The Local Optimist Digest #12

Welcome to The Local Optimist Digest, your crib sheet for the latest news in mental health. Whether you want to know how the government is (or is not) investing in our wellbeing, discover the latest research on how the mind impacts the body, or find out which celebrities are helping destigmatize the conversation by opening up about their own mental health struggles, we’ll be covering it all here every other week. This week, we're looking at how schools are prepping for a mental health crisis, social media addiction's impact on sex, and the important messaging behind Hulu's new show "The Bear."

Back-to-school prep now involves bracing for a mental health crisis

As many school districts prepare for their first full year of in-person learning since the pandemic began, they're bracing themselves for an anxious and depressed student body. The school data tracking company Burbio reports an increase in K-12 spending on social-emotional learning and mental health services and staff, including school psychologists and movement therapists. Some are setting up "therapeutic support classrooms" and organizing "virtual calming rooms" with links to exercise routines, live animal videos, and crisis hotline resources. It certainly sounds more promising than going to the nurse's office with a fake physical ailment because you're sad and want to lie down. READ

Could Vitamin B6 help reduce anxiety symptoms?

This week in "maybe not all vitamins and supplements are scams," a new study out of the University of Reading in the UK found that people who took high doses of vitamin B6 for a month showed a statistically significant reduction in anxiety symptoms and improved functioning of GABA, the "calming" neurotransmitter. While it's often argued that B6 can be found just fine with the right diet, it's worth noting that participants in the study took 100mg daily, a much higher amount than you can find in sources like chickpeas or tuna. READ

A new study casts doubt on everything we thought we knew about depression

We've heard it countless times: depression is caused by low levels of serotonin in the brain – but what if it's actually... not? A new umbrella analysis of 17 previous studies conducted by the University College London found that there may be no link between serotonin and depression at all. But don't throw out your SSRIS (which target serotonin) just yet: experts argue that it's not good enough reason to throw them out, citing their high efficacy levels and the fact that they were proven effective before the low-serotonin theory of depression even came to be. Insert the raised hands emoji here. READ

Two new lawsuits blame Instagram for teens' eating disorders

Instagram was hit with two new lawsuits this week from parents claiming the platform fueled their teens' eating disorders by actively promoting photos of very thin models and content related to extreme exercise, despite their awareness of the risks. Both girls attempted suicide and were hospitalized multiple times, with one of them requiring a feeding tube because she would not eat. While EDs are complex illnesses caused by a host of factors, you only need to log onto Instagram once to know just how toxic its body image content can be. READ

Being a content creator is not all it's cracked up to be

Yes, their lives look perfect – fun-filled, extravagant, and problem-free – but, for some online influencers, there's a darker story lying beneath their perfectly curated feeds. Multiple researchers have found that the career path often involves pay disparities on the basis of gender, race, and disability, pressure to constantly 'perform' (ie. post constantly) in order to be prioritized by social media algorithms, and subsequent burnout from the constant grind. Your corporate job might not be so bad, after all. READ

For many Black people, remote work has been a blessing

Office environments are riddled with unpleasantries for everyone, but for Black people facing microaggressions, lack of diversity, and blatant racism, they can take a real psychological toll. As a result, many have found remote work during the pandemic to be a blessing and are opting out of returning to offices altogether. As one person put it, "While there is something to be said about socializing and brainstorming with people, it's not worth it when you're facing workplace harassment and racism." READ

Now here's a reason to log off: social media is bad for your sex life

What's more important: "reading" (a loose term here) DeuxMoi's Sunday Spotted or your sex life? New research published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that frequent and compulsive use of social media is linked to a number of sexual problems among men and women. The most addicted users were found to have lower sexual arousal and desire, as well as greater sexual dissatisfaction, with men experiencing more erectile dysfunction and women having greater difficulty orgasming. Welp, time to log off forever. READ

One of the most troubling and common forms of anxiety is "anticipatory anxiety," in which we experience an excessive or debilitating amount of worry about a future event, often fearing the outcome will be negative.

To get ahead of this anxiety before it consumes you, experts suggest repeating the 3-word mantra "wait to worry." It's been proven to remind people that they're angsting about something in the future (which worrying about now won't affect) and helps to bring them back to the present moment. We're sold.

Hulu's "The Bear" takes a hard look at toxic masculinity

If you've been online lately, there's a 100% chance you've heard people raving about Hulu's new show "The Bear." On the surface, it's a show about a fine dining chef who returns home to run his family sandwich shop after his brother dies by suicide, but as Sophie Gilbert writes in The Atlantic, it's really about something more: "[It's] almost anthropological in its analysis of the ways in which men and male-dominated cultures are set up to fail. What if, it seems to wonder, the qualities required for people to thrive in hierarchies–kitchens, boardrooms, small-time criminal subsets, are also poisoning those worlds from within?" Consider it required watching. READ

A mental health check-in with the Madhappy founders

Speaking of masculinity, the latest episode of The Madhappy Podcast offers a nice antidote to the more toxic ideas of what it means to be a man when co-founders Mason Spector and Peiman Raf, as well as show producer Phinneas Ellis, check in on each other's mental health. The guys explore navigating periods where you don't feel quite like yourself, learning to accept life's ebbs and flows, and the importance of surrounding yourself with supportive people – and, yes, "The Bear" gets the spotlight, too. READ

Community Health for Asian Americans

It's National Minority Mental Health Month, so we've been looking toward groups that are bringing awareness to the unique mental health struggles that racial and ethnic minority communities face. While there are many amazing non-profits doing this work, this week, we wanted to spotlight one in particular, Community Health for Asian Americans, for their 20-year efforts to improve the quality of life of both Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. To learn more about their programs or get involved, head HERE.

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