Letters to the editor – June 16, 2025

A rising pandemic

Mark Said of Msida writes:

If, in these days and times, more than ever, any simple symptom of erratic behaviour alerts the attention of our mental health professionals, then, surely, we are all in a concealed pandemic without our knowing it.

We are continually being bombarded with a mental health problem awareness campaign and told to be on the lookout for the most common symptoms possibly indicative of a mental health issue.

On the first least sign appearing, we may easily self-diagnose ourself as being affected with some kind of mental health problem and rush off to see a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychotherapist.

We read and are told that common symptoms of mental illness in adults and adolescents include excessive worrying or fear, feeling excessively sad or low, confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning and extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable ‘highs’ or feelings of euphoria. Who of us has not had or demonstrated any one of these symptoms?

All people are at risk of mental health. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The reasons could be pathological, seasonal, temporary or simply imaginary. Today, there is an ever-growing list of mental illness types that we may not be totally spared during our lifetime. It’s enough to drive us insane!

In a different dimension, we cannot ignore redefining mental health in a social media world. With Facebook and Instagram active round the clock, we are commenting, sharing, posting and, ultimately, interacting with each other on just these two social media platforms every moment, every day.

More and more studies are revealing that the way we use social media can significantly impact our mental and physical health, from increased anxiety and depression to decreased attention spans, memory, sleep and even self-worth.

Yes, we are all at risk, if not already impacted.

Perhaps a silver lining of COVID-19 is that mental health is no longer out of sight. We cannot ignore that so many of us are struggling right now. Whether experiencing it ourselves or recognising it in our loved ones, we are all learning that there is no health without mental health.

This is an opportunity to see how the complex storm we are in – of biological threat, political turmoil, social inequity, spiritual reckoning and historical trauma – contributes to create mental health symptoms.

There has been no easier time to talk about mental health than during that pandemic because no one is a stranger to it anymore.

Once you start talking about experiencing a mental health struggle, you realise that, actually, you are part of quite a big club. 

You walk in the rain and you feel the rain but, importantly, you are not the rain.