Mental Health Content: Helpful or Hurtful?

I’ve benefitted a lot from self-help and therapy books, articles, Tiktoks, and podcasts, and I’ve also been deeply confused and misguided by these same resources. There have always been a plethora of books available on the topic of therapy and personal-growth, and since the rise of social media and the boom of interest in mental health content following the COVID pandemic there is a staggering amount of content available to us. This situation leaves us with the obvious question of how do we determine what resources to trust and which ones to ignore, but it also begs a more subtle question as well: what will be most helpful for us to hear right now?

Regarding that second question, this is an aspect of mental health and personal growth content I rarely see discussed. At different points in my life I’ve devoured books, podcasts, articles, and social media posts related to my mental health journey trying to make sense of where I was at and what I needed to do to keep healing, growing, and becoming a better person. Once I had identified a source of information that seemed reliably helpful for me (a book, an author, a psychology influencer) I studiously followed their recommendations and tried to apply them in my life. Oftentimes this would work very well and even just reading or hearing the way something was described helped me feel more integrated and energized in that moment. However, other times this same book or author that I’d found so helpful would be leaving me feeling ashamed or judging myself harshly. I would be feeling like I need to better understand my own desires and follow what feels important to me and then read something extolling the virtue of generosity and warning of the dangers of selfishness. I would be feeling uncomfortable or wary of a situation and then listen to the importance of confronting fears and discomfort head on as essential to growing as a person. And in those moments my precious growing sense of clarity and trust in my own experience was swept away and replaced with a tight knot of doubt and confusion.

Now as you may have gleaned from the couple examples I gave, both sides of those perspectives were actually helpful. It’s essential to connect with your desires and what you value, and it’s also a dead end road to only pursue your desires as an individual; it’s important to develop and trust your gut about situations that do not feel right, and if you only try to avoid discomfort your life will shrink. The significant piece of integrating these lessons that books, podcasts, and social media posts can’t provide is when is the right time to emphasize any of these lessons in your life.

A book or post is written at a time where the topic is top of mind for the author; the time that it reaches you is a matter of chance. This leaves the odds open for you coming across content encouraging you in what appears to be the exact opposite direction to what is helpful for you right now.

Now, it is still possible to work out these kinds of situations by paying close attention to the impact different ways of thinking about your situation have on your life over time, and this will slowly bring the bigger picture into greater clarity. However, the best alternative I’ve found to rapidly increase the speed and ease of this process is working with someone who knows you well and is possibly even trained in matters of personal growth and healing, like a therapist.

Doing this work with someone who is familiar with the common ways individuals work on healing and growing but who can also see where you are at in your life and reflect back your specific needs and desires will help re-enforce the exact message that most helps you right now.

Yes, generosity is beautiful and important, but if you’re feeling resentful and burnt out after living as a people-pleaser your whole life it’s the right thing to do to emphasize your own needs and wants! Yes, embracing discomfort as an essential part of life is necessary for living a full and meaningful life, but you do not need to expose yourself to unnecessary discomfort or tolerate a stressful situation just for the sake of feeling uncomfortable.

And again, I believe it is possible to work out what message is best for you slowly over time on your own, and sometimes that’s all we’re able to afford in some periods of our life. But also, if you’re able to, working on your healing and self growth with a trusted professional can catalyze and clarify the experience in very helpful ways.

Also, for what it’s worth, if you have any close relationships with family or friends who you feel know you well and want to help you grow, they can also provide clarifying feedback to help guide you on this journey as well.

So, after all this, would I say metal health content is on the whole helpful or harmful? I think I’d say it is helpful. It’s just important we remember, we don’t have to do this work alone. The different messages that have helped people heal and grow can seem contradictory and confusing at times. Clarifying what is best for us right now is easiest when we have someone to help us along the way.