{"title":"Mental Health v. Social Media: How US pretrial filings against social media platforms frame and leverage evidence for claims of youth mental health harms","authors":"Jacqueline Richards, Kosuke Niitsu, Nora Kenworthy","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100378","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100378","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Major social media platforms face an onslaught of lawsuits and regulatory efforts related to concerns about mental health harms for underage users. This project investigated the claims and research evidence in pretrial filings for three prominent US lawsuits filed against major social media platforms in 2023. We examined these pretrial documents as sites of formative public discourse about potential social media harms, and of major efforts to frame a new US public policy problem. We first analyzed how these filings framed social media as a population-level mental health threat for adolescents, drawing comparisons with how prominent consensus reports frame the problem. We found major differences in these framing strategies, with lawsuits largely lacking public health approaches, and in particular, an attention to the potential disparate and varying harms of platforms among users. We then categorized and assessed the lay and research literature cited in the filings to support their claims. We reviewed filing documents and extracted all citations within them, coding them categorically, and then conducted a mapping literature review of all the research articles cited in the suits, coding these references for additional categorical variables. We found that filings were heavily reliant on non-research sources. Among the research cited there was little that documented a causal link between social media and youth health harms. Legal filings did not frame, or cite research documenting, this emerging public health problem as one that has disparate impacts among marginalized users, despite ample research attention to this issue. As the debate around the mental health harms of social media grows larger and more political, this research demonstrates limitations in how litigation is framing this public health problem, as well as in how existing public health research can inform regulatory efforts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100378"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143130234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah S. Willen , Abigail Fisher Williamson , Colleen C. Walsh
{"title":"Who gets to define flourishing? Disentangling social science from theology in flourishing measurement and policy prescriptions","authors":"Sarah S. Willen , Abigail Fisher Williamson , Colleen C. Walsh","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100377","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100377","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this essay, we advance a conversation initiated on these pages by the recent special issue on “Flourishing and Health in Critical Perspective: An Invitation to Interdisciplinary Dialogue” (Willen, 2022; Willen, Williamson, and Walsh 2022), followed by a response from VanderWeele and the Human Flourishing Program team (VanderWeele et al., 2023). We were pleased to learn of their agreement with several of the concerns we raised — among them the need for more qualitative inquiry into flourishing; greater attention to sociocultural differences; and additional consideration of the impact of structural conditions, power dynamics, and legacies of injustice on opportunities to flourish. Yet significant disagreements persist. In this rejoinder, we clarify a foundational concern that precipitated our initial call for critical dialogue: the entanglement of normative religious values and empirical methods in HFP’s work. This concern becomes even more evident in VanderWeele and colleagues’ published response and more recent work. This essay highlights the normative theological commitments that inform HFP’s measures and findings, and it foregrounds the risks of introducing theological views into the design and conduct of social scientific research. If religious commitments shape concept formulation and measurement, then those commitments will inevitably influence the findings and policy recommendations that result. Researchers, policymakers, public health professionals, and others interested in engaging with HFP’s instruments, findings, and recommendations need to be aware of the context of their emergence as well as the normative assumptions upon which they rest.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100377"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143130338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Affordances, mental health and psychiatry","authors":"Nick Manning","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100376","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100376","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper suggests that new directions in mental health and psychiatry are being driven by anomalies within epidemiology, mechanisms, and integration-based cognition. Three contrasting kinds of new work on mental disorder are critically discussed: enactive, ecological and active inference approaches, drawing from work by Varela, Gibson and Friston. These are detailed together with debates about their similarities and differences. All of these positions in fact make common use of ‘affordance’ as a core perception-action mechanism, suggesting promising options for new or enhanced psychiatric interventions. This leads to a critical review of the current state of knowledge on affordances, and their limitations, together with some suggestions as to how this approach might be applied in mental health and psychiatric practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100376"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143153901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Petr Winkler , Benjamin Kunc , Zoe Guerrero , Pavel Mohr , Georg Schomerus , Karolína Mladá
{"title":"Changes in stigma and population mental health literacy before and after the Covid-19 pandemic: Analyses of repeated cross-sectional studies","authors":"Petr Winkler , Benjamin Kunc , Zoe Guerrero , Pavel Mohr , Georg Schomerus , Karolína Mladá","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100369","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100369","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aims</h3><div>The Covid-19 pandemic and related social restrictions have been associated with increased rates of mental health problems, prompting a global surge in interest in mental well-being, which might have had a positive effect on population mental health literacy (MHL). We aimed to compare levels of mental health related stigma among the Czech general adult population before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as recognition of own mental health problems, among those members of the general population who screened positively for mental disorders.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We conducted a comprehensive analysis of multiple almost identically designed cross-sectional surveys carried out on representative samples of the non-institutionalized adult population in Czechia in 2017, 2019, and 2022. Mental health problems were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) in 2017 and 2022, while Self-identification of Mental Illness Scale (SELF-I) gauged self-recognition in 2017 and 2022. Mental health-related stigma was evaluated using the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS) and the Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness scale (CAMI) in 2019 and 2022.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Attitudes towards individuals with mental health problems exhibited no statistically significant change; however, reported and intended behaviours, i.e. proxies of social distance, changed for the better. Also, self-recognition of mental health problems demonstrated statistically significant improvements among those screening positive for depression, anxiety, and suicide risk, but not among alcohol use disorders.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Population MHL remains low and recent positive changes are likely more attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic and related increase in interest in mental health than to deliberate efforts by government or state or other entities. This underscores the complex interplay between societal factors and mental health outcomes, warranting further exploration and reconsideration of public mental health strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100369"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143153902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Carrie Brooke-Sumner , Julie Repper , Inge Petersen , Charlotte Hanlon , Bronwyn Myers , Gill Faris , Bongwekazi Rapiya , Laura Asher
{"title":"Developing peer-led recovery groups (PRIZE) for people with psychosis and their caregivers in a low resource South African setting","authors":"Carrie Brooke-Sumner , Julie Repper , Inge Petersen , Charlotte Hanlon , Bronwyn Myers , Gill Faris , Bongwekazi Rapiya , Laura Asher","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100370","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aim</h3><div>In South Africa and other low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), personal recovery for people with a severe mental health condition (SMHC) is hampered by lack of community-based support. This paper describes the development of a non-specialist and peer-facilitated recovery intervention (PRIZE) intended as an adjunct to psychiatric care.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Intervention development was guided by the MRC framework for complex interventions. Evidence review was followed by 43 in-depth interviews exploring desired recovery outcomes of people with lived experience and caregivers, and 15 interviews with service providers. Thematic analysis guided development of a theory of change and evaluation framework. District stakeholder mapping, engagement and feedback was undertaken to explore acceptability and feasibility of recovery groups facilitated by trained peers (people with lived experience of SMHC or carers).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Intervention components are described in line with the GUIDED framework. Formative work identified expressed recovery needs and led to a theory of change based on building self-esteem, reducing social isolation, and improving responses to financial instability, substance use and medication difficulties. The intervention was based on sharing experiences and coping strategies. It incorporated two phases of mutual support groups comprising people with SMHC and caregivers. An auxiliary social worker-led phase (9 weekly sessions) was followed by a supported peer-led phase (12 weekly sessions). The planned didactic psychosocial rehabilitation intervention evolved into an intervention designed to support individuals’ recovery journeys, grounded in values of building hope, opportunity and control, and harnessing strengths. This required training to realign the practice of auxiliary social workers accustomed to a traditional helping role towards an empowering role. Particular attention was given to processes for supportive supervision and mentorship.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The involvement of district stakeholders and potential participants resulted in a tailored, context-specific intervention with potential to contribute to evidence for community-based, task-shared, peer-led and recovery-focused interventions in LMIC.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100370"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142743830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sick and tired: A quantitative analysis of paid sick leave access and psychological distress by race and gender","authors":"Resha T. Swanson-Varner , Melanie Nadon","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100372","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100372","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100372"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142758862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sharon Abramowitz , Emma Louise Backe , Wilfred Gwaikolo , Susan Nkengasong , Dhruvi Banerjee , Sarah M. Murray
{"title":"Mental health interventions in public health emergencies: The best and the rest in research, evidence, intervention, and policy responses","authors":"Sharon Abramowitz , Emma Louise Backe , Wilfred Gwaikolo , Susan Nkengasong , Dhruvi Banerjee , Sarah M. Murray","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100375","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100375","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The COVID-19 pandemic showed the significant impact of epidemics on mental health and illustrated gaps in public health and epidemic response systems’ ability to respond to mental health and psychosocial needs.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study sought to identify the most and least helpful mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) strategies and elements for intervention in epidemics.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>An online survey with open ended questions was circulated via professional networks and listservs and completed by 11 MHPSS experts with experience in epidemics in July–August 2023. Data were analyzed using a thematic coding approach. Three case studies of MHPSS interventions from Liberia, South Africa, and Uganda are provided.</div></div><div><h3>Key findings</h3><div>The most helpful MHPSS strategies were seen as community-based, integrated with other response systems, inclusive of vulnerable populations, drawing on lived experience and peer support, timely, and rapid. Unhelpful strategies rely on unnuanced sensitization messages, are siloed, and lack community consultation. Case studies illustrate the complexities of delivery in context and highlight the importance of lived experience, community engagement, and local adaptation for success.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>MHPSS services can be employed nimbly and help respond to misinformation and disinformation but work best when integrated with other services. Capacity, particularly among community health workers, for these services must be elevated as a priority in emergency preparedness. While remote interventions are important, they cannot always reach those in most need, and social connection matters. These considerations can guide recognition of mental health as an interconnected public health priority in epidemic response going forward.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100375"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143130341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Athel J. Hu , Pearlyn Neo , Amanda Soon , Harry Tan , Yuxin He , Rayner Kay Jin Tan
{"title":"The social construction of mental illness stigma amongst Asians: A systematic review and meta-ethnography","authors":"Athel J. Hu , Pearlyn Neo , Amanda Soon , Harry Tan , Yuxin He , Rayner Kay Jin Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100371","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100371","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Known to be discrediting and discriminatory in nature, scholars have argued that the impact of stigma against persons with lived experiences of mental illnesses (PWLEs) is far worse than living with the symptoms of the conditions itself. Particularly in Asia where mental illnesses tend to be highly moralized, where PWLEs are often conceived as displaying poor character due to Confucius ideology or religious reasons, evidence has shown that stigma against PWLEs is much stronger in Asia than in the Western contexts. Currently, there is limited insights on the origins of mental illness stigma and how stigma is constructed into moralized forms and perpetuated across society. Underpinned by social constructionism, this systematic review and meta-ethnography paper undertook a theory-driven approach to address ‘how is mental illness stigma socially constructed amongst Asians?’ Systematic search for primary qualitative research journal papers was conducted across six databases (PubMed; Embase; PsycINFO; CINAHL; Social Science Database; SCOPUS), yielding 4516 articles. 30 articles were identified for synthesis. Results revealed how historical context of governmental (colonialism; Confucius ideology; industrialization) and religious institutions and country-specific power elites and individuals shaped the constructions of cultural stigma. Cultural stigma permeates societies through culturally dependent language via word-of-mouth (facilitated by collectivism) and media into forms of public stigma, causing a lack of trust between public and PWLEs. Individuals in societies further perpetuate stigma by means of interpreting, labelling anomalies and discriminating PWLEs based on preconceived learnt cultural prejudices that are activated during social interactions, further reinforcing public stigma. Finally, while most PWLEs anticipate stigma and self-stigmatize due to internalization of cultural and public stigma, unique to this study, a small group of PWLEs was able to resist and contest stigma due to holding socially valued roles that <em>‘matter most’</em>. Recommendations for destigmatization strategies are suggested in view of these findings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100371"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142699493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the societal implications of digital mental health technologies: A critical review","authors":"Olivia A. Stein, Audrey Prost","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100373","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100373","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Digital mental health technologies are services that rely significantly on big data and artificial intelligence and are widely championed as possible solutions to global mental healthcare shortages. Services include prediction and detection of symptoms, personalized treatment, chatbot therapy, and both personal and population-level monitoring. Existing research has focused on describing the functionality, acceptability, and efficacy of these technologies, as well as data governance challenges. This critical review explores the societal implications of digital mental health technologies in terms of its impacts on mental healthcare, population-based monitoring of mental health, and commodification of mental health data.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Searched six databases for literature on digital mental health technologies published between 2014 and 2023 following PRISMA-ScR. Conducted qualitative data analysis of 53 records using the Framework method, bringing into conversation wider literature on mental healthcare, ethics, health equity, and data capitalism.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The literature on digital mental health technologies highlights three main areas of ethical concern. First, these technologies could affect treatment and management through changes in accessibility, quality and resource availability of mental healthcare in either positive or negative ways, depending on linkages with clinical services. In addition, these technologies may have ramifications due to the objectification or dehumanization of mental healthcare, the medicalization of poor mental health, and the prominence of self-management. Second, the implications of novel clinical and population-based monitoring are explored, including algorithm-triggered mental health interventions and surveillance. Third, the literature brings forth reservations about the commodification of mental health data through the practice of data capitalism.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>This critical review suggests an urgent need for comprehensive regulation of digital mental health technologies and scholarly collaboration to curb adverse effects on mental healthcare systems and society, while remaining optimistic regarding the potential benefits of these services if implemented in collaboration with clinicians and communities who experience mental illness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100373"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142719608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Juggling to stay afloat: Debt and health under financialization","authors":"Annie Harper , Tommaso Bardelli , Katherine Kwok","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Household debt has dramatically increased in the United States in the past four decades, notwithstanding a temporary reprieve during the Covid-19 Pandemic. While debt has expanded across social groups, low-income individuals are most negatively impacted, taking on high-cost debt that they struggle to repay, often simply to meet basic needs. This article explores indebtedness among low- and moderate-income US households, and its association with physical and mental health. While most existing studies explore health effects of specific debt types, or monetary value of total debt, our research proposes a categorization of debt into three types (potential wealth-building, problem short-term, and non-loan debt) that is more meaningful in health research and addresses the experience of managing multiple and intersecting debts, common among low-income households. Using mixed methods, we show how these debts are experienced by debtors, resulting in them feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed, ultimately taking a toll on both their physical and mental health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74861,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Mental health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100363"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142699492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}