Fighting Depression on Social Media: Turkish-German Science Communication

Schouler-Ocak: “Even younger people in the community find it hard to follow a balanced diet. Being overweight is a real issue. As with depression, we know that people affected by this tend to move less and withdraw physically. That’s how we came up with the idea of integrating exercise into our videos. At the end of each info clip, we say: ‘Moving is good for you and your body. It’s time to join in!’ followed by an exercise. I think we managed to combine content with a call to move really well.” Üsük also appears in the videos and emphasizes how accessible the exercises are: “Of course, it would be great if we could get people out of the house, but we’re still happy if we can get them to move a little while sitting in front of a screen. We’re certainly not talking endurance sports here, but a short clip that you can dance along with is still pretty good.” The duo developed these exercises with the movement therapist Dr. Gerrit Hain to make them as realistic and achievable as possible. “Sometimes the videos might call for tennis balls or a hand towel as props,” Üsük explains. “And Gerrit intentionally included some humorous moments to make the viewer feel more relaxed and open to giving it a go without worrying about how it looks.” Schouler-Ocak agrees: “The squats are a great example of this. He modified them by encouraging the viewer to use a stool as extra support if need be – sit down on the stool, stand up, and so on!”

Üsük tells us which video is her favorite and why: “I feel that the one about medication side effects is especially important. So many people worry about the potential side effects of anti-depressants, and this sometimes stops them from getting what they need. There is a lot of misinformation circulating on social media and having reliable information at your fingertips can enable you to make a more informed decision about whether to take anti-depressants – while you might also benefit from talking therapy.”

The expert duo’s enthusiasm about what they have already achieved together is infectious. They both mention plenty of revelatory moments and lessons learned. Schouler-Ocak tells us that she found filming the videos incredibly time-consuming and resource-intensive (Üsük gives a knowing smile). She recalls bringing along a whole suitcase packed with clothes so that she would have the right outfit for every scene and not look the same in all the videos. The whole filming experience – including seeing herself on screen for the first time – was definitely a case of learning by doing: “At first I thought, oh God, how will we manage with all this text? But in the moment it felt seamless, we were so in harmony with each other – at least until I saw the first video and thought, why on earth am I slouching like that?! No one told me that I could move about a bit, look a little more animated.” But – as Üsük can confirm – the filming became easier over time and she soon started to look more natural in front of the camera.

Schouler-Ocak admits with a laugh that she would probably not switch careers for a job in the media, despite finding the whole process led by Üsük and the production crew absolutely fascinating. Both emphasize how well the team got along as a whole, despite the unexpected difficulty in finding a bilingual camera team in Berlin. They also reflect on their own relationship to the Turkish language. Schouler-Ocak: “We both speak it really well, albeit with a slight German accent, and while filming we noticed how we would sometimes deviate from the script by dropping in the odd German word – a real case of code switching. Take the German word ‘Termin’ for ‘appointment’. It has long since been absorbed by the Turkish language in Germany.” Üsük gives us a quick demonstration, explaining that Termin is then pronounced with an emphasis on the first syllable and a rolling R: “The actual word for appointment in Turkish is ‘randevu’ which is borrowed from French. But Termin is really the best word for those we are targeting with our videos – it comes across as more authentic than the original script.”

The duo felt that it was especially important to use an everyday tone of voice that anyone could understand. Nothing was left to chance – long before the first day of filming, they worked intensively on scripting what they would say in front of the camera. This was partly to create a sense of coherence – each episode needed to broadly relate to the others and share a narrative thread so that they could function as standalone short social media clips or be combined for television at a later date. The duo did plenty of background research too. Schouler-Ocak: “I compared podcasts and TV reports featuring colleagues and friends in Turkey with our plans and surveyed the German-language media landscape in general. Sometimes I just thought, what are you talking about?! No one will understand you if you use such technical terms. This was an issue that we wanted to tackle with our tandem project, and I think we made a great success of it – not least because of Dilek’s expertise. I think that our social media channels will do well.”

Üsük adds her perspective as a journalist: “I paid particular attention to the examples we provided. We needed to avoid anything superficial and make the topics accessible. Giving explanations is all very well, but these always need to be supported with examples.“ With a laugh, she adds, “it really took me back to working on my master’s dissertation. It was such an intensive process; we were constantly sending the texts back and forth with questions and comments in the margin. But it was actually really interesting to see where we asked each other for clarification. Questions like: What do you mean here? Do you maybe want to say this? Might it not be easier if…? slowly disappeared over time. Even very early on in the writing process, it was clear that we made a great team.”

On the day that we meet, Schouler-Ocak and Üsük can celebrate a project that is very near completion. The videos have been filmed and edited, the posts on Instagram and YouTube scheduled, and there are just a few final things left to do. Schouler-Ocak plans to set up a Charité webpage, which will involve clarifying a couple of practical questions, and a data privacy policy is also needed for the plans to livestream the interactive discussion events which will take place in various different Turkish-German community spaces around Berlin throughout the summer, marking the culmination of this great project. We ask the pair what they want their social media channels to achieve. Üsük replies, “We hope to reach as many people as possible, and that they will be able to take something away from these videos and feel better able to seek out help for themselves and their loved ones. That’s why we hope that our Anlat videos will be shared far and wide and reposted by influencers on YouTube and Instagram.“ Schouler-Ocak adds her final perspective: “This project ought to keep going! So far, we have only covered depression and suicidal thoughts, but what about anxiety disorders and many other forms of mental illness? These issues – and the people affected by them – would benefit from a similar communication strategy. I’m already considering how we could make this a reality too.“

Anlat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anlat.psikoloji.vakti
Anlat on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@anlat.psikoloji.vakti. 

Dr. Nina Schmidt
April 2024