Can memes help people cope with pandemic-induced anxiety?

By Emily Reynolds The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on our collective mental health, from its effects on the experience of postnatal depression among new mothers to the ongoing impact of post-Covid brain fog. Research has also looked at what might remedy some of these negative effects — engaging in meaningful activity, for example, or making changes in our lives to feel more in control. Umair Akram and colleagues explore another potential technique in their paper in Scientific Reports —looking at memes. They find that pandemic-related memes could provide one coping mechanism for people experiencing anxiety, with anxious people more likely to find them funny, relatable, and shareable.  First, the team showed participants 45 of the highest rated memes from the subreddit /Coronavirusmemes, each of which depicted an image with a short, humorous caption related to the pandemic. On a scale from 1 to 5, participants indicated how negative, relatable, funny, offensive and shareable each meme was. They then completed a measure of symptoms of anxiety and indicated whether any friends or family had been unwell with coronavirus. The participants also completed a scale assessing what emotional regulation strategies they use, measuring the extent to which they use “cognitive appraisal” — changing the way they think about a situation — and “expressive suppression” — changing behaviour in response to emotional events. Examples of memes used in...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Coronavirus Media Mental health Source Type: blogs