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?
Am I Fully Healed Yet?
Many people, myself included, initially come to therapy with what is called a “medical model” of what therapy is all about. The basic premise is something like this:
If you are suffering from your thoughts, feelings, or behaviors then you have a medical condition and you need to see a doctor who will fix that medical condition and then you will be fully healthy again.
Seems simple enough, and it aligns with our vision for how physiological health works too. There are strengths to this view of psychotherapy and ways that it can be a useful way to think about the therapeutic process, however, there are also some serious shortcomings and unintended negative consequences.
Why Should I Do Therapy?
A client recently told me that she had a couple skeptical people question her as to why therapy was valuable and why anyone should do it, and she asked what my answer to this question would be. This question surprisingly stopped me in my tracks a little bit, but after a few minutes of deliberating I was able to come up with a relatively simple 2-part answer that we both seemed relatively happy with.
What is Mental Health Therapy?
If you’re like me, you’ve probably seen a lot of representations of mental health therapy in movies or TV. Maybe you’ve seen therapists on social media who are using their platform to discuss various topics related to mental health. Or maybe you’ve heard a family member or friend say “my therapist told me…” With that being said, I might be biased, but I couldn’t be more happy that therapy is being represented in the media or becoming a part of casual conversation; arguably, this can help lessen the stigma surrounding mental health and mental health treatment. However, along with increased attention toward mental health treatment comes misinformation. That’s where I come in; I’ll be writing an ongoing series starting with this post about mental health treatment myths. My hope is that by busting some of these myths and promoting the facts we can reduce the stigma around mental health treatment.