What mental health outcomes can we expect with a contracting economy? What about the longer term mental health impacts we are expecting as a result of other changes to our society as a result of Covid, the war in Ukraine, and in the UK, Brexit? 

During and after economic crashes, a great many people are white knuckling as a result of losing their jobs, or in fear of losing their jobs, and a lot of these people, either attempt to, or sadly take their own lives. In other words, global and local financial and political circumstances are intimately related to our mental health. 

In part two of this conversation series with Professor Kinderman, we learn how social factors, and not our individual biologies, are the primary determinants of our mental health.

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Links from the show:

• Trends in the numbers of suicides and unemployment claimants in England, 2000-10, by sex: https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5142
• Australian male suicide rate over age: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2019/June/Mens_health

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Be a hearo:

• If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!
• For a free pdf download of seven evidence-based mental health optimisation activities for pretty much anyone, subscribe to our monthly newsletter - we never ever spam. Go to: onthelowdown.com.au/newsletter-signup
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• To support the show, go to our Patreon page: (https://www.patreon.com/onthelowdown)

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Leave a comment or ask a question about a topic if you want to hear from us. 

Dave and Adam unpick the psychology of Will Smith’s behaviour at the Oscars 2022, his apology to Chris Rock, and the neuroscience of fight, fright or freeze.

What was happening psychologically for Will Smith to physically assault comedian Chris Rock in front of millions at the Oscars earlier this year 2022? Did Rock overstep a line, or was he simply doing what comedians have always done? In this episode Dave and Adam unpick the role of the comic in society today, the psychology of narcissism vs confidence, tall poppy syndrome, and the neuroscience of what our brain is doing when we find ourselves in fight, fright or freeze. 

• Analysis of Will Smith’s slap and apology (05:43)
• The role of the comic in today’s society (13:15)
• The neuroscience of fight, flight or freeze (15:08)
• What is a narcissist? (20:24)
• Confidence vs narcissism (22:39)
• Tall poppy syndrome (31:00)

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Links from the show:

• For a free pdf download of seven evidence-based mental health optimisation activities for pretty much anyone, subscribe to our monthly newsletter - we never ever spam. Go to: onthelowdown.com.au/newsletter-signup
  
  
• Follow us on our socials: Insta and Facebook @HearForEachOther, and LinkedIn.
  
  
• To support the show, go to our Patreon page: patreon.com/onthelowdown
  
  
• All Hear For Each Other episodes here: onthelowdown.com.au/hearforeachother
  
  
• All transcripts here: onthelowdown.com.au/transcripts
  
  

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Leave a comment or ask a question about a topic if you want to hear from us. 

How is mental “illness” a real thing? What causes people to experience psychological distress? According to our guest Professor Peter Kinderman, approximately 95% of the variation in experiences of people diagnosed with depression, anxiety and other forms of psychological distress is explained by differing social factors, with only 5% of the variance explained genetic differences.

Professor Kinderman is a former President of the British Psychological Society, an academic at the University of Liverpool and a practising clinical psychologist. In this episode, which is part one of a three part series on the social drivers of mental health, we learn how referring to psychological distress as an "illness" or a "disease" may not only be technically inaccurate, but can create barriers to better collective health and wellbeing. 

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Links from the show:

• For all other podcast platforms to listen to the show, head to our website podcast page here. 
• For a free pdf download of seven evidence-based mental health optimisation activities for pretty much anyone, subscribe to our monthly newsletter - we never ever spam. Go to: onthelowdown.com.au/newsletter-signup
• To follow us on our socials: Insta @HearForEachOther, Facebook @HearForEachOther, and LinkedIn.
• To support the show, go to our Patreon page: (https://www.patreon.com/onthelowdown)

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Leave a comment or ask a question about a topic if you want to hear from us.