Psychological Aspects In Time Of Pandemic. Juan Moisés De La Serna

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      In some places being tanned has become something of a status symbol. One employee, having enjoyed a few days at the beach may return to work nice and brown, whilst the rest of the office, who have not been so lucky are still white and pale. On the contrary, in other places, being tanned is a sign of a lower social status, since the sun burns the skin of outside workers, giving it that characteristic brown colour, whilst other less manual jobs do not leave that ‘imprint’ on the body. It can therefore become a signal as to the economic status of the consumer, differentiating between those who can afford it and those who can’t.

      In Western society today the first approach dominates, that is people feel good about themselves when tanned, something which takes time and in some cases money, to achieve. To meet this demand, a number of establishments have emerged, with UVA lamps which produce the same effect on the skin after one or more exposure sessions. And so, with this UVA ray system, the same tanned appearance is achieved as if one had gone on a relaxing beach holiday in the sun.

      So, simply by spending a few minutes inside one of these devices, one can enjoy the ‘benefits’ of being considered of a higher economic status.

      Illustration 11. Tweet - Relation between UVA rays and cancer.

      [UVA rays cause cancer]

      Despite the popularity of this system, in recent years medical research has been compiled which has discovered associations between the excessive use of UVA rays and skin cancer. Therefore, people who use and, more importantly, abuse these tanning sessions are voluntarily putting themselves at risk to skin diseases (adgs125, 2019) (See Illustration 11).

      An investigation has been carried out to assess the psychological impacts of the usage of UVA rays by the Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health; Medical Centre, Providence VA Medical Centre; and the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University; together with Division of Network Medicine, Brigham Hospital; Department of Nutrition and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health; together with the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital; Department of Dermatology, Rhode Island Hospital (EE.UU.) together with the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Faculty of Public Health, University of Peking (China) (Li et al., 2017).

      The study involved 67,910 women between the ages of 25 and 35 who were asked regards the frequency with which they used UVA ray tanning rooms. The aim of the study was to determine if there was an association between frequent indoor tanning and other mental disorders such as food addiction. To this end the Yale Food Addiction Scale was used (Flint et al, 2014). The participants’ clinical history as to whether or not they had suffered from depression was also taken into account.

      The results showed a significant relationship between the presence of depression and greater use of UV rays. Also demonstrated was a significant relationship between the abuse of UV rays and symptoms associated with eating disorders, particularly anorexia.

      As with other activities, the use of this type of service may be considered normal, except when control is lost and it becomes an addiction, that is to say it is being undertaken for its own sake, rather than for the benefits it may bring. Such behavioural addiction to tanning is called tanorexia. In this instance, the depressive symptoms appear to play a fundamental role in the formation or maintenance of the addiction to UVA rays, as if the individual attempts to ‘offset’ their state of mind by giving a ‘better’ image of themself to others.

      Previous research has reported significant relationships between food disorders and depressive symptoms, but in this instance the relationship is mediated by an addictive behaviour, such is the abuse of UVA rays.

      According to the conclusions of the study, consideration must be taken with individuals who abuse the use of UVA rays, since it may constitute depressive symptomatology and the suffering of anorexia.

      Despite these findings, and the health problems associated with skin cancer discussed earlier, people find it difficult to give up this type of habit, since the short-term benefits of a tanned skin mean any long-term health damage is underestimated.

      This type of attitude may also be witnessed in the undertaking of other unhealthy habits or those that entail long-term damage, where the consumer ‘assumes’ the risk, focussing on the short-term benefits, despite warnings from the authorities. For instance, for some years governments around the world have been trying to stop tobacco use. Furthermore, the authorities have had to ‘fight’ against the portrayal of this habit in films and the media where, in recent decades it was seen as socially accepted, despite the harmful effects on the health of the consumer and the people around them, in what is known as passive smoking (@CNPT_E, 2017) (See Illustration 12).

      Existing measures tend to act in a dissuasive manner by putting all kinds of obstacles in the way of its consumption, stopping short of prohibition. Its display is limited to certain specially designed areas, the price is increased, and images are included on the packs of the negative health effects. However, some governments have decided to take a step further and employ the same mechanisms that for years served to spread and encourage tobacco use - television advertising. But are anti-tobacco advertisements effective?

      Illustration 12. Tweet – Prohibition of Tobacco Advertising.

      [ The #EmpaquetadoNeutro removes the advertising from tobacco and helps to reduce the prevalence of smoking in Spain]

      This question has been addressed in research undertaken by the Department of Education, Seoul National University and the TESOL Department, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (South Korea); along with the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University and the Department of Psychology, Jesuit University of Wheeling (USA) (Wilson et al., 2017).

      The study involved 58 university students who were split into two groups, the first group viewed two emotionally focussed anti-smoking advertisements, whilst the other group viewed two logical, non- emotional type anti- smoking advertisements. Before and after the viewings all the participants undertook three tests, one related to transformation processes, one to depressive symptoms, and the third regards self-esteem. The results showed no significant differences pre or post viewing, either for the emotional or logical advertising, in any of the variables evaluated, i.e. participants appeared to pay no attention to the information given to them about the harmful effects of tobacco usage.

      One of the limitations of the study is in the selection of the population chosen. Undoubtably the advertising is aimed at preventing young people from starting tobacco consumption, but since in many countries young people start smoking from the age of fourteen, a selection of participants from that age group should have been chosen instead of university students.

      Despite the above, it should be noted that the effects of advertising are mainly based on repetition of relevant advertisements, to the extent that the information is learned. Therefore, the fact that the advertisements were viewed only once would explain the insufficient effects upon behaviour towards smoking, self-esteem or depressive symptoms.

      In the specific case of COVID-19, and to the surprise of some, an unprecedented measure has been adopted, in the prohibition of all advertising regarding gambling. The idea is to prevent people who are spending a lot of time confined to their homes, becoming ‘hooked’ on gambling, which can lead not only to addiction, but also to economic ruin when monetary gambling is involved.

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