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you
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know in this day and age on social media
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ideas come and go much faster than we
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think despite our dying attention span
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things come and go that we don't have
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any time to process anything at all
00:00:21
anymore barely any time to absorb what
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people are saying and how things are
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being said and there are very rare
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instances in which an idea is shared
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spreads like wildfire they call it going
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viral by the way and despite our fried
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attention spans that can only watch 7
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Seconds of a video it sticks with us
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some examples would be a trend is
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resurrected from 20 years ago and it's
00:00:46
given a new
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name an injustice is talked about enough
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that it gains international support such
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as the ongoing free Palestine movement
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or you know a funky new terminology is
00:00:57
introduced for us to overuse and until
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it loses its meaning and that is the
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case in point for this afternoon the
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genen Z version of live laugh love that
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is be delusional so for those of you who
00:01:12
are chronically offline like my sister
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let me fill you in on what the word
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delusional means so uh I'm not sure if
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I'm happy to report that I have street
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cred on this but I do because in a
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recent survey conducted in my college
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barcada group chat I was voted most
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delusional right and of that's
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credibility it's not my my CV that that
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is one strong credential of why I can
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educate you on what delusional means in
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the context of genzi so it's it means to
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dream big it's to defy limits it's not
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to let any sort of realistic barrier
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hold you back and some genzies have a
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catch their I say more annoying way of
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saying it the ULU is the culu or in
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normal people words delusion is the
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solution and I find this very
00:02:06
interesting because it introduces a
00:02:09
contradiction to the jenzi identity so
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just to make sure we're all on the same
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page this afternoon let's define who
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jenz is before any old person comes at
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me later and be like oh these darn genen
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Z kids and they're referring to like
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5-year-olds no so jenz is composed of
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individuals born between 1997 and 2012
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we're between 12 to 27 years old now and
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we're also known as the digital natives
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meaning we grew up at the dawn of the
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internet and have been reliant on it
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since and with that according to Dr
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Roberta Catz a senior research scholar
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at the Stanford center of advanced study
00:02:46
in the Behavioral Science she describes
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Our Generation that she's done extensive
00:02:51
research on by the way she describes us
00:02:53
as and I quote a generation that deeply
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cares about others strives for a diverse
00:02:59
community is highly collaborative and
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social and values
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authenticity and not only that Dr Katz
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goes on to mention a key characteristic
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that our generation has that my
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generation has were very practical this
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is mainly because we've inherited Global
00:03:16
issues such as climate change political
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tensions economic insecurity that forces
00:03:23
us to make our decision- making rooted
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in reality and this is why it's so fun
00:03:28
to entertain the concept of being
00:03:30
delusional because it challenges that
00:03:32
mold it allows us to bask in this
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fantasy of What kinds of lives would we
00:03:38
like to live if our current
00:03:40
circumstances were in such an issue you
00:03:42
know it's good vibes about like be
00:03:44
delusional like you know don't don't
00:03:47
think of like what's impossible like
00:03:49
impossible itself is like the word I
00:03:51
impossible right those corny quotes from
00:03:54
Millennials no shade to Millennials by
00:03:56
the way but with that said you know it
00:03:58
it sounds like good at advice be
00:04:01
delusional but unfortunately all these
00:04:04
Good Vibes they get lost in translation
00:04:07
once you look at it in the context of
00:04:09
mental health you see being delusional
00:04:13
or having delusions rather is considered
00:04:16
a sign of pathology in fact as we look
00:04:18
at the dictionary definition of what it
00:04:20
means to have a delusion the root word
00:04:23
of delusional it is described as an
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irrational belief about one's external
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reality held despite incontrovertible
00:04:31
evidence to the contrary and the cherry
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on top of this my dudes is occurring
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especially in mental conditions let's
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let's sit with that for a while right so
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if we're working with this definition
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then this is not something that you
00:04:47
should encourage let alone to be proud
00:04:49
of and so if we're working with this
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definition then does this mean that an
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entire generation my generation have we
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lost the
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plot and I stand before you as a genzi
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mental health professional It's the Best
00:05:07
of Both Worlds it's this dichotomy that
00:05:09
has forced me to wrestle with this
00:05:11
cognitive dissonance for quite some time
00:05:13
now and I followed this debate on the
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internet for a while a lot of people
00:05:17
have been viewing it as an angle of who
00:05:20
is right and whose perspective is rooted
00:05:22
in misinformation valid questions to ask
00:05:25
right but at the same time I feel that
00:05:29
these two sides are strong
00:05:31
contenders one is a generation trying to
00:05:34
make sense of their lived experiences
00:05:37
the other is a group of mental health
00:05:39
professionals trying to preserve the
00:05:41
Integrity of a word so that mental
00:05:43
health conditions don't get stigmatized
00:05:46
any further strong
00:05:48
contenders but I find the questions so
00:05:51
reductive in this ongoing debate like
00:05:54
who is right who is wrong and I'd like
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to PO a different question this
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afternoon
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why why the term delusional out of all
00:06:03
words that we have available and so you
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know I as an overthinker i molded over
00:06:08
it for quite some time now triy to make
00:06:10
sense of why this kind of dissonance
00:06:13
exists and I'm reminded of a class that
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I took in my undergrad developmental
00:06:18
psychology are there any psych Majors
00:06:20
here oh fellow crazy people but yeah so
00:06:25
developmental psychology is the study of
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different Milestones that we achieve as
00:06:31
humans as we grow up and so in early
00:06:33
childhood when we are very little human
00:06:35
beings like we start to learn new words
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and all children will make the
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inevitable mistake of using one word to
00:06:44
generalize everything else this is
00:06:45
called assimilation an example would be
00:06:48
the word dog you teach your kid that the
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four that the furry four-legged creature
00:06:53
that they see in the living room is a
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dog child gets that they absorb that
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okay that's dog the you give your give
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your child an iPad they go on YouTube
00:07:03
they start watching cat videos and in
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their little child brains they interpret
00:07:08
that as oh furry four-legged creature
00:07:11
and then they say dog even if it looks
00:07:13
nothing like it and so you correct the
00:07:16
child you tell them that oh there's a
00:07:18
difference between a dog and a cat
00:07:20
despite their glaring similarities and
00:07:22
so the child learns eventually through
00:07:25
new words that they need the right ideas
00:07:28
the right words to get their the right
00:07:29
message across and then once this
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cognitive skill is honed enough the
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child grows up to be wise enough to not
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call all forms of violence War when one
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group is at extreme advantage over the
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other and an ethnic cleansing is being
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commenced that's no longer a war that's
00:07:46
a
00:07:47
genocide and with these two examples in
00:07:49
mind it's very important that we first
00:07:53
entertain this Theory grounded in
00:07:56
reality in research maybe an entire
00:07:59
generation has been experiencing a
00:08:02
decline in critical thinking maybe we
00:08:04
are facing an educational crisis of
00:08:06
sorts that people are misusing a word
00:08:09
entirely but as a genzi person and yes I
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will play devil's advocate for a while I
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think it's so condescending and mocking
00:08:19
even of jz's perception of the world
00:08:23
that we live in so let me
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explain have we considered that maybe
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there are enough similarities between
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delusion as a mantra and delusion as a
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pathology think about it a delusion is
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this blatant refusal to accept one's
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reality the very Stark difference
00:08:44
however is seen in how it affects the
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individual pathological delusion shows
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that it impaires an individual from
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functioning
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properly the genzi delusion however does
00:08:57
not impair the individual it's a source
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of motiv ation it helps you cope no
00:09:01
matter how D the circumstances are if
00:09:03
you're being delusional about your
00:09:05
reality then you start to feel confident
00:09:07
again so why is that the
00:09:09
case to further understand the genzi
00:09:12
perspective we have to look at our
00:09:14
current
00:09:15
circumstances genzies are known to be
00:09:18
practical mainly because of the premise
00:09:20
that we are inheriting Global issues
00:09:23
that we are bound to face the
00:09:24
consequences of in the next few decades
00:09:26
if not the next few years and the need
00:09:30
to be practical is seen across all the
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board you see it everywhere for instance
00:09:35
in the workplace genzies are garnering
00:09:37
the reputation of being entitled simply
00:09:39
because we're asking for fair wages for
00:09:42
the work that we do our parents are
00:09:44
starting to worry about us because we're
00:09:46
delaying married life and Parenthood and
00:09:49
we're also realizing some of us are
00:09:51
making the Bold Choice even to be
00:09:53
childree because we're realizing that
00:09:54
raising a tiny human who doesn't know
00:09:57
the difference between dog and cat is
00:09:59
not only an emotional risk it's an
00:10:01
economic
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one and this forces us to really
00:10:06
consider being realistic and not
00:10:09
delusional and guys don't let's not get
00:10:12
started with being Filipinos I think
00:10:13
that adds a different level of
00:10:15
difficulty in our lives think about it
00:10:18
we're experiencing high levels of
00:10:19
inflation high costs of living low wages
00:10:23
and even this cultural expectation to
00:10:26
give back to our families right away all
00:10:28
of these are factors that can keep us
00:10:31
from daring to dream big daring to dream
00:10:34
and be delusional about
00:10:36
things and I'm reminded of a quote by
00:10:40
sheno Connor who once said that it is no
00:10:42
measure of Health to be well adjusted in
00:10:45
a profoundly sick Society I think this
00:10:48
is what genzi means when they use the
00:10:50
term be delusional it's not that we have
00:10:53
irrational beliefs about reality it's
00:10:56
more
00:10:57
that we refuse to accept that this is
00:11:00
the reality that we have to put up with
00:11:02
for the rest of our
00:11:03
lives this isn't livable anymore and the
00:11:06
societal dysfunction is starting to is
00:11:09
starting to spread everywhere it's
00:11:11
becoming a prevalent issue and a lot of
00:11:14
this dread is actually caused by how
00:11:16
many of us are starting to lose faith in
00:11:18
the future because our point of
00:11:20
reference for a good life is still
00:11:22
dependent on the realities of previous
00:11:25
generations whose circumstances are
00:11:28
nowhere near
00:11:29
what we're experiencing right now think
00:11:32
about it back in the day it was normal
00:11:35
to get settled down in your 20s to get
00:11:37
married to have children by 30s not only
00:11:41
do you achieve job security because you
00:11:43
stayed in the same job that you've been
00:11:44
working in since you were 18 you're also
00:11:47
on your way to Financial Freedom and so
00:11:49
it's possible to still build inheritance
00:11:52
buy property and travel the world that's
00:11:56
no longer the case for Gen Z right now
00:11:58
especially for those without any sort of
00:12:00
financial safety n in the first place
00:12:03
and I think this Collective dread that
00:12:06
we feel leads us to being delusional to
00:12:10
escaping from reality for quite some
00:12:12
time so that we fantasize about a
00:12:15
different reality where there are not as
00:12:17
many barriers as we are experiencing
00:12:20
now and with that in mind I think if we
00:12:23
are to correct the genen Z Mantra much
00:12:25
more work needs to be done than slamming
00:12:27
a thesaurus to our faces and saying
00:12:29
that's not delusional actually it's this
00:12:32
word it's confidence it's
00:12:35
self-efficacy but I think the in
00:12:36
congruence between gen Z and mental
00:12:39
health professionals understanding of
00:12:41
the word is an invitation for us to
00:12:43
reflect on our current
00:12:45
circumstances aren't we ashamed that the
00:12:47
current system we participate in is only
00:12:50
Built for survival and not
00:12:52
success think about that for a while we
00:12:56
have to start asking ourselves what
00:12:58
Collective change needs to happen for
00:13:01
success to be the norm again what kinds
00:13:04
of institutional support do our young
00:13:07
people need so that they don't feel
00:13:09
delusional about a brighter future for
00:13:12
themselves and in this conversation I
00:13:14
think it's very important to remember
00:13:16
that sickness and health in the context
00:13:18
of mental health is heavily based on
00:13:21
what we deem
00:13:22
normal and what we deem normal in
00:13:25
society is what we allow to continue in
00:13:27
our culture our belief belie our
00:13:30
behaviors and so it's very important
00:13:32
that we keep in
00:13:33
mind how exactly can we enact change how
00:13:38
exactly can we work as a collective and
00:13:41
build a future that makes us feel
00:13:43
hopeful and not
00:13:45
delusional and I'm putting great
00:13:47
emphasis on Collective change because
00:13:49
we're now at a point in our lives where
00:13:51
individual efforts are no longer enough
00:13:54
we're coming out of a pandemic and
00:13:56
contrary to The Killers we're not doing
00:13:58
just fine
00:13:59
in fact we're very lonely we're more
00:14:03
socially isolated than ever and this
00:14:05
calls for the need to return to Our
00:14:06
Roots to find our Capo again to rebuild
00:14:09
and reform our communities so that we
00:14:11
have faith in ourselves
00:14:13
again that's what we need and I don't
00:14:15
think like in defense of mental health
00:14:17
professionals I don't think delusion is
00:14:19
the word that we're holding on to as a
00:14:21
generation but rather it's hope hope for
00:14:24
a brighter and better future for all of
00:14:26
us hope that we find our communities
00:14:29
hope for the liberation of all
00:14:31
especially for the people in
00:14:32
Palestine hope that you know we can
00:14:36
dream and I don't think that hope is a
00:14:41
bad thing I've been told that hope is
00:14:43
the enemy and I've been very been very
00:14:47
ambivalent about that because the
00:14:49
difference between delusion and hope is
00:14:51
that with a delusion no amount of effort
00:14:53
can ever realize whatever dreams you
00:14:55
have with hope however there is courage
00:14:58
and belief and trust that it can happen
00:15:01
and that it will and so it is my hope
00:15:03
that we no longer be self-deprecating in
00:15:05
our ability to dream for more I hope
00:15:07
that we stop using the word delusional
00:15:10
to describe our very normal inherent and
00:15:12
human need to want more out of this life
00:15:16
you know despite all the perils my
00:15:17
generation is about to face in the next
00:15:20
decade or so we're also optimistic
00:15:22
enough to want to make long lasting
00:15:24
changes and it is my hope that this
00:15:27
Collective hunger we have for a better
00:15:30
future drives us to a world where we no
00:15:33
longer dismiss our ability to persevere
00:15:36
as mere delusion I'm dannie and thanks
00:15:39
for being here
00:15:41
[Applause]
00:15:43
[Music]
