I’ve noticed recently a kind of messaging that seems unavoidable once you pick up on it. You can find it in your dorm hall, your community spaces, or your Instagram feed, most commonly. But unlike other forms of pervasive messaging, this one isn’t all bad.
This kind of messaging isn’t political, and it often does not carry with it an agenda, or at least not an aggressive one.
It’s far from aggressive, in fact; it’s pastel, asymmetrical and soft in style. It’s gentle, as the messages are often surrounded by flowers, stars and smiling faces, like a children’s sticker book. I’m of course talking about mental health messaging.
Even if you don’t engage in the health and wellness side of social media — which is a separate conversation and a rabbit hole in its own way — you’ve likely seen or heard these gentle messages encouraging you to stop being so hard on yourself, take time for yourself and remember that you’re doing amazing where you are, as you are.
And that’s wonderful. I’d have to be a true cynic to argue against this kind of messaging, especially when it pops up as an unexpected light in the void that is social media. It’s nice to hear these comforting, Mr. Rogers-esque reminders that everything will be okay. But I do worry about how these sentiments may not go much deeper than face value. From the looks of it, this kind of messaging values aesthetics only, without action alongside it. The reality is that mental health is more complicated than a pastel cartoon lets on.
The reality of mental health is simply not aesthetic. Cases of mental illness, in U.S. adults especially, are not rare. As of 2019-2020, over 50 million Americans were experiencing mental illness on some level, according to Mental Health America.
It makes more sense through the numbers, then, as to why this messaging is so prevalent: a growing number of people who are open about their mental health means a growing market for the mental health “aesthetic,” let’s call it.
Expressing feelings and acknowledging boundaries isn’t just healthy; it’s trendy. Scour some clothing and decor brands who market to largely young people and you’ll likely find products plastered with a ‘love yourself’ kind of messaging.
And that kind of messaging should be spread – just not for a price, or in the name of popularity. Talking openly about healthy mindsets is a long-overdue part of our discourse. It’s just that, now, there’s an audience to buy this attitude, a kind of social currency that says “I care.” Empathy had to be repackaged and sold back to us.
That alone is annoying but certainly not unexpected in America. What is disheartening, though, is how empty this kind of messaging is, given its subject matter.
Mental health is still deeply stigmatized and misunderstood. Part of what makes these messages so appealing is their simplicity — assuming that taking a brief mental health break or a walk outside is enough to alleviate the struggles of mental illness is certainly a comforting thought. But I think it’s a truly shallow act to adopt such empathetic ideas without empathetic action.
Now, while these messages don’t claim by any means to cure or even alleviate the turmoil that can come with mental illness, I find it fascinating that such light messaging is attached to such a complex issue. We wouldn’t talk about bodily and mental autonomy of any other kind in this way. Because mental health can be subtle in the ways it manifests physically, it is often viewed as a fully internal struggle. There is no outlying ailment to cure or to heal, but its invisibility means that the responsibility of taking action often falls on the person affected.
The lightness of these messages suggest to their viewer that it’s not hard to change, to make your life and your mind better, on your own. And therein lies the largest issue — mental health action isn’t always accomplished alone, and isn’t always easy or by any means linear. Messaging that believes the opposite — that you can take charge of your mental wellbeing with a coffee or a hike alone, for example — is not genuine.
It’s great to encourage these healthy practices on their own, but it’s a slippery slope if we think that this is all it takes to alleviate mental health struggles of any severity in society.
Imagine if the roles were reversed. Messages about physical health telling you to eat well and move and get enough sleep are all great reminders. But these messages don’t help a broken bone or chronic pain; to think that they could would be cruel. Conflating physical wellness and physical ailments would make no sense. We would never slap this same nebulous, pastel Band-Aid on the situation and leave the rest up to the individual.
Aesthetics and the idea of personal initiative can only go so far when it comes to raising any kind of awareness. When it comes to mental health, though, this seems to be the norm. The trendiness of mental wellness is not inherently wrong; it becomes wrong when we assume that the task of caring about mental health ends there.
So I encourage you to reach out to your friends. Ask for help when you need it. Most importantly, though, don’t be ashamed when your mental health doesn’t fall in line with the aestheticized version. Caring for your mental wellbeing won’t always be convenient for others, but just because it isn’t aesthetic does not mean it’s unimportant.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, call the 988 Crisis Line or email [email protected] for on-campus resources.