The recent ONS report (ONS, 2021) has shown an increase in depression, particularly for our young people, during the most recent, wintry UK lockdown. This is hardly surprising given the earlier warning signs (Mind, 2020; NHS Digital, 2020, ONS, 2020; Public Health England, 2020) and when you consider the research that highlights the damaging impact of prolonged confinement and isolation—that is, the increased anxiety, depression and irritability we understand as cabin fever (Crawford & Crawford, 2021).
With Mental Health Awareness Week focusing on the benefits of nature for our mental health and wellbeing, it is timely to mitigate the psychological onslaught of prolonged confinement and isolation indoors. It is time to smell the flowers, hug the trees, and be mindful of all that the natural world provides.
This recent lockdown in the UK has hit young people particularly hard. It coincided with winter (the worst season to experience cabin fever)—a time when the weather blocks life outdoors and the shorter days and darker nights add to the encircling gloom. Young people could not escape so easily into the garden or parks with family and friends. Stuck in their bubbles, the serious boredom at the heart of cabin fever took hold, and, as they waited for better news along with the rest of us, the future may have looked particularly grim. With a lot of disruption to schooling, university life or starting training or work, our young people's sense of a bright future has been placed under the hammer.
To help with this, our mental health campaign with Aardman (Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, engaged with young people to share their stories through short animated films about five of life's challenges that they identified as important. These concerned loneliness & isolation, perfectionism, competitiveness, independence and social media. The films and further information are available on the platform www.whatsupwitheveryone.com.
One of the films, on the dangers of comparing each other on social media, sees the character Ashley unhappy at the popularity of Daisy with her thousands of followers. It is set in a natural garden scene where Ashley's negative thinking shows as black spiky brambles that drive out the greenery.
Ashley adjusts her thinking to like herself more and appreciate her 'lovely garden'. As she does so, the dark brambles fall back and sunlight and greenery return. The film conjures up that link between the impact of negative thoughts and unhelpful comparisons. It also evokes how natural greenery and light can combine to deliver a 'sunny' disposition.
Now, as we begin to leave our cabins again, blooming nature can begin to model, soothe and inspire recovery. Our young people have a chance to push back the four walls of lockdown and allow their minds to be filled with the colours and vibrancy of nature once again, meeting up with friends, getting active, entertaining opportunities rather than seeing limitations.
Professor Paul Crawford is Director of the Centre for Social Futures at The Institute of Mental Health, The University of Nottingham. He is Project Lead and Principal Investigator for the campaign What's Up With Everyone? (Grant number AH/T003804/1).
