A new study has found that looking at mental health memes may actually help to relieve some symptoms of anxiety and depression

When it comes to its effect on our mental health, it’s fair to say that the internet gets a pretty bad rap. Comparison traps, the onslaught of bad news, misinformation, and a general sense of information overload.

That said, there are still glimmers of something more positive, and a new study that aligns with National Meme day 12 November has uncovered some surprising findings.

The study, from Sheffield Hallam University, has found evidence to suggest that memes – an image and short caption that usually depicts an element of culture or behaviour in a humorous way – may actually be able to alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression.

When it comes to memes focused on mental health, the general attitude was to dismiss them as ‘trivialising’ the real-life struggles, but the research by Dr Jennifer Drabble and Dr Umair Akram at Sheffield Hallam’s department of psychology, sociology, and politics has instead found that mental health memes can help us to express difficult emotions in new and creative ways, as well as improving our emotional bonds with each other in a socially supportive way.

“Following the culmination of our work in the area, and the recent increase in studies related to internet memes, we wanted to explore the psychological impact that mental health-related memes may have for individuals experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Often, memes of this nature are disparaged, often without any substantial evidence,” said Dr Umair Akram.

“Research in this area is relatively new. As such, we felt that it was important to set a research agenda, providing tips for other researchers who may be interested in the topic.”

In the UK, it’s estimated that more than 8 million people are experiencing an anxiety disorder at any one time, and one in six people are affected by depression. But despite their commonality, anxiety and depression can be very isolating experiences, in part because of the way that they make us feel, but also because it isn’t always easy to put into words the things that we’re going through.

So, when we stumble across a ‘meme’ that gets an experience spot on, even if that experience isn’t a particularly pleasant one, it can feel affirming. The research paper from Dr Akram and Dr Drabble highlight the online forum Reddit, which hosts a subreddit named ‘memes and misery’ and another called ‘depression memes’, but there are countless sources out there. The researchers point to previous findings that 47% of college students reported engaging with internet memes as a way of alleviating psychiatric symptoms, with self-deprecating memes allowing them to laugh at their problems,

Kate Baily, co-founder of Love Sober joins Happiful's podcast to discuss the journey to alcohol-free living and the benefits it brings

“For me, drinking was very much tied in with the cultural narrative of my twenties and my own narrative about feminism and being empowered,” Kate Baily shares on Happiful’s podcast. “Then I had my children and a massive identity shift. I had lots of hormones and my mental health wasn’t great. So wine became more and more part of my life. When I first heard the phrase ‘wine o’clock’, I laughed my head off. I thought, thank god it’s not just me!”

Kate soon realised that she was not alone in feeling this way about alcohol and there were many other women for whom alcohol played a major role in their daily lives. However, Kate notes, she was in the ‘grey area’ of drinking, not alcohol dependent but not experiencing a healthy relationship with it either, and she wanted that to change.

Fast forward to today and Kate is now the co-founder of Love Sober, co-host of the Love Sober podcast and has written two books with LS partner Mandy Manners, most recently the beautiful Love Your Sober Year: A Seasonal Guide to Alcohol-Free Living.

Kate’s also a sobriety & life coach specialising in holistic well-being for women in midlife, perimenopause transition, sobriety, and stress management. Her first-hand experience makes her extremely relatable, her honesty is refreshing and she’s ultimately very realistic about the role alcohol plays for so many of us, in what we perceive to be ‘stress relief’.

“I managed my stress with lots of different things,” she says, reflecting back. “I had my hobbies, I had this kind of toolkit. Drinking was part of it but there was this disconnect between how I was feeling, what my new role is (as a parent) and how it was all fitting, that became impossible to ignore. This created quite a lot of shame, which can lead to a downward spiral.”

Kate came across Soberistas while searching for questionnaires about alcoholism in the early hours of one morning. She began to get curious about living an alcohol free life, after finding support on the site’s forum. Although not easy, and she chose to drink again after a year before stopping for good, this experience inspired Kate to learn more about positive psychology, the role of the vagus nerve and the unmet needs we can often ‘treat’ by drinking.

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We’re sharing some free financial wellbeing resources to support you through this period of economic uncertainty, including EAPs and how to access them

The cost of living is on the rise and financial hardship is placing a burden on our mental wellbeing. Managing finances can cause stress for many people; trying to balance the cost of energy bills, rent or mortgage repayments, whilst many are having to decide between heating and eating.

Recent announcements are all the more confusing, worrying and, quite frankly, tiring. However you’re feeling right now, know that you are not alone. Below, we examine the benefits of EAPs - including what they are and how you can access them - as well as some additional support systems and free financial wellbeing resources.

What are EAPs?

Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) are a type of employee benefit that many employers offer their staff. In an effort to minimise lower levels of productivity, EAPs are designed to help staff with personal problems that could impact their performance, physical and mental health, and wellbeing.

Generally, EAPs provide services such as face-to-face, online or telephone counselling and expert support for employees and their immediate families. The service is provided for little to no cost and is confidential.

While EAP schemes used to be predominantly for issues such as alcohol or substance misuse and family problems, they now often cover a broad range including legal problems, wellness advice, stress management and financial concerns, which makes them a useful resource during the cost of living crisis.

According to People Management, almost all businesses nowadays have an Employee Assistance Programme in place, but only an average of 5% of employees are utilising them.

Whilst EAPs provide a number of benefits to companies, including reduced absenteeism and higher productivity, their key benefit lies in the ability to promote wellness and help employees through personal challenges.

How can EAPs help during the cost of living crisis?

The Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA) outlines four ways in which EAPs can support people during the current cost of living crisis.

1. Providing financial information and support

EAPs are available 24/7 and are there to provide unbiased advice and support for those struggling with finances. They can be especially useful in our society where we still struggle to have open and honest conversations about money, particularly with our employers. Having access to an EAP means individuals are able to find the support they need in confidence.

2. Offering financial help

Whilst some companies are offering bonuses to their staff to help them through the toughest period of the crisis, many businesses are also affected by the economic downturn. EAPs often offer employees benefits such as discounts and vouchers for retailers and groceries, which can go some way to supporting those struggling to feed their families.

3. Access to mental health services

As financial stress has been known to increase anxiety and Read more

When things go wrong, it can be tempting to throw in the towel. But before you do that, consider the ways you can turn mistakes into valuable lessons

We’re all familiar with the stomach-sinking feelings that come with the realisation that we’ve got something wrong. It could be at work, in our relationships, or out and about in the world – and big or small, these things can stick with us.

Neurologically speaking, there’s a lot going on in our brains when we put a foot wrong. In a 2018 study, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology traced how mistakes set off a chain reaction of brain activity and, rapidly, the brain lights up with the kind of activity that deeply encodes information.

But while the face-palming, cringing, and frustrating feelings that accompany mistakes aren’t generally pleasant, there are positives to our missteps.

“Mistakes can add huge value to our lives, and everyone has made at least one mistake in their lifetime,” says life coach Adam Craft. “Mistakes are our opportunity to grow and to gain knowledge. Many people say that they wouldn’t have been where they were in life without making mistakes. The all-important part, though, is learning from them, and understanding how to extract the positives from something that many view as a negative.”

It’s true that we need to reframe the way we feel about mistakes. In fact, a study published in the journal Memory in 2018 found that ‘near-miss’ mistakes can help a person learn faster than if they were to make no errors at all. And another study, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, found that making deliberate mistakes – such as writing down the wrong answer to a question and then correcting it – can help improve our memory.

All that said, whether it comes from perfectionism or people-pleasing tendencies, many of us struggle in the face of our mistakes. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Have you gone wrong somewhere down the line? Follow this roadmap to turning mistakes into lessons.

Acknowledge and accept

“Sounds easy right?” Adam says. “You may feel guilty when you make a mistake, but that guilt will be a lot stronger if you don’t properly take responsibility for it. Acknowledging this to others (including yourself) will ease that guilt, helping you to start learning from your mistakes.”

For some of us, this first step might be going against our instincts. In the moment, we might look to start explaining away the mistake by diving into the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of its origin. We might point to a series of events, or another person, that could take the fall for us. And though this might offer us some instant relief, it might not necessarily help us move forward.

This is also an important point if you find yourself constantly returning to, and ruminating on, a mistake you made in the past. There’s nothing you can do now, so once you’ve accepted that, what should you do next?

Reframe

As Adam says, mistakes don’t have to feel negative &

Following a bereavement, you can become overwhelmed with difficult emotions. Addressing them head-on can be the key to working through them

Losing someone is never easy. Death doesn’t wait until everything is resolved; it strikes when people are in the middle of living, or still trying to work through unresolved emotions. Even long-term illnesses don’t give people time to truly prepare for grief. This often leaves us with guilt, but there are ways to work through this.

Facing the guilt

If you lose someone, it’s common to run through your last moments with them, past conversations, and everything you did or could have done. Your own words can come back to haunt you, or you may wonder if you should have been there more often. These feelings can be overwhelming, so trying to avoid them is a natural reaction. If you suppress them, or find other ways to ignore them, they will have to resurface eventually. So, finding ways to face your guilt and address it is best for your long-term mental health.

Exploring therapy

Therapy is a good first step in dealing with grief and other emotions related to your loss. Instead of having the thoughts circling in your head, it helps to get these out, if only to hear yourself say them. The things we feel guilty about after a loved one’s death don’t always make sense outside of our own minds. Expressing this can help you realise that the guilt is unfounded.

In group therapy, you can hear others who, despite having different experiences, have the same emotions around death and grief. If hearing your own regrets spoken out loud doesn’t help you take a step back, hearing others talk about guilt might help you realise that we all have regrets.

Finding resources to help

If you don’t feel confident enough to go to therapy, or you need extra help, there are resources you can use. Your doctor should be top of your list, as they can offer advice, prescribe temporary medication if necessary, and tell you about other options you have.

You can also find websites, podcasts, and books written about grief, from professionals or those who have experienced it themselves. These can help you realise you aren’t alone in how you feel. While hearing vastly different stories across all these platforms, you’ll notice the common feeling of guilt. Some websites have chat functions, or social media pages, where you can share experiences with other recently bereaved people. If you find yourself telling others they have nothing to feel guilty about, try applying this same kindness and understanding to yourself.

Accepting the past

Accepting the past isn’t easy, but accepting it can’t be changed, is one step towards moving on. Then you need to think about everything you did right, the happy times you shared, and the bigger picture. Taking a step back can help you see things more clearly. This takes time, because, during the first stages of grief, emotions can be overwhelming, with many conflicting feelings all vying for your attention. Separating these and trying to work through them is almost impossible during the early stages of the grieving process.

Forgiving yourself

This is the final step, because it takes time an