Chinese New Year brings new set of challenges

Chinese New Year is upon us and it’s tradition for Chinese people to return home to celebrate the spring festival. Each family prepares a New Year’s Eve dinner where everyone gets together in order to show they will have a family reunion next year. 

But in recent years, more and more young Chinese people who work in large cities far away from their home town dread returning home for spring festival. They’re called the home-anxious clan. 

So why don’t they want to go home?

Well, many migrant workers have to spend more money on getting home than in the past. High-speed trains are being put into service this year, and the tickets cost three times as much. It’s harder to get cheaper tickets since there are fewer normal trains in service.

Young Chinese people feel very awkward when they return home without something to make their parents proud of, such as a good job. They know their parents will be much happier if they bring home a future mate – they dread their parents nagging them about getting married. They even think of renting partners just for going home only - some people really do this!

Even though Chinese New Year is one of the most family-oriented holidays of the Chinese lunar calendar, many young people are fearful of going home for it because of the huge expenses involved; the family reunion causes a lot of anxiety for them.

It is customary to give a “red envelope” – a monetary gift given on special holidays. They have to give their parents money, and there’s also a fear of owing other people favours because they will be invited out to eat.

Parents simply want to enjoy seeing their child

Since 1980, married couples in China are only allowed by law to have one child. These families have the difficulty of deciding whose hometown they are going to return to for spring festival. This causes arguments, some of which even lead to divorce.

So, many home-anxious clans decide to stay in the city and celebrate Chinese New Year without the company of their family members, wondering if they can go home next year. Although some young people might not think so, it may be China’s most important time for a family gathering.

Charlie Tang, Mental Health Promoter, Mental Health Foundaiton

Spookers - school holiday fun for the kids?

For several years I had promised my son a visit to Spookers, a horror-themed park in Karaka in the grounds of the former Kingseat Psychiatric Hospital.

Moreover, I had wanted to research Spookers for stigma associated with “mental illness”.  The occasion came for both when he and his friends arranged a 16th birthday event there.

I tried not to be the killjoy that they were expecting. I even bought the giant hypodermic needle in the souvenir shop, and the hypodermic-needle pen to show my participation in the theatre of it all. But I’m a little ashamed of my part in perpetuating stigmatising myths. All I can do is try to debate the ethics of the place.

Immediately, the link between the old asylum and “mental patient” is obvious, the context of the former institution makes this inevitable. The site entrance increases the tension with its uncannily familiar long driveway and tree-lined avenue, and the villas on either side. Decades of images of institutions are well-known to us through popular culture.

The entrance further evokes the monolithic institution. Here a dishevelled man sits muttering and looking threateningly at people queuing for tickets, his brain-surgery scar visible on his shaved head. He shuffles on his haunches and sits menacingly close, mumbling, drooling, and crouching with an ape-like, skulking demeanour. He shouts and pounces when people forget he is there.

Very large actors (I think they were actors) splattered with blood and ripped clothing chase and shriek at you through claustrophobic, paint-peeling concrete hallways. The labyrinth of corridors and doors, and wider “communal areas” all communicate institutions, hospitals, prisons, and asylums.

This visit confirmed for me that stigma associated with “mental illness” is re-emerging, alongside a dominant bio-medical approach to mental health. This parallels the resurrection of the “escaped mental patient” storyline in media and popular culture. 

These images both exacerbate and confirm ideas of “genetic fault” and work to corroborate “evidence” of dangerous sickness, crime and malingering.

Does Spookers reflect society’s fears and prejudices, or does it add to them?

The “escaped mental patient” character threatens unpredictable violence and cruelty, and is represented here in living colour and volume. This adds to, and derives from, the “monster” public enemy in media, movies, and television.  Spookers further affirms proposed links between violent crime and mental illness. Never mind proof to the contrary.

So did I enjoy myself? You bet; I love Gothic horror and have studied its stylistics and codings, in art and literature for the last 15 years. Spookers was fun in a “camp”, theatrical way; this is my dilemma.

I was saddened by the associations the old Kingseat Hospital affords, and that the attraction trades on people’s misfortunes. It abuses Kingseat’s notorious past and infamous history. I feel for the suffering and loss these places cause. If it were in an industrial area or other large commercial building on the fringe of town, Spookers would be less offensive to the memory of those who lived and died in Kingseat.

On the flipside, Spookers does serve the function, as Halloween horror often does, of laughing in the face of death, to make mock of our superstitions and irrational fears, to whistle in the dark of our unconscious fears. Right now, it serves the primal need to find scapegoats for a new generation who are ignorant of the asylum origin of the “escaped mental patient monster” from the past.

Dean Manley, National Manager, Like Minds, Like Mine

Christmas is looming…

For many, Christmas can be a magical and exciting time.  It can be a time to catch up with friends and family, and to celebrate the achievements of another year.  For children the excitement of Santa Claus and presents under the tree is almost overwhelming!

But for some of us, Christmas can be one of the most isolating and painful periods of the year.  With its emphasis on families and togetherness, those of us who are not connected with our families due to loss, trauma or relationship break-ups, Christmas time can trigger painful memories and be a time of great sadness. 

Likewise, with its increasingly consumerist pull, Christmas can be difficult for those of us who struggle financially to purchase those things our friends or family most desire. There is so much pressure, particularly on parents, to be able to ‘deliver the goods’ so to speak. 

In addition, the current financial climate and the recent increase in GST means less financially well-off families are likely to feel increased pressure this year.  

And, to top it all off, those of us who usually seek therapy or counseling are cut off for a period as our therapists and counselors take a well-deserved holiday.  

Ways to look after ourselves

How can we take care of ourselves during the holiday period so the lows aren’t so low that it becomes unbearable?

Some of the ways I, and others, have been able to get through this sometimes difficult day include:

• Volunteer at an older persons’ home or homeless shelter.
• Throw a Christmas celebration of your own and invite those who you want to attend.
• The buses and trains are free in most main centres on Christmas Day – go somewhere nice and picturesque.
• Write down a set plan for the day.
• Make gifts rather than buy them, for example jams and chutneys, cookies and fudge.

And, in the lead up to Christmas, remember the five winning ways to wellbeing:  connect, be active, learn, take notice and give.  

Find your own creative ways to make the most of these Five Winning Ways To Wellbeing suggestions from the New Economics Foundation (2008) website.

I think it is really important to open up this discussion and to share with one another the simple ways in which we take care of ourselves.  Who knows?  You may end up helping someone else who would otherwise be down this holiday season.

If you or someone you know is experiencing stress or depression you may like to call:

• The Depression Helpline on 0800 111 757 
• Lifeline on 0800 543 354 
• Youthline on 0800 376 633.

Tina Helm, Mental Health Promoter, Like Minds, Like Mine