Social media, peers, societal expectations and many other external factors impact the way we feel about ourselves when often, we are already our toughest critics. In the past few years, social media has become a place where people feel safe enough to talk about their experiences with mental health or illness but, it is also a place that romanticizes mental illness and may make people question their feelings since they do not have the same experiences as others. When online its good to find resources or feeds that encourage positivity and destigmatize mental illness. Here are some resources to avoid or add to your daily social media time.
Social Media You Should Follow
APA Healthy Minds Twitter – Is a secondary account for the American Psychiatric Association (APA) that is used as a resource for those looking for mental health resources. Although it is mainly used to provide these resources, there are some posts related to maintaining good mental health and life. Since this account is affiliated with the APA it can be a trusted source for resources people may need. This account is good for anyone who either wants to be a good ally and has a better understanding of the resources they can provide for friends or family or for those who live with mental illnesses and need support finding help.
Let’s Talk About Mental Health Instagram – This account, run by Jessica Walsh, spreads awareness of mental illness by posting uplifting quotes or stories making people feel less alone. Jessica also hopes to end the negative stigma around mental illness by creating a safe space for people to support each other and learn from other people’s experiences. This account is a good way to get some positivity in your social media feed while also learning more about mental illness. This is great for those who are also living with mental illness because it helps people not feel alone in their struggles.
Fitness and Lifestyle Instagram – This account, @caliyogi_fit, is run by Kathryn Higginbotham a Nurse of Psychology in California that documents her journey through fitness and self-love. Kathryn will post almost daily about either her workout routine, her self care, daily routines and many other aspects of her life. Kathryn does a good job encouraging not only fitness but also mental wellbeing, about many things including stress and body image, making this a good account for people to follow if they want to improve many aspects of themselves while staying positive.
Social Media You Should Avoid
Self Help Blog – This website Self Help Dialy has a wide variety of blogs that are all related to different ways to make yourself “happier”. I would not recommend someone to this website or the blogs that are on it due to the potential solutions they provide. While for some taking a multivitamin and using essential oils can help calm nerves and make them feel a little more at peace, for those living with more severe mental illnesses seeing simple tricks that seemingly work for everyone may cause them to feel more isolated or hopeless because it did not make them feel “happy”. This may not add to the stigma towards mental health, but these solutions may cause those who are struggling to feel even more helpless or frustrated than they already do.
SickNotWeak – This website can be interpreted in many ways. Created by Michael Landsberg, who came to fame in 2016 when discussing his severe depression, the website is supposed to be a resource for those who need mental health resources or affirmation. Right away there is a pop up that warns you that this website is not made to diagnose or prescribe any treatments which, is good to know, but also makes me wonder if something negative happened in the past with bad advice that led to more problems. This along with the name and message “I’m sick, not weak” is not something I would never want someone in my life to hear. Yes, the part where they are no weak is good and I want that to be spread. But the sick part is not. People with mental illnesses are already hard enough on themselves and often are aware that there is something that is out of place in their bodies. Having the message of being sick is not something I would want them to see and have them potentially start to feel worst about themselves.
Defying Mental Illness Twitter – This twitter account is a mental health account that tweet or retweet posts about mental health and mental disorders. While the idea of it is good, the content can be dark and may make someone feel worse than they already do. Many of the tweets are about the account owners’ feelings about their mental illnesses and how they can feel “suffocating”. While for some these types of posts might make them feel less alone and feel better about their mental state, others may start to get more in their head and start feeling worse. These posts are not promoting positivity and doing the best you can but rather sulking in your emotions and feeling hopeless which is why I would not recommend to add this to someone’s twitter feed.
Overall there are many pros and cons to using social media. On one hand, the use of social media feeds into the social pressures people feel to be seen as “perfect”. But by filtering out pages or accounts that are stigmatizing mental and adding more positive and informative pages into your social media feed you potentially can be provided with resources and information you did not realize you or someone in your life needed.
Food for Thought 