Just after Eskom’s long term load shedding forecast in January, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group sent out an online survey to members of the SADAG community. In a project led by Dr Bronwyn Dworzanowski-Venter of UJ’s Faculty of Humanities, SADAG was especially interested in uncovering specific pressure points that could lead to negative psychological and practical outcomes.

The uncertainty that comes with the constant rolling out of load-shedding was bound to cause anxiety and depression for many people, and this has been revealed in SADAG’s Load Shedding Survey.  Alongside helplessness, the majority of employed survey respondents were expected to deliver work, despite outages, adding high levels of performance anxiety and work-related stress. 

Guest: Fatima Seedat, Development Manager at SADAG