The Mental Health Zone was a psychology themed zone funded by the British Psychological Society. Steve is researching how cancer medications affect people to help develop better treatments with less side-effects, Michelle is a postgraduate research student studying the beliefs of people with psychosis and Jermaine, the winner in this zone, is a lecturer of psychology who also researches how working in the public sector can cause mental health problems. Jack is a PhD student studying how sleep disturbances might put people at rise of experiences associated with schizophrenia and Gem works for Cancer Research trying to find the best ways to help people stop smoking.
There were around 16 A Level psychology classes taking part in this zone, so many students had a strong interest and understanding in the subject. This meant many of the live chats were incredibly focussed with informed questions about the psychologists’ research and psychology in general. These smaller A Level class sizes meant that the number of students logged into this zone was lower than the average for this event.
The theme of mental health meant that students often drew upon their own experiences, or those of friends and family, when talking to the psychologists in both ASK and the Live Chats. Michelle also spoke openly about her own experiences with mental health issues, which seemed to aid students’ understanding of the topic and help to diminish negative stigma.
