It's mental health awareness week, again. But the latest data shows that mental health stigma is increasing, not decreasing. What's going on there? And has mental health awareness gone 'too far'?
As someone on the spectrum and having a partner with ASD and PTSD I can strobyl relate to this. The concepts are being diluted so strongly these days, not just due to social media misuse but also due to concept creep in the DSM5 that a lot seems so vague as to have become meaningless. I also have the same feeling that most mental health activism is the superficial stuff that ever leads to anything in practice. Which is also not strange that it now is backfiring. I am becoming more and more frustrated by the meaningless activism and awareness stuff that I am no longer trusting such groups. It's not what people say that matters, it's what they do that actually matters in the end.
Yes to this. I'm sure I'm not the only person rolling their eyes at endless workplace awareness activity. Especially when the 'support' is outsourced to an external provider.
As a psychiatrist, I've felt this same way and every word you shared here resonated! Awareness without action isn't getting us anywhere. And I worry that when everything gets shoved under the umbrella of "mental health", we are not being specific around what conditions need what actionable supports. I started Mental Health Awareness Month with the question of whether mental health stigma still exists: https://smushtalk.substack.com/p/in-2025-does-mental-health-stigma
Rightly or wrongly, I think the fact that people now speak out more about their mental health issues means that many now know personally someone who they feel is 'milking' their own condition, exaggering it for the sake of special treatment. Not that we think all our acquaintance with issues are exaggerating for effect but that we know at least one of them who we feel is.
I really enjoyed this read! As someone who studies how to teach social media and mental health topics this was such an important lesson. I could see my students reading this for class!
That's very kind of you to say! I'm very glad you liked my post. Should you end up in a position where you could give it to your students, please do so with my blessing.
This was such an important read. I think there's such an uptick in stigmatized language specifically to refer to those we disagree with politically, see: Trump Derangement Syndrome and similar, that reflects this cultural disdain.
Excellent! I think there's a lot at play here, including learned helplessness, prejudice against the young, and an unhelpful distinction between socially endorsed mental health and less 'endorsed' struggles. Sounds like a book!
As someone on the spectrum and having a partner with ASD and PTSD I can strobyl relate to this. The concepts are being diluted so strongly these days, not just due to social media misuse but also due to concept creep in the DSM5 that a lot seems so vague as to have become meaningless. I also have the same feeling that most mental health activism is the superficial stuff that ever leads to anything in practice. Which is also not strange that it now is backfiring. I am becoming more and more frustrated by the meaningless activism and awareness stuff that I am no longer trusting such groups. It's not what people say that matters, it's what they do that actually matters in the end.
Yes to this. I'm sure I'm not the only person rolling their eyes at endless workplace awareness activity. Especially when the 'support' is outsourced to an external provider.
As a psychiatrist, I've felt this same way and every word you shared here resonated! Awareness without action isn't getting us anywhere. And I worry that when everything gets shoved under the umbrella of "mental health", we are not being specific around what conditions need what actionable supports. I started Mental Health Awareness Month with the question of whether mental health stigma still exists: https://smushtalk.substack.com/p/in-2025-does-mental-health-stigma
Rightly or wrongly, I think the fact that people now speak out more about their mental health issues means that many now know personally someone who they feel is 'milking' their own condition, exaggering it for the sake of special treatment. Not that we think all our acquaintance with issues are exaggerating for effect but that we know at least one of them who we feel is.
I really enjoyed this read! As someone who studies how to teach social media and mental health topics this was such an important lesson. I could see my students reading this for class!
That's very kind of you to say! I'm very glad you liked my post. Should you end up in a position where you could give it to your students, please do so with my blessing.
This was such an important read. I think there's such an uptick in stigmatized language specifically to refer to those we disagree with politically, see: Trump Derangement Syndrome and similar, that reflects this cultural disdain.
Excellent! I think there's a lot at play here, including learned helplessness, prejudice against the young, and an unhelpful distinction between socially endorsed mental health and less 'endorsed' struggles. Sounds like a book!