Facebook is the most popular social media shopping platform, with more than four in five social media shoppers making a purchase through the medium. Photo: AFP
Facebook is the most popular social media shopping platform, with more than four in five social media shoppers making a purchase through the medium. Photo: AFP
Facebook is the most popular social media shopping platform, with more than four in five social media shoppers making a purchase through the medium. Photo: AFP
Facebook is the most popular social media shopping platform, with more than four in five social media shoppers making a purchase through the medium. Photo: AFP

We should continue to shed light on mental health issues


Nick March
  • English
  • Arabic

When The National launched 11 years ago, one of our earliest references to mental health was in a report about an audit of young people's wellbeing in Abu Dhabi that had been organised by the health and education ministries.

Mental health and obesity were identified as two areas of concern and a senior health official was quoted as saying that students can experience many problems such as anxiety and depression. The official went on to recognise that the teenage years in particular are complex times for young people, a period of “fast change” when small problems can quickly escalate into bigger issues.

Today's teenagers will probably tell those who were teens a decade ago that they had it easy. Smartphones and social media had barely taken hold back then and we weren't always switched on, as we are today. In 2019 the average UAE resident spends six hours per day glued to their smartphones while in the UK, where I come from, that number is comparatively lower but still worrying: between three to four hours every day. Much as we try to convince ourselves that screen time comes without consequences to our wellbeing, it has become an increasingly hard argument to make in a convincing way.

Our coverage of mental health issues speaks to a society where there is more recognition of depression than ever before

In the years since 2008, we have also heard far more discussion of mental health and the pressures that all of us sometimes feel. This newspaper has played an active role in leading that conversation. There is, of course, much work still to be done in the field of mental health reporting, even if it is now easy to see how far we have travelled up that road. In general society, there is still stigma and there are still taboos, but they are being dismantled.

Over the past year, a couple of my previous columns have dealt with different aspects of this subject of mental health: the first, written to mark the anniversary of the death of the teenager Louis Smith, who took his own life in 2013, and the second, about my late mother's dementia diagnosis and why I am opposed to a predictive Alzheimer's test. It is gratifying to note that both pieces gathered plenty of reaction, mostly positive, which suggests to me there is a willingness to engage with these kind of issues.

This newspaper has also recently begun working with the Carter Centre, a US-based not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation whose objectives include improving our understanding of behavioural health. The National runs the UAE arm of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism programme as well. The idea of the programme is to help increase the quality and accuracy of mental health reporting around the world and, in the case of the UAE programme, to improve how these issues are reported locally.

One of our reporters, Nick Webster, is a Carter Centre fellow, and his work over the past year has helped sketch out an informal map of the mental health landscape in this country.

In May, he wrote about a scheme in Sharjah that helped taxi drivers recognise signs of depression and gave them advice on where they could seek help. In July, he told the story of a Dubai model who had faced an incessant barrage of cyberbullying. He has previously reported on the pressures social media places upon young people. Last year, he found that insurance coverage can be patchy when it comes to mental health.

It’s a fool’s game to suggest there is some kind of narrative binding those stories together, but they do at least speak to a society where there is more recognition of depression than ever before, one where insurance companies need to be encouraged to extend their coverage to help tackle such disorders and that the scale of the problems that social media produces are huge and underreported.

So how do we improve the landscape in the UAE? The answer to that question lies in action and words. From the paper's perspective we will continue to report on anxiety, depression and the pressures that manifest themselves in modern life in an informed and unsensationalised way. On a medical insurance level, it is my sincere hope that more access is afforded to treat these and other conditions. On a societal level, we all need to keep having those difficult conversations. More broadly, if a national helpline was established, and there have been various initiatives to do so, this might provide the neutral and non-judgmental space for any of us to seek counsel in times of trouble.

What that wish list also tells us is that just as the term “mental health” is an inelegant, one-size-fits-all label to describe many different conditions, there is also no single response to make things better.

Nick March is an assistant editor-in-chief at The National

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees

Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.

MATCH INFO

Serie A

Juventus v Fiorentina, Saturday, 8pm (UAE)

Match is on BeIN Sports

While you're here
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Stamp duty timeline

December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%

April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.

July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.

March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.

April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.

The biog

Age: 23

Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering

Favourite hobby: playing the piano

Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"

Family: Married and with a daughter

Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How does ToTok work?

The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store

To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.

The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.

Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.

 

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
BRIEF SCORES

England 353 and 313-8 dec
(B Stokes 112, A Cook 88; M Morkel 3-70, K Rabada 3-85)  
(J Bairstow 63, T Westley 59, J Root 50; K Maharaj 3-50)
South Africa 175 and 252
(T Bavuma 52; T Roland-Jones 5-57, J Anderson 3-25)
(D Elgar 136; M Ali 4-45, T Roland-Jones 3-72)

Result: England won by 239 runs
England lead four-match series 2-1

Traces%20of%20Enayat
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Iman%20Mersal%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20And%20Other%20Stories%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20240%3C%2Fp%3E%0A