Abstract
December 11, 2020, Paper: "On October 8, 2020, a group of Costa Rican young adults released a song titled “Me Siento Alone” (I Feel Alone) as part of the national campaign #MeSiento (#IFeel) to raise awareness of and destigmatize mental health problems that have proliferated with quarantine orders in place and schools staying closed (Presidencia de la Republica de Costa Rica, 2020). The music video features singer Raquel Gómez spending countless days in her room with clothes strewn across the floor and relying on a video-chatting app to maintain a semblance of human connection. The melancholy lyrics and video are meant to represent the feelings of depression and isolation that youths in Costa Rica have been facing this year. Many of them have shared their own experiences dealing with poor mental health on social media using the campaign’s hashtag to highlight the urgency of mental health problems in Costa Rica and galvanize political leaders to address them. The fact that youths have raised their own voices to influence the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic underscores how crucial it is to create effective policies that foster emotional resilience and mitigate trauma."
Non-HKS Harvard Author Website - Fernando Reimers