Why Mental Health?

The decision to introduce mental health as a broader theme came about as a commentary on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s own struggle with depression and a desire to use our project to contribute to contemporary society, in addition to celebrating the cultural past. Mental health is now recognised as being fully integrated and co-dependent with physical health (The British Library, 2019), and as such is equally capable of causing disruption to the individual lives of those affected and their families.

Society more broadly is impacted by mental illness by economic considerations of health care provision and loss of productivity, along with potential associated societal factors such as homelessness (Bl.uk, 2019), interactions with the criminal justice system (The British Library, 2019)and various forms of social marginalisation and their consequences (The British Library, 2019).

Rachmaninoff’s brave decisions to spell out the emotional and physical burdens of his depression to his friends provide a strong foundation upon which a connection between our virtual reality project and the broader impact we hoped to achieve. This personal element of a well-known character allowed the project to develop and carry the broader theme effectively in many aspects:

His quoted words gave us additional insight into the way depression was experienced by Rachmaninoff, allowing us to make design choices within the virtual reality build which would strengthen the theme in a way that was relatively faithful to his reality;

The support of his friends and family who encouraged him to seek assistance with his condition, and the contribution he made to his chosen field after overcoming debilitating depression that threatened his career, has the potential to provide hope and strength to others who may be struggling with their own mental health;

The inclusion of interaction with his own words in addition to description of mental illness symptoms derived from mental health and medical expertise (now readily available online) may inspire those with a mental illness to feel less alone in their journey; and

The combination of the immersive environment and his raw expression of emotion through words may give participants without a mental illness one of the few opportunities to experience and perhaps understand a small representation of how those around them may be experiencing depression.