Welcome to the first week of “What’s On Your Mind”! This week we are focusing on social media. Although social media platforms can be a tricky place to navigate, as trying to distinguish good advice from misinformation can seem almost impossible at times, social media can also be a wonderful tool to better your mental health! Many licensed psychologists and therapists have branched out to various platforms, creating channels through which they can spread helpful tips and tricks for coping and be able to educate their audience. These are also great for fostering a strong sense of community, as their efforts to empathize with people helps many to feel less isolated or alone in their struggles.
When taking advice from social media, one of the most important things you can do to verify that the information being conveyed to you is valid is to look into who exactly is presenting it in the first place! Most profiles have a short bio available, so take a look at it to see if they have any certifications listed, such as “LMHC”, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, or “PsyD”, which is a Doctor of Psychology. Many legitimate profiles have a Linktree included in their bio, so do not be afraid to take a look through some of the sources they have included there, as you may be able to learn a bit more about them through there.
Beyond checking the validity of your sources on social media, it is always helpful to go into your social media scroll with a healthy amount of questioning. No one piece of advice will solve everything, nor is it the “be all and end all” of ways to improve your mental health. If you come across a coping mechanism that you try out and it works for you, that is awesome! If you try something else and it is not for you, that is okay too. Social media can be a great resource and area of information to tap into, so if you go into it with an open and clear mind, you may be able to learn something new or understand yourself a bit better.
With that being said, I have come across some great profiles on Instagram specifically that I have learned a lot from, both about my own personal struggles as well as other mental illnesses and mental health topics in general. The following are a list of such profiles, as well as a bit about what I personally love about their platforms and how they have helped me. Check them out if you are looking for some tips to add to your repertoire, or if you are just looking to get more informed about the mental health landscape!
- Dr. Janine Kreft, Psy.D. (@kreftscouch)
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Dr. Kreft is one of my favorite mental health resources on Instagram! She has such a calming voice and presence, with an open and playful attitude that really helps take some of the tension out of the struggle to learn more about yourself. She has countless videos of herself acting out certain situations, such as “Things That Dysregulate Our Nervous System”, or reenacting what certain behavior looks like and how to go about changing it, like “People Pleaser Internal Dialogue”. These are extremely helpful to be able to understand what is going on in your own mind or body, or in those of others, in order to then be able to change your behavior accordingly.
One of my favorite things about her is the coffee metaphor she implements in some of these examples! She uses coffee drinks, from black to a Frappuccino, to describe boundaries in an easier way. As she explains, dark bitter drinks like black coffee represent firm boundaries, where there is little room for compromise and you are establishing a solid boundary. A Frappuccino boundary, on the other hand, is much softer, and therefore is much more flexible and open to changing. If you find yourself often having your boundaries crossed by others, you may be setting “Frappuccino” boundaries, ones that are far too soft and movable for what the situation calls for. Every situation you encounter will be different, but understanding how you normally set boundaries and the different types of boundaries you can set is very helpful to be able to establish the outcome that you desire.
- Michelin Maalouf, LMHC (@micheline.maalouf)
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Maalouf is another profile that has a plethora of information about various mental health topics to be able to inform yourself! What is great about her content is how she covers topics such as high functioning depression and childhood trauma in quick videos or brief written slides. While no illness or issue can be deduced to a few minutes or posts, her work provides insight for those who are just beginning their mental health journey or are just starting to do more research about certain areas. It is great to know more about not only what you personally deal with, but also what others may be dealing with. Taking the time to try and understand the experiences of people such as our friends, family members, or significant others allows us to then have deeper and stronger connections with them. Though you will not be able to feel exactly what they are experiencing, even having a bit of knowledge about their struggles will help you to have more patience or better support them, for example.
Lately, I have loved her tricks for panic attacks. One of the benefits of having such a popular platform (192K followers!) is the benefit of having a huge network at your disposal! Maalouf has taken to sharing some advice that her followers have told her about for panic attacks. Some of these include eating a dab of Sriracha or grabbing a piece of sour candy if you feel panic coming on. It may sound wacky, but the spiciness or sourness of them is surprising, and helps to ground you in the moment. She has plenty of other grounding tools throughout her feed; some have not worked for me, but others I have incorporated into my life, like using sparkling water as a grounding tool! Flavored sparkling water especially has helped me as it appeals to all five senses; you are able to see the bubbles rise to the surface, feel and hear them fizz and pop, smell the fruity flavoring, and taste it.
- Dr. Justin Puder, “Dr. J” (@amoderntherapist)
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When you think of a therapist or psychologist, what do you imagine? Does an older adult in a stuffy, dark room with a chair and couch come to mind? How about a young man in a snapback cap that was a 90’s kid and loves Blink 182, Green Day, and Weezer? Dr. J is not your average psychologist; he takes a modern approach to his content and is really able to empathize with his audience, which is generally the younger generations who traverse Instagram the most. He has tons of fun videos acting out real life situations that many college students may experience, like suppressing your emotions all day long, or hearing invalidation in the wild.
One of the most important things that Dr. J does is he uses his platform to really aim to crush mental health stigma. I love this about his profile, and this is why he was so important to include on this list! He gives his audience candid insight into what therapy is like and encourages it without being forceful or overbearing but, rather, being welcoming and informative about the process, as understanding helps to diminish some of the fear or nervousness people may feel about going to therapy. He is adamant about breaking common misconceptions about therapy, and emphasizing that taking care of your mental health is not a sign of weakness, but of strength, which is so true!! He helps dispel a lot of the misinformation circulating on social media, and he serves as a great role model for young men specifically, as men’s mental health often goes untreated, as they are less likely to seek treatment than women.
- Nadia Addesi (@nadiaaddesi)
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A certified psychotherapist, Addesi’s content focuses largely on trauma and is educationally focused. Her videos center on her explaining important topics, many of which are not widely discussed. She is an informative resource for those who are trying to understand themselves and their behavior better, as she explains things in simplified terms that are easier to grasp. For instance, in one video she teaches that when someone sets a boundary with you, that is not an attempt to hurt you, but rather an attempt to continue their relationship with you on healthier terms that they are more comfortable with. She goes into deeper topics such as childhood trauma, the different trauma responses, and even the reasoning behind why you may react the way that you do today. Her work has greatly helped me to recognize certain patterns in my behavior, where I have since made informed changes in order to react in a healthier manner.
One thing specifically that she truly opened my eyes to was her metaphor of pint vs. teacup people in a relationship. In one of her videos she explains how some people are pint people; they put everything they have into a relationship, pouring a whole pint’s worth of time, energy, attention, or love into it. A teacup can only hold a portion of the pint’s whole volume, so a pint person is in a relationship with a teacup person, they pour all they have and then expect the same amount to be reciprocated. However, a teacup may be overwhelmed, and though they may try very hard to give it all back, they are only able to give a portion back, despite that portion being their all. This helps to frame the different levels there are in a relationship, so we can understand whether we can respect our significant other’s level or if we need someone on the same level as us. Personally, this metaphor has given me valuable insight into my own relationships and how I can acknowledge and adjust my expectations in order to account for these different levels.
Stay tuned for another edition of “What’s On Your Mind?” in two weeks!