What’s Your Money Story?
One of my first students at Pockets Change told me, “If I don’t have a plan for my money, my money’s gonna have a plan for me.”
It’s a simple statement that also happens to be some of the best financial advice I’ve ever heard.
We start forming relationships with money between 3-7 years old; while we’re listening to Elmo sing about getting new shoes or sneaking to the doorway as our parents watch Succession. Fictional characters’ wants and needs fill more than screens; they shape our financial narratives.
Across storylines, characters exemplify money personalities in action. Every iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spends their (literally) hard fought loot on pizza, but each member embodies distinct habits & tendencies. That’s why our multigenerational Hip Hop & Finance programs start with finding your money personality. We use a simple, 2 question money personality quiz to determine one of four money personalities. The questions are rooted in financial psychology and behavioral economics.
Through money personalities, Students, teachers, and family members of all ages have been able to forgive themselves and move forward. The 4 personalities are full of relatable tendencies that make sense of the seemingly irrational ways we deal with money. Do you only buy things on sale? You may be a complicator! Do you end up blowing the big check you just got because it was from an Evil Corporation? You might be a money monk.
The money havers and knowers love telling young adults about the necessity and urgency of making a financial plan. Set long term goals, invest for your future, make a vision board, max out your 401k, build generational wealth.
Save, invest, and protect the right percentages of your wages, advocate for raises, stick to your plan, and everybody will be wealthy and we’ll have world peace. Do the right thing? Spike Lee made a film about how easy it is to do that.
It’s why many officials want financial education taught as a part of math class. Hard work + discipline = success… except when it doesn’t.
There’s no mathematical or magical formula for perfecting our finances. Budgets are personal and cash flow projections are literal guesses. If all that seems fake, and made up, good! So is money.
Take a breath. [Editor's note: ‘take a breath’ is the definition of inspiration]
Money is about more than numbers, it’s a tool to create change. As storytellers, content creators, and community builders we have a tremendous power to deconstruct money myths and cultivate empathy for the financial exploitation, discrimination, and oppression young adults are being called to navigate.
Our research partner, Knology, found Pockets Change’s approach highly effective in building financial resilience through hip hop pedagogy. Through shared practices and resources we have meaningful money conversations across mediums.
Storytelling creates a transformative space for real, open, and empowering conversations about money. As our students explore their own relationships with money, multimedia creates paths to overcome obstacles, encourage empathy, engage curiosity, and envision possibilities.
Our shared money stories shift narratives that have held back our communities for generations. We encourage content creators and program leaders to reflect on where financial themes could enrich their next project.
Bring Money Stories to Life with Actionable Insights:
Expand storytelling beyond the “middle–class centric” values and assumptions too often depicted. Explore the breadth and depth of how our relationships with money show up.
Share empowering stories of navigating uncertainty and enhancing financial wellbeing even when money is scarce or employment precarious.
Promote self-acceptance and efficacy with the message that “whatever it is you have; these are the ways that you’re able to save and this is what you’re able to do to grow.” As one individual told us, the program approach was valuable because it taught youth how “not to have money control you.”
Media’s Role in Shaping Your Perception of School
Your snooze your alarm for the last (and fifth) time before finally lugging yourself out of bed to get ready for first period. You have an AP test today you’ve barely studied for after getting home late from volleyball practice, a sport you’re only doing so you can write a college essay about your budding athleticism. Speaking of, applications are due this week and you need to recount every instance you’ve done something meaningful in the hopes that your accomplishments will be niche enough to get you an acceptance.
You’re walking to campus, weaving through the heavy press of people all trying to get somewhere, probably to their lectures that started 15 minutes ago because contrary to what your high school teachers told you, professors don’t care about attendance. You’re left to your devices which is why your last meal was an expired bowl of ramen noodles and you forgot about today’s club meeting. Maybe if you budget your time right (consult your local business major) you can still make it to the party tonight with all of your friends who insist going out is what college is about!
High school and college, both critical points in the lives of any young adult and yet simultaneously the most confusing of years. You have two goals that seem irreconcilable - socially developing and thriving and building an impressive academic repertoire. You are stuck on this seesaw of life, trying to balance and stay steady but you always find yourself tipping towards one end or the other.
Finding this balance between two equally important aspects of life is a challenge adults haven’t mastered quite yet. With the heavy presence of social media, TV and film, this pressure worsens. Youth feel the need to fit into the mold of a high school or college student that the media they so heartily consume has dictated to be true.
Movies that come to mind include “Legally Blonde” and “Pitch Perfect” both of which portray an unrealistic and damaging view of what it means to be a college student. In the former, Elle Woods gets into Harvard Law School with minimal qualifications and in the latter being part of the acapella club supersedes all other areas of life including academics and family.
These are two of many examples where media creates unrealistic and unattainable expectations for budding students or it narrows its focus on either the social or academic aspect of school, but never both in conjunction. All of this may contribute to the declining mental health and increased stress of students who feel cheated out of their life experiences when they arrive at school and find it to be nothing like what the media predicted.
The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments reported that 44% of college students across 133 campuses reported feeling depression, 37% had high anxiety and 15% said they considered suicide. Creators can do their part to shift this narrative and produce content that alleviates students of the unfair or unrealistic expectations they believe to be associated with school.
Student #1, a senior at UCLA, looks back on what defined her high school experience and what served as the unrealistic standard she tried to uphold in college. Others students shared that high school involved playing a sport, after school activities and endless outings with friends but Student #1’s emphasis on stress stood out.
“I view [high school] as being unreasonably stressed about college and always going through weird character-developing moments to help you figure out who you are and who your friends are. ”
While the awkwardness of discovering oneself is a normal progression of high school, Student #1 explained that many TV shows made her believe that she could only embark on this self-discovery journey if the things she experienced were extreme, dramatic or all-consuming. She referenced TV shows like Euphoria, Gossip Girl, the OC and 90210 for creating scenarios that would never happen in real life and for fueling her disappointment when high school and college inevitably weren’t like that. It prompted her to wonder if she was forgoing a good high school experience or not preparing enough for college and life beyond.
Euphoria was celebrated for its honest portrayal of drug addiction amongst teens but it also bookmarked every high school experience with drugs, sex and crazy parties, something Student #1 felt shouldn’t be favored over showing an ordinary, awkward and sometimes boring but equally formative time in high school.
Student #2, a sophomore at UCLA agreed and said high school was more about “being socially awkward and having bad friends.”
She adds that TV shows also rely too heavily on stereotypes of high school students and cliques that can perpetuate toxic environments in real life. Rather than focus on unrealistic and isolating tropes like “the jocks” or “the popular kids” or “the nerds” she encourages the media to portray high school as a safe place to explore oneself and be ordinarily extraordinary.
The media has been criticized for this in the past and one of the underlying problems is casting. Teen characters are often cast as unrealistically and stereotypically attractive adults rather than teenagers. Myrna Hart, researcher at UCLA Center for the Study of Women, says this feeds into a larger issue about body-image, role models and perception of age.
“Viewers never really know what an older woman, say 50 or 60 or 70, should realistically look like,” she says in an interview with Teen Vogue. “This precludes women from having any positive role models for aging.”
A 20 or 30 year old adult’s appearance is fully developed and stays the same, which doesn't reflect the fluctuation of features that teenagers experience. If a character that a young viewer idolizes lacks the imperfect skin, changing weight and messy hair typical of a pubescent teen, there is a harmful disconnect from reality.
PhD and clinical psychologist Barbara Greenberg in an interview with Teen Vogue says that this "leads to all kinds of body-image and social-comparison issues and we know that social comparison can be a thief of joy.”
Students #1 and #2 push for more teenagers being cast as teen characters and for more ordinary and simple depictions of the high school experience. They believe there is value in capturing the quiet but important moments of self-discovery and identity exploration too.
The portrayal of college students in the media also creates a heavy disconnect between the screen and real-life. The use of stereotypical characters and romanticized plot lines contributes greatly to the schism students feel between being social and academic and their overall fear and uncertainty about the future.
When asked, students insisted that the media taught them college was not just about doing everything, but being good at everything too. It was about partying, drinking, having a friend group but also going to all your lectures, getting all As, volunteering, doing internships and holding board positions in clubs.
An example of one extreme is the TV show Girl Meets World where students abandon academic pursuits and treat the classroom like an open forum to discuss friendships, family and identity formation. On the other end, shows like Big Bang Theory show characters whose every aspect of life is defined by school and work. The show demeans characters who have aspirations and interests outside of academia and STEM.
Student #3, a sophomore early in her time at UCLA agrees it is important to be academically successful but wishes that the media portrayed academic interests in a more holistic manner.
“Doing good academically is actually important. In movies the people who work hard in school are made fun of but in reality it’s so important”
On the other hand, Student #4, a senior ending her time at UCLA, says she found college did embody some of the social stereotypes she saw on TV.
When asked what she sees as a typical college student she says, “it is a greek life college kid who focuses on classes but also goes out on weekends and is pretty lazy other than that.”
The conflicting opinions of students proves that yes, college life looks different for everybody but more importantly, that the media doesn’t show the importance of balancing both lifestyles, of pursuing a social life without forgoing an academic one and vice versa. This well rounded reality is a hard one for students to accept when they don’t have a clear and accurate example of it in the media.
Student #5, a senior who is the voice of many misrepresented students, wishes the media was instead honest about school and life falling somewhere in the middle.
“I wish the media addressed the way everyone wants college or their lives to look awesome and as good as possible and showed the moment of finally talking about how it isn’t perfect”
It is important to both study and socialize but there are healthier and more effective ways to maximize your time in college. The key is not falling into an extreme category of just partying and drinking or dedicating all your time to school and studying, rather structuring your time in college can help you balance it all.
The Jed Foundation encourages students to order their priorities, show up to class as much as possible, join clubs and socials and expect the path to be imperfect.
“Adjusting to college life isn’t easy for anyone, but in time you’ll figure out what works best for you,” the Jed Foundation says. “And, at any time along the way, you can reach out for the support you need and deserve.”
College is also a time of struggle for students discovering not just their academic interests but who they are and who they want to be. According to social comparison theory, people, especially students, determine their personal, social and academic worth and interests by comparing themselves to others. In fact, some peers are more likely targets of this attention than others based on their visibility and levels of perception.
With today’s youth easily and constantly perceiving television and film, it is no wonder students look toward their screen-counterparts for how to behave, look and act. Social media has also greatly contributed to this kaleidoscope of perception. With influencers and celebrities up close and personal, it’s easier for consumers to think their life should mimic theirs. As a result, average consumers build a warped idea of wealth and success but also a narrow idea of what it means to socially and academically thrive.
Some influencers are not in school and they find happiness in the daily content they post. Other influencers are in school but also balancing brand deals and red carpet events. Social media’s persuasive nature can convince impressionable youth that their success should look identical to that, that their lives need to be parallel to Charli Damelio’s or Kim Kardashian’s. In reality, social and personal success is multifaceted and a college student with 0 Instagram followers can be just as happy and prosperous.
With self-development falling directly into the hands of what we see in the media, it is more important than ever to abandon outdated and damaging stereotypes in favor of honest and authentic representation and to offer support to students who need it.
Student #4 encourages the industry to “ talk more about the mental health aspect of the high school/college experience” while Student #5 wants them to address “more issues with eating disorders and people trying to be stereotypically skinny and perfect.”
For kids approaching the milestone of high school and college, these changes could alter their perception of what it means to be a successful and happy student.
As Student #2 so aptly says, school is not a race to being the most beautiful, most successful, most intelligent, it is about learning something meaningful every step of the way.
“It is about preparing for life. Educate yourself and find how to problem solve in academics and your social life. Have fun and experience things to learn the correct way to respond and to be happy. ”
A Note from the Gen Z Authors of the 2023 Teens & Screens Report
Less romance and more friendship - this is what the adolescents of our 2023 study have asked to see from media, entertainment & storytellers (among other things).
As researchers in the industry, this felt like a headline-worthy discovery. But as young people, this felt like an idea that could casually blend into our many conversations and reflections on community (or lack thereof) that have been centerstage for our generation this year.
Late night musings with friends, discourse on social media, and personal meditation on what it means to connect and bond with others have all been consequential “gifts” from the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak and the isolation that came with it occupied pivotal years of emotional and relational growth for much of Gen Z, with current high school freshmen being in 5th grade (!) when stay-at-home orders were first announced.
Even as we’ve returned to more in-person routines, articles and YouTube essays on persisting loneliness continue to float around: some with a more analytical perspective, exploring reasons we may have entered “the Friendship Recession,” others more personal and titled with a simple but heartbreaking “I have no friends.”
So what’s the sitch? Earlier this year, U.S Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, his advisory confirming that the pandemic simply brought an existing issue to the forefront of our collective consciousness. Social connection has already been declining for decades prior, with the rate of loneliness among young adults having increased every year between 1976 and 2019. Quite surprisingly, young adults today are twice as likely to report feeling lonely than those over 65.
Gen Z is already discussing solutions: #UrbanPlanning on TikTok currently has 434.2M Views, with a frequently discussed topic being “walkable cities” and how they are needed for social well-being. A trending sub-topic is the necessity of “third places,” a social environment such as a bookstore or diner, separate from one’s living or working spaces, “where you relax in public, where you encounter familiar faces and make new acquaintances.” Think Central Perk in Friends!
The problem is, there aren’t many third places left for young people. From the death of malls, to the criminality of “loitering,” and a transactional culture that demands spending money to hang out in such a place - where do young people go?
Arguably, as “digital natives,” media (particularly, social media) is where young people tend to land on as their third place.
How does this digital third space contribute to this generation’s collective identity? In our opinion, what’s crucial for storytellers to grasp about Gen Z isn’t the latest slang or weekly trends. Rather, what’s important is understanding the expanded worldview that comes with growing up on the internet and being able to interact with a myriad of different perspectives. What’s important is understanding how the opportunities they’ve had to explore their own identities and understand others’ identities have shifted and changed the kinds of stories they’re open to, the kind of characters they want to see front and center, and the storylines they believe to be authentic.
And while it’s essential to examine how this “digital native” identity sets Gen Z apart from previous generations, it’s also important to acknowledge that they are the same as previous generations: they are social beings that need face-to-face interaction, something that digital connectedness cannot replace.
We received the following response from a 12-year-old participant in Oklahoma:
“The Sand Lot is a baseball movie i like. i wish i could go outside and play like [they] did at the time. today its not safe”
Though simple, his words felt like a poignant representation of what many of our respondents seemed to be hinting at: that the core essence of kids (at heart) and teens will always be the same – from camaraderie to curiosity and a sense of adventure (or even just playing outside) – and it appears that somewhere along the way, this may have been forgotten in storytelling.
So young people are feeling a lack of close friendships, a separation from their community, and a sense that their digital citizen identity has superseded their sense of belonging in the real world - What can you do about it?
Well, it goes without saying that life and art are in perpetual conversation with one another. But, we cannot underestimate the role art has in this dynamic: Oscar Wilde shared in his 1891 essay, The Decay of Lying, that despite the existence of fog in London for centuries, its beauty and wonder is noticed because “poets and painters have taught the loveliness of such effects…They did not exist till Art had invented them.”
Storytelling (as an art) has the incredible power to influence the mood of the zeitgeist and the lens through which people see the world. Ask young people what it is they want to see, then listen: Shine a light on the ideas, characters, and relationships they desire in your stories, and the same light will appear in the real world.
The Social, Political and Personal Effects of Trans Media as told by Tre’vell Anderson
Queer history is not often what society’s heteronormative lens perceives it to be. Queer history dates back to a time when the word did not exist but people who expressed their truest selves did. Tre’vell Anderson, in their book “We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film” explores their own journey of self-discovery as bookmarked by queer media throughout the ages.
Anderson is a journalist who co-hosts podcasts FANTI and What a Day and advocates for trans visibility through their board position in the National Association of Black Journalists. Their inspiration for “We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film” was a culmination of the questions and comments they had on the history of trans images on the big screen.
“Often film and television in our culture is deemed as superfluous, having no meaning or not being important or significant. But, for so many of us film and TV has been a possibility model in terms of how we could potentially show up in the world and it became important in the telling of this history.”
The Morning Consult and Trevor Project reported that out of 2,000 American adults polled, only 29% said they know someone who identifies as transgender. Anderson is quick to point out that most people merely believe they haven’t.
“Trans people have always existed, we are existing in everybody’s community right now. Perhaps you don’t know that trans people exist in your community or you don’t know that you’ve met a trans person because you, the individual, have not made that space around you safe enough for that trans person to tell you.”
Hollywood’s Role
GLAAD has been tracking the presence of trans characters in its annual Where We Are on TV report for many years, noting that in the most recent season of TV analyzed, five percent of characters were openly trans. This represents a higher percentage than the number of openly trans Americans in recent data, meaning that many Americans likely have a better chance of encountering a trans person on TV than in their hometowns.
Many Americans have learned everything they know about the trans community from the media and the trans narratives they feature. Media is still showing transgender individuals in scenes and experiences that are intended to implant the idea that being transgender is synonymous with something “ridiculous, horrible and abhorrent,” as Anderson states. It plays a large role in not just the erasure of trans history but it creates a complacence in audiences where they don’t question these narratives of transgender people that are being constantly perpetuated.
“What people learn about us as trans people is coming from film and TV, coming from our cultural productions. So how does what we see on TV and in movies manifest as the very real violences that we as trans people, especially black trans people and especially black trans women see in film?”
In Anderson’s opinion, films like “Psycho” and “Silence of the Lambs” that show transgender people or people in drag as killers, predators, groomers, and/or criminals promote dangerous ideas to their audiences. They feel that audiences are more inclined to accept seeing trans people on the screen being killed because, subconsciously, they do not value the lives of these characters as they might other characters in the story.
“You don’t even question it, which is evidence of how in a lot of ways, so many people, trans people included, become complicit in transphobia and anti-trans hate, transmisia... So a lot of my work at this moment is about getting people to realize the ways in which we are all complicit in the violence that we say we are against.”
However, Anderson points to the people who spearheaded trans visibility in media: Candis Cayne - the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character on the primetime show, Dirty Sexy Money, Chaz Bono - whose transitioning journey was highlighted in the documentary, Becoming Chaz, and was screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and Laverne Cox - the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and who later won a Daytime Emmy Award for being an executive producer on “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word.”
“You have these people but then you also have a generation, generations of trans folk who are working actors, working directors, producers, who are visible on social media and beyond at the same time.”
Political Backlash
Despite this progress, Anderson explains how they, in their book and in their life, see trans visibility as a double-edged sword. While this visibility is impactful in portraying the trans community in a complex and positive manner, it also places a spotlight on the community that can be exploited to stoke fear, political action, and in some cases, violence.
“That visibility, which has allowed so many people to be seen, which has allowed so many people to actualize their truth because they now have an example of what that could look like at the same time this means we are seeing the trans community in particular, but the LBGTQ+ community more broadly, facing legislative attack.”
Supporting the trans community has become highly politically charged. It is all too common for conservative social media users to post angry messages about listing personal pronouns or for conservative parents to appear on the news complaining about trans athletes competing against their children. Legislatively, this culture of outrage has resulted in laws over who can use which bathroom, bans on gender-affirming care, and even the regulation of speech surrounding LGBTQ+ issues in schools. These harmful policies dehumanize trans people, deny them basic human rights, and send a message that how trans people express themselves is intolerable.
Even before the term transgender existed, people who identified as such were present. In these instances, the lack of language perhaps offered them some reprieve from the hatred transgender people experience today. Anderson points out people like Marsha P. Johnson - who wasn’t calling herself a transgender woman - and Slyvester James Jr. - who wasn’t identifying with today’s terms like gender non-conforming or non-binary but was still expressing oneself in an androgynous manner. Now language is being weaponized by people who are too narrow-minded or hateful to expand their words and perspectives.
“By weaponizing the visibility of a community that folks feel like they don’t know because of language, while also exploiting what is just a natural gender ignorance, folks who don’t know this new language or haven’t heard it, who aren’t in social justice or socially component communities when it comes to transness and non-binary identity are doing this because it allows them to have a greater base of support of hate.”
Supporting the Trans Community
Anderson’s book, “How We See Each Other” is an essential resource in not only understanding the good and bad ways that transgender people have been represented in the media overtime, but also what storytellers should be doing to support the trans community when they need it most. Within its pages, Anderson encourages everyone to look at what content they are consuming and employ that awareness to create a safer environment for trans people in everyday life.
“What I’m talking about in the book is how so many of these images have helped me create out of the depths of my imagination this being, this person that I am today.”
While there exist people whose only intention is to erase and diminish, to tell the transgender community who they can and cannot be, Anderson preaches a brave and earnest freedom that has been the antidote to all of this hatred.
“I’m going to be who I know I am. I’m going to articulate myself based on the truth of my own internal knowing not what you or a doctor or the Republicans or the Democrats say we are.”
The conditioning that says your autonomy and freedom should be stifled or that you are confined to the box that society has placed you in based on the gender you were assigned at birth is rightfully being broken with this proud way of thinking and existing.
Media corporations and people in society as a greater whole can all contribute by starting simply with looking at their own actions and beliefs. Anderson urges everyone to look inside themselves and recognize whether they are creating a safe space for trans people in their local communities. Whether you know or not that you are coming in contact with a transgender person, there should be an inherent respect and safe intention in everyone’s actions.
For Anderson that means fighting back on transphobic jokes, asking employers if the insurance offers gender-affirming care, advocating for gender neutral bathrooms in communities or any other small but impactful step you can take locally.
In the film industry, this means working to create more opportunities for transgender people to find jobs and find fame simply by being who they are.
“We don’t have a transgender movie star, like a transgender Will Smith or Denzel Washington or Viola Davis. That largely connects to the opportunities that trans actors and actresses have been given and offered. In this industry we don’t have a Hollywood studio led by any trans people.”
These are institutional changes that society should make to broaden the scope of knowledge and human experience that the media is showing but more than that, it starts with a single person’s actions.
“I know it sounds innocuous but the reality is that we need people to stand up for and assert the humanity of trans people proudly and loudly.”
For Anderson, they believe that if there had been this education and awareness of transgender communities when they were growing up, they could have had an entirely different experience, one that they are hoping young transgender people can finally have today.
“Who might I have been if I knew the outsized impact that Black folks have had on culture and society since the beginning of time? Who could I have been if I had known about the trans pioneers? Imagine who I could have been if I had all of those things, imagine who [transgender people] could be when fully equipped with the information that accurately reflects the society that we live in currently and that we have always lived in.”
This bittersweet provocation proves the importance of enriching society with more culturally component resources and education and not allowing the erasure of entire communities from history.
“It requires us to remain vigilant in our storyteller, in our advocacy and everything else in between.”
This issue of trans-visibility and trans-violence is not just an issue for the moment. It is something to consider and combat everyday through education, compassion and practiced acts of inclusion. Storytellers and filmmakers can use their platforms to create more content that inspires audiences who, like Anderson, struggled to see themselves reflected in the media. Writers and journalists can tell the stories of individuals who are queer and can accurately comment on the experiences they face. It is the responsibility of creators and consumers alike to increase visibility with everyday small but important actionable changes.
Rethinking the Digital Detox: How Platforms Can Help Us Achieve Media Balance
I first learned about the concept of digital detox from a YouTube video in which a young tech executive documents his experience with “dopamine fasting”. I came across this concept again in a book I read earlier this year titled The Information Diet, which outlines steps people can take to orient their consumption of media in a healthier direction. While the associations with the terms “detox” or even “diet” are problematic, both properly shed light on this idea that to be healthy media consumers we need to regulate the kinds and amounts of content we consume each day.
The term “digital balance” is much improved because it presents this idea of portion-control and variety in media consumption without the connotation that it ought to be drastic, short-lived, and unsustainable. In a paper out of the Atlantic Marketing Journal, researchers discuss the challenge of navigating our modern media landscape as a “balancing act”, which requires us to understand the nature of different media and their implicit motivations. In the broadest sense, this balance involves three main categories: entertainment-based media, educational media, and screen-free media, each of which offers a distinct form of value to consumers. And even as the lines between entertainment and education continue to blur, with the so-called rise of infotainment, these categories can help us—and our kids especially—to become more mindful media consumers, aware of the importance of variety and apportionment of digital content.
As communications scholar Neil Postman suggests, as the availability of digital media increases, and as this media becomes increasingly entertainment-driven, it becomes increasingly important to moderate the kinds of content that kids can access. For excesses in screen-based entertainment, he argues, can hinder people’s ability to contextualize information and develop the skills to follow complex linear narratives. Similarly, as a paper out of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction suggests, spending too much time on television and video games, without supplemental education-based or typographic content, can result in slowed learning. Moreover, the fact that these impacts of entertainment-dominated media are critically understudied means that we should be particularly cautious of such drastic increases in our uptake of digital entertainment.
Still, balance also means that entertainment-based media can be okay when consumed in healthy proportion to education-based media and off-screen media like reading. In fact, and as reflected in the Surgeon General’s recent advisory on social media and mental health, entertainment-based social media can help contribute to important feelings of connection with others. Media balance is therefore not about labeling individual pieces of content as good or bad, but about figuring out how to moderate the amount of entertainment-based media we consume while ensuring enough time for educational content and screen-free activities.
Yet media companies aren’t always making it easy for us to do this. The supremacy of entertainment-based media over other media forms, especially paper-based typographic media, narrows the media landscape to a dangerous degree. It’s almost as if today’s media consumers are now shopping exclusively at supermarkets that sell only pasta. Sure, it’s great for one-stop shopping before noodle night, but not exactly ideal for those who want to hit all the food groups. Which is why to help people find media balance, especially porous populations like kids, media companies can play an important role by balancing the media supply in this same way. Just as you can find fruits and proteins and dairy at the supermarket, media companies can help ensure that we have the variety of content that makes media balance possible in the first place.
Entertainment can evidently be found in nearly all media, and there is even research to suggest that it can play an important role in helping kids to process information. But when content offers nothing else besides entertainment, it’s hard to obtain the full scope of cognitive value that media can help us develop. To be clear, I’m not talking about infotainment or other entertainment-as-education conglomerates. I’m talking about the kind of content that offers nothing in the way of learning, morality, or representation; the stuff that is designed solely to divert attention towards the screen. Having media balance can be attained only when content makers and content consumers recognize the importance of keeping this supply of pure entertainment in proportion with educational content and everything else in between. The entertainment industry in particular can do this in four primary ways:
Bolstering its collection of educational content
Clearly denoting when content is designed to be educational
Enabling users to search specifically for more educational content
Implementing features that promote greater portion control
When we reconceptualize the concept of digital detox as a more long-term pursuit of balance, we recognize that what’s most important is the collection of our media experiences and not individual pieces of content in isolation. Kids especially can benefit from this notion of balance that complements what they already know about nutrition. Given that our current media landscape tends to skew this balance in favor of entertainment, which carries non-trivial cognitive risks, media platforms should feel empowered to make it easier for people, especially kids, to achieve media balance. And they can do this by maintaining a greater supply of educational content and making it easier for us to portion out how much content we want to consume at any given time. Similarly, we should continue to show kids the importance of screen-free media like reading, which promotes different forms of cognitive development and properly complements other forms of digital media, which are ultimately here to stay.
With proper media balance, we can feel good knowing that we are getting many different kinds of value out of the digital content we consume. And technology platforms are the perfect partners to help us reach these new ideals about balance in the digital age. After all, it’s hard to make it in the world on just pasta.
Iridescence: Empathy Through Storytelling
AAPI Heritage Month Feature
When the rise of Asian hate crimes became so prevalent that it reached national headlines, I felt lost. As a child of Chinese immigrants who grew up in Southern California my whole life, it made me question my relationship with my own culture in a way that I never had before. What could I do to help my community? How could I do my part in trying to heal the polarizing divide in our country? My answer to these questions? Write the story of my life.
How Iridescence Came To Life
I believe that hate comes from a lack of empathy, and that media has the unique capability of giving the viewer a glimpse into someone else’s life, finding a universality in the personal. It might not change their mind completely, but at the very least, it can potentially challenge their preconceived notions on who someone is. So, I wrote a deeply personal short titled Iridescence that explores intergenerational trauma, mental health, and toxic masculinity. I utilized the Center for Scholars & Storytellers’ Boy’s Tip Sheet as a reference in shaping the dialogue and interactions of the characters. I also had the script workshopped in our CSS weekly lab session where multiple lab members gave me resources to research on authentically portraying cultural conflict and Asian mental health. Afterwards, an excerpt from my script was also used as an icebreaker in a CAPE x Center for Scholars & Storytellers think tank on how to authentically portray mental health in media. At the think tank, CAPE Executive Director Michelle Sugihara, congratulated me on my work and I was given invaluable feedback from scholars and storytellers alike on how to improve the script. Fast forward several months later and Iridescence is now making the rounds in the film festival circuit, where it’s placed as a Semifinalist in the Los Angeles Chinese Film Festival and a Finalist for the Independent Shorts Awards among several other accolades. It also has been spotlighted by the Daily Bruin and reviewed by a disability led non-profit organization that I hold near and dear to my heart, RespectAbility.
Breaking Stigma Through Conversation
While winning awards is a cool experience, I view it as secondary to my primary goal with the film which is to destigmatize mental health in the AAPI community. With that, I made sure to create a podcast to accompany the film where I interviewed the cast and crew regarding important taboo topics such as growing up as a minority, mental health allyship, understanding the love languages and cultural differences of our parents, and storytelling as a mechanism for change. I’ve had members of the cast and crew open up to me about how working on the project made them more willing to have those tough conversations with their family and friends, which has been indescribably fulfilling to me.
The Power of Authentic Storytelling
With a cast and crew largely consisting of women and the AAPI community, the film embodies the type of stories I want to tell. Being that the script is based on my own family, I did a table read with them. While my brother and mom were quick to congratulate me, my dad was silent. However, similar to the theme of the film itself, he sent me a long text afterwards, confiding in me that although he never was the type to say “I love you”–he really does. That moment of catharsis is the power of storytelling. As a DEIA advocate, I view authentic storytelling as a moral responsibility. It’s so important to do the research and consult with organizations with your stories because they have real world ramifications on the culture and society. Moving forward, I want to tell authentic stories that bridge the divide in our world and help us see each other not as archetypes, but as human beings. And organizations like the Center for Scholars & Storytellers as well as the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment equip me with the resources and skills to do just that.
Jeremy Hsing
Writer/Director, Former CSS Intern
Nuance Needed in Adolescent Mental Health Stories
Even before the pandemic, mental health challenges were the leading cause of poor life outcomes for youth.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of adolescents in ways we are just beginning to understand, it’s also been a boon to our collective awareness of an issue that existed long before “social distancing” became a fixture in the national lexicon. Adolescence is a developmental period when many mental health problems like depression and substance use begin to emerge – and social and environmental factors can compound these issues. Even before the pandemic, mental health challenges were the leading cause of poor life outcomes for youth. In the 10 years before 2019, the number of high school students reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness had increased by 40% to more than 1 in 3 students. The pandemic has only magnified these pre-existing challenges with shuttered schools, social isolation, and compounded financial and psychological strain on families.
As the pandemic continues, general awareness of the importance of adolescent mental health has increased considerably. But awareness of a problem doesn’t automatically lead to sensitive storytelling. The backlash toward the television show 13 Reasons Why from media critics, educators, and parents points to the difficulties writers face when tackling mental health crises and suicide in adolescents. Graphic, sensationalized content about teen mental health often walks a thin line between relatability and exploitation.
When done right, though, fictional stories may lead to positive outcomes by reducing stigma and normalizing conversations about mental health. This was even the case with the controversial 13 Reasons Why, as research by the Center for Scholars and Storytellers found adolescent viewers were more likely to seek information about issues depicted in the show and have conversations with friends and parents about the topics. Nuanced portrayals of adolescents struggling with mental health and even suicide can be compelling and supportive of healthy development. Here are some recommendations for how to use our research in your stories about mental health:
Strive toward trauma-informed content. This means telling stories in ways that are sensitive - rather than sensationalizing - and empowering towards characters who are experiencing trauma. In the 2012 film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, we see the main character Charlie learn to cope with PTSD from sexual abuse through an evolution of methods – from friendships, to self-medication with drugs and alcohol, and finally to inpatient treatment. The Perks of Being a Wallflower reflects what we know about resilience in adolescence while telling a beautiful (and critically acclaimed) coming of age story.
Model resilience by balancing bleakness with hope. Experts suggest that talking openly about suicide can sometimes serve as a protective factor among adolescents, and CSS’s research reinforces this finding. The 2010 film It’s Kind of a Funny Story does an effective - and affecting - job of this. The main character Craig has the self-awareness to recognize when “normal” stress responses to external pressures become unhealthy, leading him to seek help for what has become full-fledged depression. It’s important to show viewers what supportive environments and relationships look like so that young people know these resources are available.
Move beyond “bootstraps” and “individual savior” storylines. Supporting adolescent mental health is not a one-person job or a matter of self-agency as many false narratives would have us believe. In reality, creating the kinds of deep and complex connections needed is a community-wide undertaking. Think about including not just families, but also schools, community-based organizations, and the healthcare system in supporting roles.
Finding an authentic balance in stories about adolescence and mental health can be difficult. But these narratives also have the potential to accurately and inspiringly show audiences what adolescent development looks like – and how we can support young people who are struggling, together.
Freelancer
Q&A with a Mental Health Professional: Vicki Harrison, MSW
Vicki Harrison, MSW
We asked teens from around the United States to anonymously send us questions that they would like to be answered by a mental health professional. Below, Vicki Harrison, MSW, Program Director for Stanford Psychiatry’s Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, thoughtfully answers some of these questions.
1. How do you approach someone you think needs help?
Start by listening. Reach out with simple phrases like “I’m worried about you. Is there anything I can do to help?” or “I’m here for you if you ever want to talk.” This can start over text or chat if that feels easier. If they open up, be an active listener, really letting them share and not jumping in right away with suggestions and solutions.
2. What is the best advice to give to our friends who might be experiencing depression other than telling them to go see the psychiatrist?
Start with offering validation and empathy before giving advice. Let them know you believe their feelings are real and that they deserve to feel better. Offering to connect them with a trusted teacher, a counselor or with an anonymous peer support line like Teenline could help. If you have been through something similar, sharing your experience and what helped you or didn’t help you can be a support to someone who is struggling.
3. How do I know if I need help?
If you are unsure whether you could benefit from outside help, don’t hesitate to ask. Some young people tell us they don’t feel like their problems are “serious enough” to be worthy of professional help, thinking it is reserved for others. Everyone deserves the opportunity to express their feelings, seek help and to feel supported, no matter how large or small the challenge. There is no magic threshold of symptoms that you first need to cross. In fact, addressing problems early is precisely how you prevent them from getting worse and will give you better chances for improving more quickly. Sometimes simply having one or two conversations with a trusted adult, peer or a mental health professional can be all you need to work through difficult feelings.
4. How do I tell my parents if I feel like I have depression or a mental health disorder?
Asking for help can be incredibly scary. There is still a lot of stigma around mental health and this can lead us to feel ashamed to speak up or somehow like asking for help is a sign of weakness or failure. The stigma comes from misguided messages from our cultures and histories that we’ve internalized and thus impose upon ourselves and our families. The truth is, asking for help is incredibly brave. And although it’s scary, telling someone what you are feeling can feel like a weight off of your shoulders. Saying the words out loud helps to externalize the feelings, getting them out in the open where you can more easily work through them with the support of someone who cares about you. If you don’t feel like you are getting the support you want from your parents, try talking to a trusted teacher or counselor at school or someone in your faith community who you think might be willing to listen without judgment.
5. How can you explain the true effects of mental illness to someone who doesn't experience it themselves?
It can be hard to explain this and for others to truly relate. Mental health professionals can help explain symptoms and impacts to family members because they have a lot of experience doing so. Trusted resources like NAMI offer a lot of resources including videos and written descriptions of mental health symptoms. Another option is to point to articles or online communities where people with lived experience of mental illness have written about their stories in beautiful and descriptive ways. Examples of these include The Mighty and TeenzTalk.
6. How can I feel like I’m doing something important?
This is such a great question for all of us to ask ourselves. Finding meaning and purpose in your life goes hand in hand with mental wellness. And research shows that giving to others through self-less acts boosts both mental and physical health. More and more, the prevailing cultural narrative seems to reinforce a very narrow view of what happiness and fulfillment look like. Yet what we feel connected to and driven by is unique to each and every one of us and those who simply seek out status, power or wealth often end up feeling unfulfilled. So don’t be afraid to try out new things, especially those that serve others. Grounding yourself in a higher purpose and/or finding and pursuing what motivates you can serve as an anchor and motivating force, especially during periods of struggle.
Vicki Harrison, MSW has over twenty years of experience working within the public health, education and mental health sectors developing innovative, community-based programs at the local, state and national levels. As Program Director for Stanford Psychiatry’s Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, she implements a broad portfolio of community-based projects promoting wellbeing, early intervention and increased access to mental health services for young people ages 12-25. This includes allcove - a first of its kind integrated youth mental health model in the U.S. and a national Media and Mental Health Initiative, partnering with the media, mental health and technology sectors to enhance the positive impact of media on youth mental health and wellbeing. She also serves as a founding member of the TikTok Content Advisory Council.
Q&A with a Mental Health Professional: Maryam Kia-Keating, Ph.D.
Maryam Kia-Keating, Ph.D.
We asked teens from around the United States to anonymously send us questions that they would like to be answered by a mental health professional. Below, Maryam Kia-Keating, Ph.D., a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), thoughtfully answers many of these questions.
1. What’s the best path to take to help mental health?
If you suddenly had to run in a race, you would be so relieved, and have an easier time, if you had been exercising and training all along, up to that minute. In fact, instead of worrying, or being overwhelmed, you might think to yourself, “I’m ready for this!” Stressful events in life are like that sudden race: they aren’t predictable in terms of timing, but they are predictably going to happen, in that all of us have to be ready to face significantly stressful life events. The more prepared you are ahead of time for the bumps in the road, the better. And the more you “stay in shape” with your mental health, the easier it is to get through the parts of life that sometimes feel more like an endless and exhausting uphill climb, than a bump. The best path to take to help mental health is by having your mental health toolkit ready. Here are five key tips:
Find and nurture your relationships and support systems.
Make it a priority to find and then regularly participate in activities that bring you joy and meaning.
When possible, minimize your exposure to extreme stress, such as monitoring how much you watch media content that includes violence or other upsetting news items.
Practice mindfulness.
Take care of your physical health by eating healthy, getting regular exercise, and avoiding harmful substances.
2. How do you get diagnosed with a mental health disorder? What does the process look like?
If you are concerned about your mental health, want to get a mental health check-up, or just want some support, you might seek out a formal appointment with a counselor/therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist. These licensed professionals can diagnose you with a mental health disorder once they have completed an in-depth evaluation of your symptoms. In the U.S., mental health professionals use a manual known as the DSM-5 which provides the standard classification system to diagnose a mental health disorder. Just like anytime you see the doctor, they will do their best to gather information about what you are experiencing, and how it is impacting your life, as well as what other factors may be at play. Usually, that means asking you a lot of questions, and sometimes it also means having you fill out some questionnaires.
3. How do you know if it’s just a phase or if you actually have a mental health disorder?
A licensed mental health professional is the best person to help you sort out whether something is just a ‘phase’ and/or if you have a mental health disorder. But remember, just because you get diagnosed with something doesn’t mean you will have it forever – it could technically be ‘just a phase’ too. Just like any illness, you are capable of healing! In order to figure out what’s going on for you, you might be inclined to start with a Google search BUT it’s important to not just rely on what you read on the internet for several reasons. First of all, you can run into inaccurate information there. Second of all, once you start reading, it’s common for people to feel like they might have every condition they read about even when they don’t (commonly known as “medical student syndrome”). Third of all, seeking out proper support early can only be helpful in preventing a mental health disorder. So there’s really a lot of reasons to get a professional evaluation, and assistance to help you through a difficult “phase,” no matter how short or long it lasts.
4. How do I know if I have depression?
Typically, you’ll notice that your mood is low for most of the day, nearly every day. You’ll also experience some related symptoms such as a change in your appetite, energy, thought process, ability to concentrate or make decisions, and/or ability to experience pleasure in things you used to enjoy. Sadness is a normal part of life, and in many cultures, it’s encouraged to be embraced as a tool that can help you reflect and bring you guidance. However, if these symptoms are getting in the way of your functioning, lasting for longer than two weeks, or are accompanied by thoughts about hurting yourself, you should immediately tell someone supportive in your life, and seek treatment from a licensed mental health professional and/or a medical provider.
5. How do I deal with nighttime anxiety?
It’s always helpful to get support from loved ones. Licensed mental health professionals can guide you in coping with nighttime anxiety. Some methods that tend to be useful in addressing anxiety include 1) creating a calming nighttime ritual (also making sure to “unplug” from devices early), 2) having a daily meditation or mindfulness practice that helps keep you grounded and provides you with some breathing techniques, 3) exercising consistently which has benefits for your body from the inside out, and 4) avoiding substances that can increase your anxiety, including caffeine, and sugar.
6. How can you prevent anxiety from taking over your daily life? How do you contact a therapist for anxiety issues?
The best trick is to just keep living, and give yourself that extra push to get through activities that your anxiety tries to get you to stop. The more you avoid activities, people, or places that make you anxious, the more the anxiety stays rather than dissipates. So, instead, commit to yourself that you will continue to embrace and seek life’s adventures whether or not your anxiety is coming with you on that journey. Accept that it might be there sometimes but know that it is most likely to go down over time, especially with anything you practice and have repeated exposure to. Seek help from a mental health professional for guidance and support in dealing with your anxiety – therapy can be incredibly useful for people who experience anxiety and know that the work you do for a short amount of time in therapy can last a lifetime. You can get a referral from your primary care provider, or look over a list of providers and directly contact one of the mental health professionals to schedule an appointment via phone or email, depending on what contact information they offer. Typically, providers will list their areas of expertise, so look for someone who lists anxiety as one of the issues they treat.
7. How do I know if I have gender dysphoria?
According to the DSM-5, gender dysphoria is defined as clinically significant distress or impairment related to a marked incongruence between your expressed gender (i.e., how you experience your gender) and your assigned gender (i.e., what your gender assignment was at birth) for at least 6 months. You also have to experience several other criteria, including a strong desire to be of another gender, which might include the strong desire to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics, to officially receive the diagnosis of gender dysphoria. It can be helpful to seek support from an affirmative, licensed mental health professional for support, especially if you are experiencing significant distress or impairment (such as in relationships, school, or work) in your functioning.
8. How can I stop doing self-harm?
It’s important to recognize that self-harm is never going to provide you with a lasting solution, and it could ultimately cause you some serious consequences, so it’s great that you are motivated to stop. Seeking help and getting appropriate treatment from a licensed mental health professional can help you learn some healthy ways to cope, emotion regulation strategies, how to tolerate distress, how to improve your relationships, and mindfulness skills. These kinds of strategies can help support you to stop self-harm, and to prioritize self-care and self-compassion.
9. What are some distinct differences between ADHD and Autism?
There’s a lot of overlap and researchers are still trying to better understand the relationship between ADHD and Autism. It’s notable that approximately 30-80% of children with Autism also meet criteria for ADHD, and 20-50% of children with ADHD also meet criteria for Autism, so you can see that the two issues can go hand-in-hand. Social skills, language delays, and attention problems can impact people with either diagnosis. That said, someone with ADHD might be more likely to have difficulties with sustained attention, difficulties with organizing tasks or activities, high activity level, impulse regulation, or forgetfulness. Someone with Autism, on the other hand, may be more likely to experience difficulties in social interactions and communication, difficulties maintaining relationships, repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests.
10. How do I know the difference between having ADHD and just being lazy?
Most of us feel lazy at one time or another. Some of that feeling might relate to exhaustion, boredom, lack of motivation, or not enough reward to outweigh the draw of doing nothing. The main difference is that someone with ADHD (which only has a prevalence rate of 7-12%), has impaired executive functioning, and, at a neurobiological level, is experiencing difficulties with planning, organizing, and managing their impulses. Either way, if you are struggling with some of these tasks, it’s always a good step to get professional support in order to not only sort out the causes, but also find some solutions together.
11. How do I know if I have an eating disorder?
There are a number of different ways in which eating disorders will manifest themselves—including restricting food intake, excessive exercise, binging, purging, preoccupation with food, and feelings of loss of control about eating. The bottom line is that it relates to an unhealthy relationship with food and your body, and can include unhealthy behavior patterns, low self-esteem and self-worth, and difficulties in relationships. Engaging in disordered eating patterns can have long-term, severe negative health consequences. Thus, it is especially important to check with both a medical and licensed mental health professional to assess and get treatment for your health and mental health related to eating, nutrition, and learning healthy patterns.
12. Does Bipolar Disorder affect everyone the same way, with the same extent of highs and lows?
Symptoms and severity of Bipolar Disorder can vary quite a bit. Some people have years without symptoms. Some people can experience rapid shifts between highs and lows. Although genetics play a part, studies of identical twins demonstrate that genetics don’t fully determining the outcomes – one identical twin might have Bipolar Disorder while the other does not. If left untreated, Bipolar Disorder can get worse. It’s best to seek help from a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist who can provide treatment and guidance towards creating a long-lasting, consistent healthy lifestyle.
Maryam Kia-Keating, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where she oversees the Trauma & Adversity, Resilience & Prevention (TARP) research lab. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a key collaborator with the Center for Scholars & Storytellers. Her education and training were completed at Dartmouth College, Yale University, Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of California, San Diego. Her interviews on ways to protect mental health and promote resilience have been included in outlets with high volume readerships, including the Washington Post, ABC news, CNN, and Self Magazine. Her website is www.kiakeating.com and she is on Twitter @drkiakeating.
What Should an Alcohol Problem Look Like On-Screen?
Take a moment to picture someone who has a problem with alcohol. A “drinking problem.”
Got it?
If your notion of “drinking problems” is informed mostly by film, chances are the person you just pictured meets a couple of common stereotypes. Their drinking is visibly raucous (the life of the party!), or visibly lonely (alone in their basement). Or maybe their life is quite palpably falling apart: their family is worried, their friends are watchful, their employer is ticked off.
If, on the other hand, your awareness goes deeper than that – if you have personal familiarity with “drinking problems”– perhaps you pictured someone you know. Maybe you pictured the distinctly affected way that your sister gazed at you, gazed blearily at the world, after a couple of drinks. Maybe you remembered how your best friend in college would sink into a corner, sink into some unknowable reality, bottle in hand. Or maybe you grabbed a snapshot of yourself – the first time that you didn’t study quite hard enough for a test because you were hungover. That time when you hurt a friend’s feelings while drunk. The time you opted out of doing something important, something meaningful, something way more you – because hitting the bars sounded like more fun.
Maybe you remember asking yourself: Does she have a problem? Do I have a problem? before quickly dismissing it.
After all, your drinking – her drinking – most drinking – doesn’t look like “problem drinking” in the movies. For that reason, we don’t often confront it. As storytellers, it’s up to us to change the narrative, to change what people picture when they picture an alcohol problem.
Alcohol use disorder: an invisible problem
It may seem counterintuitive to refer to alcohol use disorder, or AUD, as “invisible.” After all, alcohol is a key player in thousands of car crashes, deaths, and sexual assaults annually. The CDC estimates that the cost of excessive alcohol use is 249 billion dollars every year. Far from being “invisible,” alcohol use disorder seems like one of the most obvious problems we have. (Although, in 2021, it’s facing stiff competition.)
In part, that’s true: many signs of alcohol use disorder are obvious. The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual – 5, as well as two of the most commonly used screeners for AUD - the CAGE and the AUDIT - include visible, clear-cut indicators of problem drinking. Things like: People criticizing drinking. People expressing concern. Drinking first thing in the morning. Injuring oneself or others while drinking. Failing to fulfill major obligations. These are visible signs that someone has a “drinking problem.”
And yet, these screening tools include just as many symptoms of alcohol use disorder that are totally invisible. For example, there’s the feeling you need to cut down. There’s the desire to cut down, followed by unsuccessful attempts. Sometimes those attempts are unsuccessful due to strong desires, urges, or cravings. (And it’s not always “the shakes”; sometimes, these cravings are purely psychological.) There’s telling yourself, “I won’t,” followed by “maybe I will.” There’s saying “Maybe just one,” followed by maybe just three. And there’s guilt about drinking – So. Much. Guilt.
For some, there’s the feeling of being less oneself while drunk: the feeling that a small part of oneself has been lost to the subtle erasure afforded by alcohol. Sometimes, this erasure of self is welcome: a little less perfectionistic. A little less attached to expectations. Sometimes, it’s less welcome, as the activities that we used to prioritize are quietly displaced by alcohol.
Here’s my point: The empirical criteria at the heart of alcohol use disorder are, quite often, invisible. On-screen, the pre-game or the frat party might be likely habitat for AUD, but this disorder can just as easily inhabit a quiet night of board games, a dinner date with mom or dad, or a weekend with a good book. If you’re a storyteller, this raises important questions: How do we tell a truer story about alcohol use disorder? How do we make the invisible visible?
Actionable insights: Making the invisible visible
Here are empirically supported ways to tell a truer story, and to help your audience spot the signs of alcohol use disorder in themselves.
Obsessing: After a character drinks – regardless of whether the drinking was uneventful or disastrous – they are soon eager to drink again. They are already thinking about the next opportunity to drink. This is especially key in young characters, who may not have constant access to alcohol. It’s not always about drinking regularly; sometimes, it’s about thinking about drinking regularly.
Wondering: In thinking about her alcohol use, a character asks herself, Is this normal? Could my drinking be a problem? Perhaps she floats this idea by others. It isn’t often that people without a drinking problem repeatedly wonder if they do, in fact, have a problem.
Disappearing: When a character drinks, his countenance and behavior is significantly different from when he is sober. He seems to be seeking a break from simply being himself. He craves permission to be someone different. Something fundamental to the character has vanished, and he is happy to see it go.
Erasure: Think about the long-term consequences of disappearing, of shooing away these fundamental pieces of oneself. Over time, it culminates into a less colorful, less varied, and less individualized life. In the context of a character’s timeline, the introduction of alcohol might correspond with a gradual diminishing of self.
Getting personal
Remember that friend who sinks into the corner? The sister whose hazy eyes betray that, inside, a fundamental piece of herself has drifted away?
That was me.
Within six months of my first drink, I suspected that I had a problem. Four years later, I got help. In between, I told myself that I couldn’t possibly have a problem. I just couldn’t. Drinking problems are easy to spot, I thought, reflecting on the portrayals of problem use I’d seen in books and on screen. That’s not me.
That’s what the media had taught me: drinking problems are obvious. They are sometimes wild. They are, at the least, a little messy. And so, I thought, the college student voluntarily reading her fifth empirical article that evening, getting up intermittently to refill her glass, could not possibly have a problem.
But I could. I did. And if I’d ever seen a relatable portrayal of alcohol use disorder on-screen, maybe I would have done something about it sooner. Maybe the cognitive dissonance would have caught up to me a little quicker. It’s time to give your audience that chance. Teach them something different about alcohol use disorder.
Anna Joliff, she/her/hers, MS Counseling Psychology
Research Specialist for the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT)
How to Support Mental Health in People with Autism
A new study suggests that autistic individuals have higher levels of stress and depression when they don’t feel accepted.
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
Mental health among autistic individuals is an underdeveloped area of research—a situation that many autistic people are advocating to change. This is especially crucial since rates of depression and thoughts of suicide are higher among autistic people than in the general population.
But why would there be a stark difference in the mental health and well-being of autistic people compared to “neurotypical” people? A recent study, one of the few looking at this issue, set out to examine the importance of acceptance.
One hundred eleven autistic individuals in the U.K. filled out online surveys about their levels of acceptance—from themselves and society—and their depression, anxiety, and stress. Authentic autism acceptance would imply “an individual feeling accepted or appreciated as an autistic person, with autism positively recognized and accepted by others and the self as an integral part of that individual,” the study explained.
The results? As predicted, those who felt less accepted by others and by themselves showed higher levels of depression and stress.
When asked about societal acceptance, 43 percent of participants said they did not feel accepted by society in general, and 48 percent said they did not feel accepted sometimes.
In describing their experiences of not feeling accepted, respondents most often alluded to “misunderstandings and misconceptions about autism, experiences of masking/camouflaging,” and other issues, the study authors report. Masking and camouflaging refer to an autistic person making efforts to “pass” as neurotypical and the stress and exhaustion that result from that. It makes sense that feeling pressured to hide a part of yourself would result in higher stress and a tendency toward depression, given how critical social relationships and a sense of belonging are to well-being.
On the other hand, there was no significant link between autism acceptance and anxiety. The researchers postulate that anxiety can come from a host of sources for the autistic person; acceptance may not be as primary as, for example, the sensory sensitivities that can accompany autism.
So how can we support the mental health of autistic people?
According to the researchers, one factor that can contribute to acceptance is how we think about autism—in particular, whether we embrace the “neurodiversity” framework and a social model of disability, as opposed to a medical one. Neurodiversity is a way of conceptualizing mental differences as part of natural human diversity, as opposed to pathologizing some neurological makeups (such as autism) as abnormal. The social model of disability focuses on systemic factors within society that disadvantage particular people, whereas a medical model sees certain people as intrinsically, biologically disabled when they differ from a perceived norm.
The results of this study also indicate that we should pay greater attention to the stressful experience of “masking,” and ways that friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and family members can deepen their understanding of the autistic experience and help autistics feel seen for who they are.
A great place to start is to follow the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag on Twitter (an online social media movement whereby autistic voices are amplified with the slogan “nothing about us without us”), as well as the blog of autistic scholar and activist Nick Walker and my own The Neurodiversity Project. Learning about topics such as sensory sensitivities, heightened empathy (as opposed to lessened), and other unique autistic experiences can go a long way in understanding autistic people in our lives.
This particular study is noteworthy for surveying autistic individuals, as opposed to simply reporting professionals’ views of them. With greater self-acceptance and societal acceptance, autistic people may be able to foster a larger sense of belonging and agency, thereby reducing feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression—all critical for mental health.
Author of the acclaimed book Divergent Mind
Creator of The Neurodiversity Project and The Interracial Project
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
African American teens face mental health crisis but are less likely than whites to get treatment
This article originally appeared on The Conversation.
Black youth in the U.S. experience more illness, poverty, and discrimination than their white counterparts. These issues put them at higher risk for depression and other mental health problems. Yet Black youth are less likely to seek treatment. About 9% of them reported an episode of major depression in the past year, but less than half of those – about 40% – received treatment. By comparison, about 46% of white youth who reported an episode were treated for depressive symptoms.
Instead, some turn to suicide, now the second leading cause of death among Black children ages 10 to 19. That rate is rising faster for them than any other racial or ethnic group. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the rate of suicide attempts for Black adolescents rose 73% from 1991 to 2017.
With schools nationwide grappling with how to offer instruction to students, principals and teachers need to be reminded that Black children have endured a distinctive kind of trauma since the pandemic began. They have had a different experience. The shootings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery – and what happened afterwards – are just two examples.
As an expert in child and adolescent psychology, I know that a multitude of barriers keep Black children, and their families, from receiving that treatment. They need help to deal with the pervasive poverty and racism that surrounds them.
The ‘crazy’ label
Studies suggest Black youth and their families may be less likely to identify their own mental health symptoms. If they do receive referrals for care, they may follow up less often than whites. Delays in seeking care can lead to negative consequences, including emergency psychiatric hospitalizations and non-compliance with treatment recommendations. These youngsters may then become adults with mental health issues that remain unaddressed.
Parents and caregivers should encourage treatment. But interviews with them done as part of one study revealed they sometimes obstruct the process. Many feared their child would be labeled “crazy.” Those caregivers, sensitive to social stigma, also relied on others in the community when deciding to pursue treatment for their sons. Sometimes they would receive support from those they spoke with; other times, they would not.
Because of discrimination and abuse, Blacks have good reason to distrust the mental health system. Health care disparities exist there just as they do in other health care domains. Black adolescents are less likely than white teens to be treated with beneficial psychiatric medications, and more likely than white teens to be hospitalized involuntarily. Other reports suggest Black youth with psychiatric disorders are more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system, while white youth are more often referred for mental health treatment.
That same study found that schools were also pivotal, in both positive and negative ways. Some parents and caregivers said school staff validated their concerns and provided support. Others felt forced to seek services only because they believed their son would be expelled.
Stigmatizing mental illness
Researchers have found that Black adults, exposed to a police killing of an unarmed black citizen through media or word of mouth, had worse mental health. This includes an increased fear of victimization, diminished social trust and a revisiting of prior trauma.
Much the same seems true for Black adolescents. When a group of them aged 11 to 19 viewed traumatic events online – including viral videos of police shootings – they had higher rates of depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms, including re-experiencing, avoidance, numbing, and hyperarousal. Experts have suggested that police violence be viewed as a public health issue, because each killing impacts individuals and communities both physiologically and emotionally. Each incident reminds Black youth that, in this country, their lives have been devalued.
One might consider the impact from the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man shot to death in Glynn County, Georgia, last February. Three white men are charged in the killing. An attorney for one of them attempted to cast doubt on the character of Arbery, who reportedly had a previously diagnosed mental illness. The lead investigator in the case testified that Arbery suffered from hallucinations, though he was not undergoing treatment on the day of his death.
Hallucinations are actually relatively common in children and adolescents. Up to 13% of youth experience them. If Arbery had hallucinations, it appears they had little bearing on his killing, but those with mental health issues were further stigmatized.
With protests sweeping the nation calling for racial justice and defunding the police, I believe more funding to address disparities in mental health care for Black youth is critical. But merely investing in treatment is not enough. To support them and their families, we as a society must deal with stigma, cultural mistrust, systemic inequities and social supports.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
How Adults Can Support the Mental Health of Black Children
Psychologist Riana Elyse Anderson explains how families can communicate about race and cope with racial stress and trauma.
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
With his last breaths, George Floyd called out, “Momma!” before he was killed in Minneapolis. He was one of nearly 1,300 black people who have been killed by police in the last five years. They are two times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans.
Facing destructive policies and attitudes in the United States, mothers and fathers try to safeguard their black children from racism. This often takes the form of preparing them for bias and communicating the real threats to their lives from a history of othering that continues today. But it also involves highlighting how to draw from a well of strengths that black culture and black families—immediate, extended, and historical—possess.
To better understand this process, we interviewed Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson, clinical and community psychologist and professor of public health at the University of Michigan. Anderson developed Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race (EMBRace), a program to help families communicate about race, cope with racial stress and trauma, and build strong relationships and well-being. Below, she explains how black parents can support their children’s mental health, and their own.
Maryam Abdullah: Your research focuses on how black families use racial socialization to protect their children in the face of pervasive racial stress and trauma. What is racial socialization?
Riana Elyse Anderson: Socialization, generally, is the statements that parents are making to their children about how to think or behave in the world. Some common examples of that might be “Look both ways before you cross the street,” or “Don’t touch that iron. It’s hot.” For gender socialization, we’re familiar with suggestions of which sports to play between girls and boys, as a crude example.
Racial socialization is the behaviors and the attitudes being passed down from parent to child with respect to race in particular. Some of those might be wearing certain kente cloth if you’re going to celebrate Kwanzaa or if you’re going to the National African American Museum in Washington, D.C., to celebrate your culture. Those are some of the more positive ones. Unfortunately, we also have to think about “Keep your hands on 10 and 2,” “You can’t wear your hoodie in the store,” or “You have to work twice as hard to get half as far” as some of those elements that are part of “the talk,” the racial socialization talk.
MA: How does racial socialization help black children cope with racial stress?
REA: We’re talking to our children about what it is that mommy or daddy experienced or what they see in the world. We’re able to have that conversation between parent and child, rather than the children not really having a space to ask what’s going on and why so many people are upset or frustrated—or seeing people like them on the news either being snuffed out or arrested for uprising, and then wondering or just keeping it to themselves. That opens up lines of communication, and it doesn’t stop there.
After that line of communication opens up, we get to practice and talk through what it is that we would want to do as a parent or as a child—a series of coping strategies. Do I want to sit here on the couch? (which is totally fine if I want to do that). Do I want to go out and protest? Do I want to write a letter to someone? Do I want to not support a certain business? Now I have options of the things that I want to do, and I feel more efficacious in my ability to execute any of them because I’ve talked with my family about that.
Talking to our family, thinking about strategies, and supporting our children in their ability to execute those strategies is how racial socialization works.
MA: In EMBRace, children and parents work together on a variety of practices. Can you share one?
REA: We use a family tree exercise. Before we even meet with the family about their family tree, we ask them to do some digging. Tell us a bit about who your family members are, who your support system is, then go ahead and put that on this family tree.
Then, demonstrate on this family tree how big and resourceful your community, your garden, your village is. Now you’re seeing, OK, my grandma is with me, my aunts are with me—especially as a child, I can rely on all these people.
And even though I don’t know Michelle Obama, she feels like an auntie to me, so I’m going to put her on my [family] tree. We have a space for greater community influences. OK, Rosa Parks passed away before I was here, but I know that there are streets named after her in Detroit and she’s given a lot of support to black people like me, so I’m going to put her [on].
You start to understand there are people who have come before you and who will come after you who will continue this really rich tradition of who we are and how wonderful our people are. You’re now demonstrating and seeing that I have a whole community who has my back in a time where George Floyd’s life was taken from us in the most violent and visible way. To know that there are millions of people, who now count him as our brother and that he now has as his family, continuing on his legacy, speaks to what it is that we’re trying to do here within EMBRace. We have a whole group of people who are going to support you should you need us. You don’t have to take this racist event by yourself. You can come to your family and that family is an extended family.
MA: What’s important for parents to know about when and how to speak to their young children about racism?
REA: I want you to think about this concept of racial literacy that psychologist Dr. Howard C. Stevenson talks about. Racial literacy pretty much means you’re not going to give a Shakespearean novel to a three year old. You’re going to give an age-appropriate reading book or coloring book to that child, and you all are going to work up gradually to the understanding of what literacy means for their age. We don’t ask you to go beyond your child’s level.
When we’re saying we’re afraid to talk to our children about race, it’s not for them; it’s because we are afraid, if we’re being honest. We don’t know how to talk about it and we’re concerned. What we encourage in EMBRace is to think about your competency, rather than your content—to focus first on building your own skills, confidence, and resilience to stress in these conversations before talking with children.
Skills: Becoming more skillful at these kinds of interactions might involve preparation for and practice using inquiries or questions to ask our kids: “What did you notice?” or “How did that make you feel?”
Confidence: Confidence comes from practicing it more. Maybe that means you practice with yourself in the mirror like you do when you go to your job interview. Maybe you practice it with your loved one. You’re unpacking for yourself first.
Stress: If you go into it without having spoken about it, without thinking about what it means for yourself, you’re going to be highly stressed the entire time you talk to your child. But you can focus on “What are the things that are within my control when I talk to my child? Maybe I can’t change the entire police system, but I can help my child to navigate that one specific thing that they have going on. What can I do today?” That will reduce stress in that moment, along with practice and with inquiry-based questions.
Your child is never too young to have any discussion about it, but you don’t want them to have the most stressful and the most strenuous conversations. You’re the expert, you’re the parent, you already know what [the right level of conversation] is. It’s time for you to take your fear away from your child being the best that they can be.
MA: What further advice do you have for parents right now as they help their children cope with the trauma of current events?
REA: We’re thinking about this idea of “the talk.” Sometimes people have it once and they say, “Done. Great. Did my job.” Then they walk away.
If you think about how frequently you have to tell your child to pick up toys, buckle their safety belt, and clean up after themselves, we understand that having the racial talk once is not sufficient. So, yes, these events are current and, yes, it feels so imminent and so important that we have this conversation right now. There’s a lot going on in the media. There’s a lot going on that your children are hearing or experiencing and they have access to it in ways that years ago children would not have.
At this moment, you should be having conversations with your child. And next week when the protests have died down, you should continue having conversations with your child. And the month after that, you should continue. And weeks after that. At this point, the amount of content in books or media that is around you makes it possible to create a consistent environment. If that practice becomes consistent enough where you are bringing it up and you are letting them know this is an expectation you have for conversation, they will feel comfortable enough bringing it to you: “Mom, I noticed this.”
Use things in the environment, use things in your media, use things in books to ask your child what is it that they’re seeing, how can you support them through this, how do they feel about it?
MA: How can parents take care of their own well-being so they’re in the best position to help their kids?
REA: Our own well-being is compromised right now. We know that anxiety and depression are up three times the amount that they were in January. We are not doing well as a nation right now. If you need time as a parent to step away from this media and these types of conversations, remember that you are a human being, first and foremost—you’re not daddy or mommy first. You really are a human being who needs rest, restoration, self-care, love. There are tasks that parents have that are beyond description. You’re being asked to provide in ways that just defy the amount of energy you might have most days, especially in a stay-at-home-order situation where you are the go-to principal, teacher, nurse, etc.
Unless your child is so young that you cannot step away at all and it would be a physical danger for your child to be alone, if you need a moment to walk around the block or close a door, or to do something for yourself to engage in self-care, by all means, take it. As we’re starting to open up the community a bit more, if you need to create a small cluster of families with whom your child spends some time so that you can find some space and time on your own, by all means safely create that space. It is a cardinal and critical component of your child being well that you are well.
We’ve all heard the mask analogy. We’ve all experienced times where our behaviors can impact those of our children. We know that. It’s not just a saying; we really need you to be well, first and foremost. The practice I would really recommend is just to find time for yourself to carve out your wellness so that you can be the best parent that you can be for your child.
Developmental psychologist, Parenting Program Director of the Greater Good Science Center
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
How Parents Can Support Their Transgender Teens
A new study shows that teens exploring their gender identity value simple acts of caring from their parents the most.
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
When teenagers confide that they are transgender or uncertain about their gender identity, their parents may be unsure how to offer support.
To understand what types of family support transgender adolescents consider helpful, a Stanford research team asked 25 of them for their thoughts. The team also interviewed the teens’ parents.
The actions teens said they valued most were among the simplest, the researchers discovered. Their findings were published in March in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Teens said they most appreciated having parents use their preferred name and pronoun, as well as knowing that their parents were emotionally available and listening to their concerns.
The teenagers usually rated their parents as more supportive than the parents rated themselves, said Tandy Aye, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford Medicine and a pediatric endocrinologist at the Stanford Children’s Health Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic. Aye is the senior author of the study.
“Even when parents are thinking that there is tension over gender identity, that parent-child relationship is still super important,” said Aye. She spoke with Stanford Medicine News about her research.
Erin Digitale: Set the stage for this study. What was previously known about the value of family support for transgender children?
Tandy Aye: Kristina Olson, a researcher in Seattle, has studied how important family support is for young kids going through gender transition or who are gender-expansive, meaning their gender identity doesn’t fit neatly into traditional “boy” or “girl” categories. If they have a supportive family from the beginning, children who are transgender and gender-expansive don’t experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, or suicide compared with cisgender peers. Without family support, all those mental health risks increase substantially. And having family use a child’s preferred name and pronoun has been shown to be protective.
ED: What was new about your approach?
TA: In our study, we were trying to classify the commonalities in families that were supportive. No one had really looked at both perspectives—of transgender teens and of their parents—to see what support looks like.
We used a combination of closed-ended survey questions and open-ended interviews to get information about what parents and teens were thinking, saying, and doing at pivotal times during the teenager’s gender journey. We interviewed parents and adolescents separately; it was very important that we got their views independently.
Among those who seek care at our gender clinic, we meet all sorts of families, and as we were doing this study, we realized that there’s support and there’s acceptance, but they don’t always go hand in hand. Hopefully, support leads to acceptance. We hope we can use what we discovered to help families who are not initially supportive learn how to support their teens.
ED: What did teens tell you about the support they got from their families?
TA: The adolescents always rated their parents to be more supportive than the parents rated themselves. I think that’s surprising, since there can be times of tension between parents and children during adolescence; it is a hard time for anyone. Our finding just shows how much teens really value their parents.
When we asked each group what actions they saw as showing support, parents talked about taking their teen to the gender clinic, getting them connected to resources. But what the majority of adolescents wanted most was for parents just to use their preferred name and pronoun. That validated what another study had found.
Parents come to us worried about what a gender clinic would do, with lots of medical questions and concerns about taking those first steps toward the medical aspects of a gender transition. But we found that what adolescents want is just for their families to acknowledge that they’re exploring their gender. If you can use their preferred name and pronoun, it affirms that you support that exploration.
ED: You also talked with parents about their internal reactions. What did they say?
TA: We asked the parents: While you’re being supportive, what’s the struggle you’re having? I don’t think researchers have asked that of the families of transgender or gender-questioning adolescents before. We found that even parents who are being very supportive are still internally having an adjustment.
The things that were the hardest adjustments for them, interestingly, included using the child’s preferred name and pronoun. The child’s original name was the name that parents really thought about choosing before their child was born, and for the child to say that’s not their name anymore was often challenging for the parents. As to the pronoun, parents would say, “We’ve used it for so long.”
But most parents we spoke to were hiding their adjustment because they wanted to be perceived by their children as being as supportive as possible. I think this is a key takeaway from the study, especially for mental health providers. When the parents come in with their child and say, “Yes, we’re supportive,” it’s important to acknowledge what parents are experiencing and talk to parents about providing services for them, to help them process their own emotions.
ED: What takeaways from this study will be helpful for other families that you see in the Stanford Children’s gender clinic?
TA: When families come to us, they’re often thinking about hormones, surgery, and how difficult all those treatments at end of their child’s transition are going to be. Typically we bring parents back to the moment they’re in and ask, “Where is your child now? Where are you?”
Sometimes parents say, “We’re just having difficulty using the child’s preferred name and pronoun.” We talk about acceptance and ask them to just practice using the name and pronoun at home, and acknowledge to the family how important that support is to their teen. We also let them know that their teen may argue against them or shut down, but that the love they have for them is not forgotten, and it’s still very important to foster that relationship.
Our new research adds to the evidence that transgender adolescents’ perception of their parents’ support may be the key protective factor in the teens’ mental health. It’s that perception of support that parents want to nurture. What can you do? It’s things like offering a hug, being there to listen. These are things anyone can do. They are free and fully reversible, whatever path the teen takes in their gender journey. There are no medical side effects to listening and giving hugs, or trying your child’s preferred name and pronoun. It’s all about helping the teen fully explore who they are.
Pediatrics science writer in the Office of Communications, Stanford University
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
We studied depression messages on YouTube videos and found dangerous and stigmatizing stereotypes prevail
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
Rates of depression have tripled in the U.S. since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recent estimates suggest these numbers remain elevated compared with pre-pandemic rates of mental health problems.
Even before the pandemic, depression was a leading source of disability, affecting over 17 million Americans each year. In a society where mental health education is not uniformly taught in schools, and where most people with depression go untreated, this is a recipe for disaster.
Psychologists have proposed ways to reform mental health care such as increasing access to care through telehealth. These actions are important. However, few experts have provided recommendations for how everyday citizens can flatten the depression curve by reducing stigma.
To better understand why depression stigma persists, my colleagues Ansley Bender and Jon Rottenberg and I examined how depression is depicted in the public sphere. In a recently published study, we systematically coded 327 YouTube videos on depression based on how they presented depression’s causes, prognosis and recommended treatment.
We hoped to gain insight into how one channel of social media presents information on depression. We learned that popular messages on YouTube may unknowingly perpetuate stigma and misconceptions about depression.
Stigma makes depression even harder
While we are no longer in the era of mental institutions and lobotomies, stigma toward depression is alive and well. In a 2018 study that provided 1,173 Americans with a vignette depicting someone with depression, 30% rated them as “violent,” and 20% supported the use of involuntary treatment. In everyday life, many people with depression hear declarations that “depression isn’t real” or “depressed people are just weak and lazy.” Public perception, it seems, either exaggerates or downplays the severity of depression – neither of which captures the truth.
Stigma like this worsens people’s ability to cope with and seek help for depression. For example, a review of 144 studies found that stigma considerably lowers the chance that a person with depression will seek treatment. This is concerning – especially for those who struggle with thoughts of suicide. Former U.S. surgeon general Vice Adm. Jerome M. Adams has called stigma the nation’s No. 1 killer.
This video provides a balanced and accurate depiction of depression.
YouTube says: Nature or nurture
We found that about 50% of the YouTube videos we viewed presented depression as a biological condition, like a “brain disease” or “chemical imbalance.” Over 40% discussed how situational circumstances like losing a job, experiencing abuse, or other life events can cause depression. But these messages are only partially true.
In most cases, depression is the result of a combination of biological, environmental and psychological circumstances, though just 8% of videos showed messaging consistent with this understanding. This is called the biopsychosocial model and is the consensus across clinical psychology and psychiatry. Framing depression as either biological or situational can narrow one’s view of potential treatments, so it is important to convey accurate information about the illness.
For instance, studies show when people are told that their depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, they are more likely to favor antidepressant treatments over other treatments. In other words, these messages may lead people to accidentally ignore other evidenced-based treatments that could help them, including therapy, exercise and lifestyle changes and social support.
The reality is that many treatments work for depression. It might, however, take time for those with depression to find the right treatment combination that works for them.
Further, while many believe that talking about biological origins decreases depression stigma, a review of studies actually found it can have the opposite effect. The story goes like this: When people view depression as a brain disease, they are less likely to blame someone for having depression. However, they are also more likely to view the person with depression as “different,” “dangerous” and “untreatable.” Studies show these beliefs may lessen people’s willingness to support or feel empathy for those with depression.
Regarding his period of depression, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson states, “I wish I had someone at that time who could just pull me aside and [say], ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK.’”
YouTube says: Depression lasts for years…sometimes a lifetime
This message is partial truth, but the science suggests a more complicated picture. For some, depression can last for years depending on their life circumstances and access to treatment. For others, depression may last for only a few months. A 2011 review of depression studies concluded “the majority of individuals who experience depression will recover within one year.”
Making this distinction is important because it reminds us that depression is not permanent; even though depression, by its nature, can make us feel as if everything is hopeless and won’t improve … or if things do get better, they will inevitably get worse again.
It is important for all of us, in these times of uncertainty, isolation, and worry about our loved ones, to remind ourselves and one another that, with time and direct efforts to improve our mental health, we can persevere.
This video misleads by saying that dark chocolate can treat depression.
YouTube says: There are quick fixes
Some of the most irresponsible videos I watched suggested that depression can be “fixed” with a few “simple lifestyle hacks.” Such videos are reminiscent of overpromising self-help gurus. Quick-fix assertions like “just exercise, you’ll feel better” are not only invalidating but untrue. It’s concerning that these videos disguise themselves with scientific-sounding words.
The video “10 Foods to Eat to Fight Depression” shows how the public can be misled. With over 1 million views, the video states, “Dark chocolate can help raise serotonin levels in the body” to fight depression. Unfortunately for people with depression who love chocolate, this scientific-sounding claim is not accurate. Our diet of course affects our mood. But it is oversimplified to say that eating chocolate cures depression.
These messages could lead people to downplay and invalidate the severity of depression. Imagine how a person with depression would feel upon hearing “I know you can’t get out of bed, but have you tried eating a Snickers?”
The next time you or someone you know is feeling depressed, take it seriously. Although the times are tough, and circumstances might feel hopeless, depression is treatable and can be overcome. Check out the National Alliance on Mental Illness for more information.
Doctoral student, clinical psychology, University of South Florida
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
Kids want to learn more about mental illness and how to cope with parents who live with it
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
One in five teens has a parent with a mental illness such as anxiety or depression. These teens are at greater risk of developing a mental illness themselves.
And while they may be familiar with the day-to-day behavioral changes of their family member, they often don’t have access to accurate mental health information that can empower them and increase their ability to respond to mental illness stigma.
For nearly 30 years, I’ve researched the mental health information needs of children and teens who have a family member with mental illness. Study after study reveals that these young people don’t receive sufficient information — at home, school or online – about mental health and illness.
Many parents don’t talk with their children about their mental health disorders. Programs that increase teens’ ability to manage their emotions and interact well socially are on the rise in schools. However, schools severely lack funding, resources and staffing to provide structured lessons that cover the full range of mental health literacy. This includes common mental illnesses and treatments, mental illness stigma, coping with stress and seeking help for oneself or others.
Furthermore, young people with family mental health challenges are often overlooked by mental health providers who are responsible for treating their family member.
Children want help. For example, this study of kids ages 5-17 found that among children who know their parents take psychotropic medication, “there was an interest in knowing more about the medication purpose, regime and side effects.”
Our team recently completed a review of youth-targeted mental health websites that will be published in 2021. We found countries such as Australia and Canada have produced websites with information for individuals and families living with mental illness.
However, most of the content was written for those above the sixth-grade reading level needed for many teens, making it inaccessible. Furthermore, most countries – including the U.S. – do not have online resources addressing the needs of children of parents with mental illness.
After identifying this gap, we worked with colleagues to build new resources. Those include a mental health literacy program to teach children about mental illness as well as tools to measure their knowledge of mental health issues. We are now exploring ways to deliver the program online.
Most recently our team built the Mental Health Info for Teens website to provide accurate mental health information for teens. It was designed for those at an early sixth-grade reading level. American teens who have a family member with mental illness helped guide and review content development. This helped ensure the website matched their needs.
The website provides information for teens on the following four foundations of mental health literacy, which can help them cope when they face family mental health challenges.
1. Understanding mental illness
Identifying mental health disorders, symptoms and treatment is a key component of mental health literacy. This knowledge helps young people understand that symptoms, mood changes and other family dynamics are a result of the mental illness, not something they have done. For example, a teen whose father is diagnosed with bipolar disorder can understand that her father’s extreme mood swings and sudden changes in behavior are caused by his illness and can be treated and managed through a combination of medication and therapy.
2. Myths and stigma busting
Youths often believe that mental illnesses are rare, contagious and untreatable. These myths isolate children living with a family member with mental illness. They may fear what would happen to them if someone were to find out their family secret. Busting myths about mental illness reduces stigma and helps teens realize that many families – even celebrities – struggle with similar challenges.
3. Coping skills
Teenage years are often stressful. Teens are juggling academics, extracurriculars and social relationships. Family mental illness, though no one’s fault, can make these difficult years more stressful. Teens can build a personal plan to manage stress. For example, positive thinking, mindfulness and exercise can help them manage their thoughts, feelings and actions.
4. Seeking help
Teens with a family member with mental illness often find themselves taking care of others. It’s important for them to know where they can find help. Our website has a comprehensive list of resources, including links to crisis hotlines and tools to locate local mental health service providers.
We hope the website can provide a new resource toward increasing mental health information for teens, especially those with family mental illness.
Director of Doctoral Program and Associate Professor of Social Work, Michigan State University
Ph.D. Student, Michigan State University
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
How to Support Teens’ Mental Health During COVID and Beyond
Teens are struggling during the pandemic. Here's what they need from us right now.
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we knew it. Many families across the country have been living in “survival mode.” Tweens and teens continue to experience a range of emotions, including sadness, anger, and fear. If left unresolved, these feelings can take a toll on health and well-being.
Parents of teens share similar struggles. According to Lauren, a mother of two teens in Woodland Hills, California, “My daughter has a hard time spending so much of her day on screens. She says having to do so makes her feel more anxiety than she already was feeling.” Nancy, a mother of two teen boys in Chevy Chase, Maryland, says, “Junior year is supposed to be a key year in high school before college. But my son has shut down.” And Rafaela, whose daughter attends high school in New York City, says, “My daughter is completely stressed about having to go back to school in person because she worries she’s going to get coronavirus.”
Sound familiar? In a survey of more than 4,600 people in Canada last spring, more than a third of families said they felt “very or extremely” anxious about family stress resulting from the pandemic.
When it comes to teens’ emotional and mental health, they are experiencing a crisis, says Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Even before the pandemic, more than 16% of youth in the United States dealt with a mental health disorder, according to a 2019 study in JAMA Pediatrics.
Bracho-Sanchez, who often treats families in Latino and Black communities that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, says the pandemic created the perfect storm of emotional turbulence. “Families are experiencing a lot of stress. Many have lost jobs. They’ve fallen behind on rent. The rates of food insecurity have skyrocketed. All of these things are really hard for everyone in the family—teens included.” Add to these issues virtual schooling, fear of family members getting sick or dying from COVID, feeling isolated and disconnected—it’s no wonder doctors are seeing higher levels of anxiety and depression in teens.
As parents, we can’t control the course of the pandemic. But we can help teens by modeling good coping skills, encouraging healthy habits, and working to understand and relate to what they are going through.
Understand what teens are going through
The first step toward supporting young people through this challenging time is for caring adults to have empathy for the teen experience. And to work to understand how their developmental stage impacts their emotional well-being.
Adolescence is a time when tweens and teens are supposed to be stretching their boundaries and testing limits. That means getting out of the house and trying new things. Figuring out their place among peers and within their communities. Making mistakes and learning how to bounce back. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a matter of safety, tweens and teens are limited from many growth opportunities. And that flies in the face of typical teen development.
For teens, peer relationships are a big deal. Their brains are designed to feel rewarded when they socialize, in some ways more so than adults. Spending time with friends helps them discover their identities and gives them the courage to move away from the family and into the larger world. Being restricted from exploring this aspect of themselves may leave them feeling lonely and bored, and it goes against the messages their brain’s reward centers are sending.
And let’s not forget the missed milestones. From birthdays to graduations to religious or cultural celebrations of growth, adolescence is also a time of important rites of passage. But these celebrations didn’t happen or looked dramatically different in the past year. Teens feel a true sense of loss for missing out on important affirmations that remind them they’re growing up.
On top of all that, the pandemic has diminished teens’ support systems or eliminated some altogether. Besides parents, teens often get support from other caring adults, including extended family and kin networks—grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and others. Caring connections may also stem from teachers, coaches, after-school staff, or religious leaders. In normal times, schools also play an important part in providing mental health services for adolescents; research finds that just over a third of teens who get mental health services get them only at school. With these support channels disrupted, parents have an even bigger role to play in supporting teens’ mental health
Strategies to support teen coping
Start with yourself. One of the most important strategies for parents looking to help their teens is too often ignored: self-care. Parents must take care of themselves. You know, the whole “put your oxygen mask on first” concept. When parents show teens the hard but productive work it takes to cope with stress, they’re teaching them how to face challenges.
Children haven’t fully developed the ability to regulate emotions, so they need to co-regulate with the important adults in their lives. They look to see how their parents and other trusted adults are coping to figure out how they should react. They “borrow” our calm and gain a sense of safety by watching us. But they can just as easily “borrow” our frenzy or catastrophic thinking.
Dr. Ken Ginsburg, director of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication, cautions it’s not as simple as just acting calm around your kids. “Looking like a duck calmly gliding on water is not actually the answer. While it may lend stability, it doesn’t teach strategy. As parents, we want to look like the duck moving through the water but also let our children see that our feet are paddling quickly underneath to help us stay afloat.”
Bracho-Sanchez says when she’s working with teens, she often first considers where the parents are in their own mental health and self-care journey. “I think we sometimes forget that until the parent has enough food, a safe place to live, a stable income . . . it’s really hard for them to help in a way that is sustainable. And until we have provided the parents with resources to care for their own mental health, it will be difficult to create the healing environment that we so badly want for all of our kids.”
Ways for parents to model good self-care for their teens include spending time with others (in a safe way), healthy eating, exercising, getting enough sleep, and making time to relax. Consider relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, reading a book, listening to calming music, or enjoying a hobby. Encourage your tweens and teens to de-stress and take part in self-care routines, as well. Let your teen know these are important tools to take back control of their bodies and minds.
Check in with teens. Amid all the changes and chaos stemming from the pandemic, how do parents learn how their teens are really doing? Ginsburg stresses the importance of listening and taking cues from what teens are saying. And if they’re not saying much, ask open-ended questions that show you care about their well-being. For parents struggling to find the words, try saying, “This is a tough time. I want to know how you’re experiencing this. What are you finding that’s helping you get through it? How can I support you?” Parents don’t have to offer immediate solutions—sometimes kids just need a sympathetic ear.
Re-establish routines. My daughter is in high school, but during the pandemic it has felt like she (and many of her friends) have adopted more of a college-age lifestyle. Staying up late, talking to friends at all hours, sleeping in, snacking throughout the day instead of eating at regular mealtimes. There’s been a loss of structure. Social media and blog posts confirmed my suspicion that parents across the country are witnessing similar things happen with teens in their homes.
It’s essential for our teen’s mental health to get back some structure. Routines offer a sense of order that is calming in the midst of uncertainty. Help your teen re-establish bed- and wake-up times. Encourage them to get dressed in the morning, eat regular meals, and spend time away from screens.
Set the tone. Parents and caring adults can adopt an attitude that is honest, future-oriented, and hopeful. This doesn’t mean denying problems exist. These may be challenging times, but it is also an opportunity to demonstrate how to manage uncertainty. A time to find creative ways to re-connect. And a chance to build resilience.
While it may be difficult to keep a positive mindset, focus on what you can control and remind your children things will get better in the future. Part of this viewpoint includes looking at the reality of the situation and teaching them to believe that their actions (or inaction) make a difference. For example, if watching television news about the pandemic all the time is adding to your teen’s stress, remind them that while they can’t control what appears on the news, they can determine how much they watch. Choosing to turn it off, watch less, or vary the source of programs can impact their ability to maintain a more positive outlook.
Don’t forget joy. As the number of vaccinations continues to rise, Bracho-Sanchez has been encouraging families to (safely) find joy in their lives once again. “Families have been in survival mode for a while now. And when you’re just surviving there’s so much that you don’t allow yourself to do and feel. Families have so much culture and tradition that they can bring to their young people.” She focuses on joy because it’s a powerful emotion for getting through hard times.
For example, my daughter and I have been enjoying putting our own spin on old family recipes. Quincineras, bar and bat mitzvahs—often large, extended family celebrations—are alternatively being enjoyed with immediate family at home as friends and other family members take part “virtually.” Some families are creating new rituals. A friend now works with his kids to come up with “reflection and gratitude” prompts that they write down on slips of folded paper. They open one at dinner to start conversations about things they have to be grateful for and happy about.
Seek help. Sometimes it’s beyond our ability to help teens improve their emotional and mental health. Seeking help from others is an act of great strength. If parents feel unstable or if their own mental health is challenged, there is power in seeking help for yourself and modeling that “I don’t deserve to feel this way. I want to take the steps needed to feel better,” says Ginsburg.
There are many places to reach out for professional help. Find a psychologist near you from the American Psychological Association or ask your personal doctor for local counseling service providers. There are also professionals trained to help children and teens get through tough times. The family pediatrician or a school counselor is a good starting point. You can also reach out to someone you trust in the community for local resources.
Moving toward a new normal
As the pandemic wanes, Ginsburg, who is also author of Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings, says there’s a real opportunity for families and communities to better support teens’ emotional well-being.
Many parents wonder what’s going to happen to this group of teenagers after living through these unprecedented times. What they want to hear is that kids are resilient and will bounce back to normal in no time.
But Ginsburg has a slightly different answer. He says adults first must intentionally work to ensure teens have the support systems in place to help manage the enormous amount of stress they are still under. He adds, “I hope things don’t go back to the way they were before the pandemic. Every generation is shaped by what it’s exposed to during adolescence, and this generation has been exposed to an understanding that human beings need each other. This could be the greatest generation ever if they are shaped by this essential truth.”
Award-winning journalist, writer, and blogger
Executive producer and director of digital content at the Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
How the media may be making the COVID-19 mental health epidemic worse
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
Since the pandemic began, anxiety rates in the U.S. have tripled; the rate of depression has quadrupled. Now research is suggesting the media is part of the problem. Constantly watching and reading news about COVID-19 may be hazardous for your mental health.
We are professors who study the psychological effects on people caught up in crisis, violence and natural disasters. COVID-19 surely qualifies as a crisis, and our survey of more than 1,500 U.S. adults clearly showed that those experiencing the most media exposure about the pandemic had more stress and depression.
It’s understandable. The intimations of death and suffering, and the images of overwhelmed hospitals and intubated patients can be terrifying. COVID-19 has created an infodemic; members of the public are overwhelmed with more information than they can manage. And much of that information, especially online, includes disturbing rumors, conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated statements that confuse, mislead and frighten.
Stress worse for some than others
A June 2020 study of 5,412 U.S. adults says 40% of respondents reported struggling with mental health or substance use issues. This finding did not address whether respondents had COVID-19. Since then, some people who had COVID-19 are now reporting mental health issues that appeared within 90 days after their illness subsided.
Taking care of a relative or friend with the virus might result in mental health problems, and even just knowing someone with COVID-19 can be stressful. And if a family member or friend dies from it, anxiety and depression often follow the grief. This is even more likely if the individual dies alone – or if a memorial isn’t possible because of the pandemic.
Essential workers, from hospitals to grocery stores, have a higher risk for COVID-related mental health problems. This is particularly true for health care workers caring for patients who ultimately died from the virus.
Black and Hispanic adults also report more mental health issues, including substance abuse and thoughts of suicide. Having access to fewer resources and experiencing the systemic racism running through much of U.S. health care may be two of the factors. The COVID-19 pandemic also intersected with episodes of police violence toward Black Americans. This alone may have exacerbated mental health problems.
Children, young adults and college students also show comparatively worse mental health reactions. This could be due to the disconnect they feel, brought on by the isolation from peers, the loss of support from teachers and the disappearance of daily structure.
Setting limits essential
Staying informed is critical, of course. But monitor how much media you’re consuming, and assess how it affects you. If you are constantly worrying, feeling overwhelmed, or having difficulty sleeping, you may be taking in too much COVID media. If this is happening to you, take a break from the news and do other things to help calm your mind.
Parents should frequently check in with children to see how they are affected. Listening to and validating their concerns – and then providing honest responses to their questions – can be enormously helpful. If a child is having difficulty talking about it, the adult can start with open-ended questions (“How do you feel about what is happening?”). Reassure children that everything is being done to protect them and discuss ways to stay safe: Wear a mask, socially distance, wash hands.
Finally, you can model and encourage good coping skills for your children. Remind young people that good things are still happening in the world. Work together to list healthy ways to cope with COVID-19 stress. Then do them. These activities will help your children cope – and it will be good for you too.
Associate Professor of Communication and Public Health, University of Missouri-Columbia
University of Tennessee, College of Social Work, University of Tennessee
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
Avoiding Mental Health Stigmatizations & Encouraging Help Seeking Through Entertainment Media
Mass media have the power to shape our perceptions, attitudes and beliefs toward certain groups, issues and individuals. For better or worse, most forms of media, including entertainment media, serve as primary sources of information for many viewers, influencing our understanding of those around us and in turn, our future behaviors and actions.
Unfortunately, for those struggling with mental illness, the depictions of characters with mental health issues often focus on negative and extreme stereotypical traits that portray these individuals as a danger to society and themselves. These depictions are not only inaccurate and unrepresentative of the millions of people worldwide who face mental health challenges, but they also reinforce preconceived stigmatizations which can lead to diminished self-esteem and social exclusion.
Mental health professionals are often portrayed as odd, unhelpful, unrelatable and/or unavailable, which can have major consequences on those affected by mental illness. These negative portrayals can interfere with help seeking behaviors and prevent individuals from receiving treatment due to factors such as fear, shame, embarrassment and discrimination. A startling two-thirds of individuals with a mental health disorder never seek professional help.
Too often, entertainment programs portray mental illness as something that destroys lives and fail to show viewers that mental illness is common and treatable. By depicting treatment and recovery, the media can help normalize mental health issues, fight stigma, offer hope, and connect viewers with resources for themselves or loved ones.
In a survey commissioned by the mental health organization Mind, based in the UK, findings showed that after seeing a news report or drama involving a character with mental health challenges, more than half of the respondents expressed that it had improved their understanding of mental health issues and a quarter said it had inspired them to start a conversation about mental health. Furthermore, out of the respondents affected by mental health issues, one third were encouraged to seek professional help and get assistance.
Several other studies have highlighted the power of the media to reduce stigma, increase understanding of mental health and increase help-seeking behaviors. For example, one study found that participants who watched a film depicting an accurate portrayal of an individual with schizophrenia, were less likely to endorse stigmatizing attitudes toward individuals with the illness compared to participants who saw an inaccurate portrayal of schizophrenia. Another study found that having a strong relationship to the main character of a television series who had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was associated with lower OCD stereotypes and greater willingness to seek and disclose mental health treatment specifically among participants with a mental illness.
It is clear that the media have the power to influence our perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about individuals living with mental illness and also to help those affected. Therefore, it is in the best interest of millions of viewers and their loved ones for content creators to portray characters with a mental illness accurately and positively.
Here are some actionable insights for storytellers:
Avoid perpetuating stereotypes about mental illness that may be stigmatizing and harmful.
Avoid including stigmatizing language in scripts, such as “crazy,” “psycho,” “looney,” “wacko,” etc.
Avoid making mental illness the defining feature of a character’s personality.
Introduce likeable and relatable characters who also might happen to encounter mental health challenges.
Portray doctors and therapists as helpful and supportive rather than incompetent or unavailable.
Model help-seeking behaviors such as talking to therapists, talking to trusted friends/adults and calling/texting helplines.
Model help-seeking behaviors not only for serious or diagnosable problems but also for common challenges such as stress, divorce and death.
Show supporting cast characters modeling supportive behaviors and describing options for seeking help.
Insert message of mental health treatment, hope and recovery.
Vicki Harrison, MSW
Program Director, Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
Stanford Psychiatry Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing
Adrianna Ruggiero
Senior Research Coordinator for CSS
Food Issues: Telling a Truer Story About Our Relationships with Food
Take a moment to think of the last time you saw “food issues” portrayed on television or film. No, I’m not talking about the most recent season of the Great British Baking Show. (Although I’m certainly open to talking about it.) When I say “food issues,” picture a character with an emotionally laden relationship to food. Someone for whom a slice of cake is not just a slice of cake.
Think back. If you can remember a time at all, I’m guessing food issues looked one of two ways: Perhaps it was someone who refused to eat. Alternatively, perhaps it was someone who ate with abandon. Either way, I bet she was young, I bet she was straight, I bet she was white – and I bet she was a she. I bet she was either very thin or very large, and nowhere in between.
If you yourself have food issues, or if you have friends and family members who do, you already know that this picture isn’t quite right. In reality, the presentation of food issues varies as much as the people they afflict. The question for storytellers is this: How can food issues on-screen look like those in real life? How can we get it right?
What are food issues?
Food issues are not eating disorders. (Eating disorders have quite strict diagnostic criteria.) That being said, food issues are similar to eating disorders in that they may include cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. Food issues frequently develop during adolescence, when greater cognizance of social, cultural, and familial pressures collides with the reality of changing bodies. In the scientific literature (this article, for example), food issues are sometimes defined by behaviors - things like fasting or eating very little, skipping meals, vomiting, abusing laxatives, or over-exercising. But there are also cognitive and emotional components: guilt, preoccupation, dissatisfaction. There’s the process of second (and third, and fourth) guessing before putting something in your mouth. (Am I really hungry? Maybe I’m just bored! Or thirsty!) Often, there’s hunger – hunger that’s more emotional than physical, hunger that results from not just days but years of distrusting one’s own appetite. Those are food issues, and each component – behavioral, cognitive, and emotional – belongs on-screen.
Actionable Insights
Here are three ways storytellers can more accurately depict food issues.
Show diversity and intersectionality. While the portrayal of food issues on television might suggest otherwise, food issues do not predominantly affect white, straight, young, cisgender women. Although food issues often develop in adolescence, they are also common in postmenopausal women. Further, research suggests that food issues disproportionately affect historically marginalized groups, such as sexual, gender, and racial minorities. Although cisgender men are affected at lower rates, their odds increase as they age. Building intersectional portrayals of food issues will not only improve the accuracy and relatability of your characters but may further empower diverse audiences to examine their own food-related thoughts, feelings, behaviors.
Show what food issues actually look like. Evidence suggests that food issues will be supremely relatable to your audience. Seventy-five percent of women endorse the idea that their weight or shape directly impacts their happiness. About half of US adults dieted in the last year (including over 25% of those who are at a “normal” or below-normal weight), and at least 30% of people resort to unhealthy methods of weight loss, such as fasting and purging through an array of compensatory behaviors.
However, food issues don’t often get a fair cameo. They don’t have to involve sneak-eating in the middle of the night or disappearing to the bathroom after a meal. Rather, perhaps your characters simply feel shame around their appetite (no surprise, when the diet industrial complex uses words like “guilty” or “sinful” to describe food). Perhaps your characters are “good” throughout the week, in order to “afford” a “cheat meal” or “cheat day” on the weekend. Perhaps they have internalized the toxic idea that a good meal is something one must “earn” or “budget for” through tracking steps or counting calories. Perhaps they turn down social invitations simply because the proposed restaurant doesn’t have low-carb options or hasn’t posted their nutrition information online. These are examples of realistic and nuanced ways to portray food issues.
Show that “not bad enough” is bad enough. Food issues need not progress into a full-blown eating disorder in order to suck the joy, spontaneity, and inspiration from life. Take it from me: About two years ago, I tried my hand at “intermittent fasting,” or the practice of eating all of one’s daily calories in a relatively short window of time. A podcast or two had claimed that intermittent fasting would “heal my gut” by giving my organs a “rest” – but of course, I was unconsciously hoping for weight loss, too. Nearly every day for nine months, I spent the workday hungry. I got winded on the stairs to my office. In afternoon meetings, I worried whether I’d be too hungry to think. When anyone (a friend, a partner) offered me food outside my allotted eating window, I made up a lackluster excuse to avoid it.
In short: while I didn’t qualify for any specific eating disorder, food issues rendered my life in grayscale. To appease my food issues, I was quite literally sacrificing my performance in the two areas that mattered most to me: work and relationships. Portraying a more subtly problematic relationship with food can convey an important message to your audience: “not bad enough” is plenty bad enough. “Not bad enough” still takes our freedom away.
Why get it right?
As a storyteller, you might be asking yourself this: If food issues aren’t real eating disorders, and if food issues really are as common as this article states, do they really deserve their own storyline? Why bother with these painstaking and nuanced portrayals? Aren’t there more important things to do?
Only you can answer that question. Perhaps there are better uses of your time. For me, there aren’t. As a storyteller myself, I have found immense relief and gratification in telling real stories (often my own story) about food issues. I have heard from readers, friends, and fellows in diet recovery that the stereotypical eating disorder narrative just doesn’t cut it; more often than not, it leaves them feeling ignored, unseen, or needlessly triggered.
I have also experienced it from the other side. That is, I have experienced the transformative power in hearing my own food issues told by someone else. For example, when I learned that my two favorite authors - the late Caroline Knapp, and the bestselling author Glennon Doyle – have themselves struggled with food and body, I was forced to face a key question: How much freer would these women be if they’d made peace with food? And more importantly: How much more free will I be when I do the same?
Give your audience the gift of this question.
Anna Joliff, she/her/hers, MS Counseling Psychology
Research Specialist for the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT)