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April.24.2021 KIP Forum "Mental health implications of the Covid-19 crisis: what next for Japan?"

At the April online forum, we welcomed Mr. Takino from the OECD to give a lecture on the impact of the COVID-19 on people’s mental health. Since he was also a lecturer at the forum in November last year, he talked about the facts found in the subsequent research and solutions to deal with the current situation.

Mr. Shunta Takino

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He was born in Tokyo, Japan. He went to middle and high school in the UK and graduated from Oxford University (Phycology, Politics and Economics) in 2018. After that, he worked for a year at the Asia Pacific Initiative (2018-19), a Japanese think-tank, and from September 2019, he has been working at the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs in Paris as a member of the Young Associates Programme. He studied mental health as a junior Counsellor, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.
He is also the leader of the Japanese delegation to this year's Youth Summit Y7, in charge of the economic track. Her research focuses on how the economy and society can be rebuilt through labour market and youth policies considering the new Corona crisis.

Speech Summary

【Presentation/ Q&A session】
In Mr. Takino’s presentation, he first shared some basic information about mental health, and then presented the data on the impact of the COVID-19 found in the OECD survey. Mr.Takino then talked about the situation in Japan, including suggestions from the Y7 activities.
First, Mr.Takino explained that mental health problems are not uncommon and that having such problems are not necessarily related to unhappiness in life. In addition, the percentage of people suffering from Anxiety and Depression has increased worldwide due to the COVID-19, especially among low-income people and households with small children, but also among young people and women. Mr.Takino said that measures to address inequality and poverty are closely linked to mental health.
There are three basic concepts to consider when thinking about related policies: prevention, coping, and promotion.
Most of the policies currently being implemented in OECD countries and Japan correspond to the "coping" approach. In response to the current situation where mental health is deteriorating, the policy aims to improve the situation by approaching to the workplace. However, more emphasis is placed on school education in the OECD. As the lockdown has had a profound impact on schooling, completing the educational process without dropping out can help people get better jobs and maintain good mental health.
In Japan, the suicide rate among young people, which had been declining in recent years, has started to rise, and students' satisfaction with their daily lives is lower than in other countries. In the workplace, stress check tests have been introduced, but they are not as effective as they should be. In addition, it was shared that the number of psychiatric beds is high, which is a problem unique to Japan, and it is difficult for people to return to society.
On the other hand, according to the Y7 questionnaire and the OECD survey, although people in Japan are vaguely aware of the importance of dealing with mental health problems, there is no environment for consultation, and thus the level of awareness itself is still low. In addition, even if they could go to a clinic, most people do not want to go because they are concerned about their surroundings.
Mr. Takino said that it is important to prevent mental health deterioration in advance, to manage the work and work environment in a way that suits everyone in advance, and above all, to be aware of the need to improve mental health.

【Group Discussion＆Ground Discussion】
We then moved on to a discussion part. The theme of the discussion was "Why has the mental health crisis emerged under the COVID-19 pandemic among Japanese youth? What can we do as the measures to prevent any negative consequences of increased mental health crisis?" A common thing that emerged from each groups was that there is no environment in Japan where we can confess such problems. It is true that there are counselling services at universities and other institutions, but it is often difficult to find the courage to ask for help, and this is due to the stigma of Japanese society, where confessing to a mental problem can be perceived as "naive." Therefore, several groups suggested that it is important to create an atmosphere where people have the correct knowledge, understand that it is something that everyone can experience, and feel free to talk about it through social networking sites and education at schools.

【What I thought through the Forum】
Mental health problems are always a part of being human. No matter how easy-going a person may be, he or she is always troubled at some point in their life. But fortunately, most of the participants in this forum are "happy" people who have never had any major problems, and even if they have had problems in the past, they have overcome them. However, according to Mr. Takino, "not having mental health problems does not necessarily mean being happy." Given this, I felt that this theme posed a very profound question: what is the basis for thinking that we are living happy lives? And now that the COVID-19 has become these issues obvious, I feel that it is very significant to take up this issue as a KIP project over this year.

(Takafumi Kaneda, University of Tokyo, Law, 4rd year)

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