How Can Culture Change to Accommodate Mental Health In the Pandemic?
From Sarasota Magazine.com
Mental health has become a global crisis amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Isolation from lockdowns, lingering Covid-19 symptoms, financial distress and unemployment have all been contributing factors.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s first Household Pulse survey of 2021, anxiety rates are 35.9 percent—that’s 6.1 percent higher than before the pandemic. Rates of substance abuse, alcoholism and overdose have also increased.
One of the ways to address this crisis is through open discussion and breaking the social stigma of mental illness.
New College of Florida hosts monthly “Campus Conversations” with professors to touch on these topics.
On Thursday, March 17, assistant professor of anthropology Dr. Yidong Gong held a session called “Beyond the Naming: Mental Health Through the Lens of Culture.” The conversation focused on culture’s effect on the field of psychiatry and the intersection of biology, environment and health.
