NGO to use Facebook’s power to help South Africans with mental illness

Fourteen years after Facebook’s cataclysmic effect on society‚ the platform has become notorious as a vehicle of hate speech‚ negativity‚ and the calcification of political views along the lunatic fringes.

Research has also fingered it as a culprit in deteriorating mental health across the globe.

But this Friday‚ a South African NGO will be using that very platform for the opposite purpose.

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) will be running their ‘Ask An Expert About Your Mental Health’ event‚ which will entail a free online chat with a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist via Facebook.

The two experts - one at 1pm and one at 7pm - will be available to the public for an hour each and will be answering questions from the public on symptoms‚ treatment‚ medication‚ support groups‚ and where to go for help.

"Depression and anxiety are illnesses defined by loneliness and despair. Those who experience their symptoms may feel trapped and hopeless. By asking questions and engaging in mental wellness conversation‚ one may start to break the chains of these diagnoses‚" psychiatrist Dr Kim Laxton‚ who will be taking the earlier slot‚ said.

This constructive use of Facebook is a refreshing departure from recent research which found that teens‚ in particular‚ were down in the dumps due to social media.

Jean Twenge‚ an American researcher at San Diego State University and author of iGen‚ writes: “Social-networking sites like Facebook promise to connect us to friends. But the portrait of iGen teens emerging from the data is one of a lonely‚ dislocated generation.”

She said in the research that it was found that “teens who visit social-networking sites every day but see their friends in person less frequently” are the most likely to agree with the statements “A lot of times I feel lonely‚” “I often feel left out of things‚” and “I often wish I had more good friends."

It was found that teens’ feelings of loneliness “spiked in 2013 and have remained high since”.

Come Friday‚ SADAG shouldn’t be short of questions: The only representative study conducted so far in South Africa found that around 30% of adults will have suffered from some form of mental disorder in their lifetime.

In the single year covered by the study around one in six adults – or 16.5% – had suffered from common mental disorders.

Of those‚ a quarter of cases were classified as “serious”.

- To join the chats‚ LIKE SADAG’s Facebook Page: The South African Depression and Anxiety Group or go to www.sadag.org. Facebook users that would like to remain anonymous can send a private email to newsletter@sadag.org.za and SADAG will ask on their behalf.