspondents and guest bloggers share the backstory of the work they do, what is going on behind the scenes and what impression it left on them. If you’d like to contribute, contact us at onspecpodcast at gmail.com. Guest bloggers freely express their opinion.
