I am literally addicted to Facebook I feel. Even when I have so much work to do, I just go on the site and check what’s up. Memes pages are amazing! They really just relieve you in the short, short-term. But in the long-term they really mess you up. The discussion centered around this Ted Talk that we were told to watch and it was of this Professor whose whole life was research about this topic of social media. I guess he had some good points, for exp, he talked about how having a social media portfolio sort thing didn’t make you more marketable in any way, it’s rather, the skills that you have. The market ultimately wants these unique skills that are mutually exclusive from what you post on social media, UNLESS, of course, you are a social media influencer or something. I don’t really understand myself sometimes, but I am always in awe by Kim Kardashian or Kylie Jenner posts on Instagram? I’m actually so embarrassed by it!! I think social media though is definitely necessary for modern social life. Half the things I find out about are on social media, I read Snapchat News in the morning over the WSJ!! There are a lot of cool things that social media does, and it’s definitely addicting. It will be cool to see what kind of things will happen as the Zuckerberg progresses through trial.

The topic of this week’s Table Talk was using art to represent the reality faced by those struggling with their mental health. This was a very unique portrayal of mental illness, as it allowed for a non-verbal, abstract way to describe what is largely considered a purely factual or concrete topic. Often times when we are told about depression or other mental health issues, it’s with a list of possible symptoms and consequences. However, these problems are deeply rooted in emotions, which are much harder to communicate with words. That’s why using paintings seemed so effective. In many cases, the purpose of art is to convey a feeling or emotion that cannot be put into words, making it the perfect medium to display what someone with mental health problems might be feeling.

This Table Talk also sparked another, perhaps more personal conversation, this one about the mental health issue in Cornell. This University is already considered one of the most stressful places to go to school, and I’m sure everyone on campus can attest to that. Half the conversations I have with my friends are about how much work we have in the coming week, or how much sleep we won’t get. It’s gotten to the point where 5-6 hours sleep is considered a good night, while 3-4 is considered normal. Of course, Cornell is a competitive University, so large workloads and stress are to be expected. But, the real issue comes with how the administration handles that stress. We’d hope that mitigating it as much as they possibly could would be a top priority, but that may not be the case. While I didn’t know of this before-hand, many members at the Table Talk brought up how Cornell has not been keeping up with a previous plan to try and improve mental health on campus, which would include more counselors. In addition, there were also stories about how when someone did go for counseling, it was largely ineffective. I’m not aware enough of the administration’s decisions to make any large claims, but I can see that everyone would benefit if the University put more effort into addressing mental health issues, and I’m hoping other students see that as well. Hopefully we’ll see improvements in the future.

Last week, I attended a talk focused on the negative connotation and stigma that surrounds mental illness in society. We discussed how the words used to describe mental illness can discourage someone from seeking the help that they need for fear of being ostracized from their family and community. I found this conversation interesting because people shared not only what mental illness and the words used to describe it mean to them but also, we talked about mental illness on Cornell’s campus.

I thought that I was the only one that had noticed how easily people talk about wanting to die on this campus but my peers also talked about it. The fact that such a phrase is so normalized speaks of a larger issue that we have on this campus of maintaining good mental health practices. As we talked more about what Cornell doesn’t supply for students with disabilities (e.g. nice campus terrain for easier wheelchair accessibility, video lectures for students that are going through a tough time and can’t muster the strength to leave their room for a day), it became more apparent to me that Cornell needs some sort of re-vamping of their mental health outreach in order to reach students dealing with mental and physical disabilities.

On Monday I went to the Table Talk about “The Stigma about Mental Illness”. Going into the event, we had been required to read about an artist, who was part of the movement to break the stigma surrounding it, by depicting different mental health disorders with bright colors and overlapping positive and negative imagery. I was surprised by how much these images spoke to me. Even without a defined illness, you can still have moments where you portray yourself differently from how you feel. This was depicted for example in the painting pieces of a woman, dressed in pearls and baking, combined with pieces of geometric designs, contrasting against the put-togetherness of the woman.

As we continued the discussion, an emphasis was put on the ways to combat or help with these mental situations. It shocked me to hear from the others that at Cornell starting counseling takes almost 3 weeks, while in the meantime Cornell Health is willing to prescribe medications ahead of the initial appointment with a counselor. The benefits of Vitamin D were also discussed in helping with seasonal depression disorders.

This talk helped shed a light on how everyone is maybe dealing with their own stuff and so while you may not realize it you are hardly ever alone in how you feel. Now it is just a matter of realizing that receiving care can be just as important as for when you break a bone and without the stigma.

I honestly enjoyed the Table Talk today because it really related to what I want to do in the future. I’ve been very interested in mental health and forms of therapy since I want to be a psychiatrist in the future. Something that stood out to me during this conversation with Magdala (who is always amazing) was how different people have different defenses. How do we block others from seeing how we are feeling? Even some of the greetings have meanings that vary with tone and we, as a society, like to keep up a flawless image to present to others. One person mentioned that dressing up was their shield against society and it’s just very sad. Based on personal experiences and what I’ve seen from my friends’ experiences, it is very, very hard to keep up appearances when you just don’t want to get out of bed.

Something that has always annoyed me was how lightly we treat mental health when it really effects how we function. While we acknowledge how mental health can effect functioning, we don’t treat it as an actual issue. We either consider mental illness as an excuse for being lazy and inconsiderate of others. There are different perspectives on mental illness in different parts of the world. It’s amazing how regardless of culture, we isolate those who we deem different and that’s why so many people have shields and guards. We put on face to make sure others don’t perceive us as things to be put away or isolated. We share a fear of being outcasted because we’ve seen people who don’t fit labels being ousted. Historically, we’ve been institutionalizing people for deviating from the norm and the ghosts of these institutions are still spotted across the east coast. There are still skeletons of buildings where people were kept because they were unfit for society. Maybe, just maybe, the fear of stigma perpetuates stigmatizing others and putting on the mask of normalcy, hiding behind the accepted label.

I attended this Monday’s Table Talk about the stigma surrounding mental illness and how we can shift our perspectives and contribute to a more positive discourse. I had expected this talk to be more subdued than others I had been to in the past because of the sensitive subject matter, but I was wrong; on the contrary, this was one of the most active discussions I had participated in at such an event, and I left feeling satisfied and even optimistic. We discussed the use of art in destigmatizing mental illness, an idea which I found intriguing. Often, one hears about artists who have some mental illness and create beautiful art, such as Vincent Van Gogh. What surprised me about the art of Jennifer Ivanovic, the artist we discussed, was how she used art to show the internal state of someone with a mental illness.

While the discussion never turned too dark or personal, it was clear that everyone who attended had some prior experiences with the tolls mental illness can take, often through a friend or family member. Inevitably, the discussion also turned towards the mental health culture at Cornell. I found it interesting to hear other perspectives on the subject, since this is not often a discussion I have with people I know. I found that there was an interesting dichotomy between two ways Cornell students tend to express themselves under stress. Many people tend to assume a false persona that disguises whatever anxiety they may be feeling with a superficial happiness and sociability; the “everything is fine” response. On the flip side, something that I have noticed is that some people tend towards the other extreme and express sentiments that are more often associated with mental illness. While these statements are often conveyed in dramatic or humorous contexts, I often hear friends expressing morbid thoughts with a casual air that causes me to wonder whether I should be more concerned. While mental illness still faces unfortunate stigmatization, there is also a culture at Cornell that encourages students to overwhelm themselves and normalize extreme stress and anxiety which can hopefully be addressed as well through a more positive and open discourse.

On Monday, I attended the table talk on using art to express what it is like to have a mental illness as well as on the stigma we have around mental illness. I personally think that art is a great way to depict the challenges of a mental illness because there are things that words cannot describe or that words cannot describe accurately enough. In addition, everyone will see the art in a slightly different light – interpreting the art in a way that is meaningful to them. During the talk, we discussed why it is so hard to talk about mental illness, how certain resources like CAPS or EARS could be improved to better their services, and how language affects the way we think about mental illness. After all, it is never easy opening up to people, especially about our personal challenges. I think it is easy to fall into the mindset that you are the only one struggling or dealing with something when in reality, that is often far from being true. I hope that with every conversation, we can break down some more walls that are surrounding mental illness.

This week’s table talk was a pretty open and honest discussion about mental health. The starting point of the conversion was about the artist Jennifer Ivanovic who creates art with the intention of erasing the stigma surrounding mental illness. A few months ago, I visited the Boston Museum of Science which had an entire art exhibit dedicated to mental illness. It was interesting to see how in recent years, psychology and mental health is being more incorporated into the hard sciences. On one hand it dehumanises an individual’s struggles, but it also can help legitimise it in a way. For example, a lot of people don’t believe in clinical depression or think it is equivalent to being sad for a brief amount of time. In reality, the symptoms of depression arise from chemical imbalances of hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain. As a biomedical engineer, I tend to approach mental health from a biology perspective, especially in the context of developing antidepressant drug treatments of improved efficacy. It was very interesting to hear others’ thoughts on this subject.

In my opinion, mental illness has been de-stigmatised a little bit within the last decade and I would attribute a lot of that to social media. The internet allows people to communicate, anonymously if they so wish, about their problems without the fears and concerns usually inhibiting someone from being open. Celebrities and other influencers also have a big impact when they speak out about mental health and give advise about seeking help. For example, NBA star Kevin Love penned this message just today about panic attacks, seeking therapy, and the stigma surrounding mental health.

At the end of the table talk, we each went around and said one word to redefine mental illness in a positive way. Words like strength, perseverance, and individuality were offered. Since language and connotations are so powerful, it is important to be cognizant of the words we use to define ourselves and others.

Tonights table talk was about mental health and I think it is a very important topic to address.  I recently read an article in the cornell daily sun that I think was very interesting and that you might want to check out. http://cornellsun.com/2018/01/31/lieberman-cornell-health-doesnt-meet-student-needs/

I think there is a lot in this article that I agree with but there are also some points where my personal experience differs from that of the author. Something that stuck out to me was this paragraph “I’ve been biting my tongue for a long time when it comes to Cornell’s mental health resources, because, in my mind, criticizing the institutions in place could dissuade someone from pursuing them. However, I believe we are at a point in which the system requires such deep reform that staying silent much longer would be a disservice. Though I believe CAPS is flawed, it is not useless, and students should never stop seeking help.” CAPS while it is flawed is still useful and from my personal experience with CAPS I thought it was extremely helpful. One important thing to note is the wait time to see a CAPS provider is unacceptable. This I think demonstrates how differently we treat physical health from mental health. At this point CAPS is overloaded and the demand for counseling exceeds the supply of counselors. No one should have to wait a month to see a counselor. This is not the fault of the people who work at CAPS but they need more people working to meet the demands of the students. I would like to know why the administration is so hesitant to add more mental health resources on campus when there is so clearly a large demand for it. There has been a increase in tuition every year yet they can’t allocate some of that money to the health and well-being of their students.

I really enjoyed this week’s Table Talk about the stigma of mental health because I think that it really created an environment where people could come together and talk about subjects that are often avoided in a way in which individuals never try to talk about them. When we went around the table and each shared a word about how mental illness can be thought about positively or create something positive, for example, I realized that there are so very many reasons that mental illness should not be stigmatized and hidden and turned into a burden that can make people feel ashamed. When people shared words like “persistence,” “strength,” and “empathy,” it really underscored how mental illness can be something empowering and constructive. Mental illness does not have to be this negative stain that attaches to a person and becomes the first thing others who know that he or she is coping with mental illness see when they look at him or her. After these words were shared, I started to wonder if thinking of mental illness as an experience, rather than disease or deviation from the norm, could alter the often negative, stigmatizing discourse that surrounds mental illness and replace it with a more optimistic, encouraging one. Experiences are things that are constantly changing and uniquely interpreted, and importantly, they do not define the person experiencing them. Moreover, experience often has a positive connotation; the word experience connotes development, discovery, and growth. I think that changing the discourse that surrounds mental illness could really positively impact how society perceives and responds to mental illness as well as how people experience it.

Also, I found it really concerning that improving the inadequate resources and support for students who are coping with mental illness is not a high priority of Cornell’s. I have often heard students say that they found these services inaccessible or overworked but assumed that it was a temporary issue. As everyone was talking about how many people go for help but cannot access it when they need it, I started to think about how there are many things Cornell can do to help students’ mental wellbeing that will not cost anything. I think, for example, that it could be a good idea for the university to reconsider their policy regarding ratio of hours of work per week per credit hour and/or look into whether the amount of work that professors assign comports with these guidelines. I also love the idea of mental health days.