Memes can be a great tool for communication, especially when it comes to sharing complex feelings or struggles. The combination of captions and goofy pictures allows people to touch on inner hardships with a flicker of humor. Since their introduction online, memes have grown beyond silly cat pictures into a means of discussing mental health, which helps people ease emotional burdens and connect with others online.
One place on the internet where life struggles are widely discussed is the ‘Freud Intensifies’ Instagram account. It helps people’s hardships feel seen, which can be nice in a world that sometimes is isolating and lonesome.
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Mental health writer Theodora Blanchfield, AMFT, shared that she felt weirdly excited when a client sent her a meme for the first time. “It felt like an honor to me. As someone who considers humor and sarcasm her love language, I received the meme as a sign of trust,” she said.
“I’m grateful that my friends and clients have used memes to communicate with me in order to say the hard things—to make jokes about their traumas or an element of dealing with chronic depression, for example.”
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Sharing memes about mental health struggles, like depression, might look like a sad activity to those who don’t have to deal with melancholic feelings. However, research has shown that memes that discuss difficult-to-talk-about topics like isolation or anxiety are a safer and more comfortable way to share heavy emotions.
“Also, finding the humor in tough situations can take some of the power away from these otherwise taboo feelings,” Blanchfield added.
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While mental health memes typically depict dark or negative humor, psychiatrically vulnerable individuals report having positive experiences when engaging with them. In addition, they help them feel seen, providing validation when they feel alone in their struggles.
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“Sometimes, no matter how many ways I phrase something or ask something to a client, they still have a hard time wrapping their head around the fact that they’re not The Only Person Who Has Ever Felt That Way,” Blanchfield said. “But while, yes, each person’s exact situation is different, feelings are largely universal. That is, while the exact grief of losing my specific mom, Carol, is not the carbon copy of your grief of losing your mom, we’ve probably had relatively similar feelings.”
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According to her, “Memes feel particularly validating for the not-so-charitable feelings.” The study Mental health memes: beneficial or aversive in relation to psychiatric symptoms? carried out by Umair Akram and Jennifer Drabble also claimed that social support through online interactions like memes can help reduce psychiatric symptoms due to the bonds people create with others.
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But there has to be a downside to this, doesn’t there? Well, yes, as not all mental health memes are beneficial. Some memes may reinforce outdated or inaccurate views and stereotypes of mental health conditions, further spreading misinformation and stigma rather than reducing it.
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They can also be seen as minimizing serious conditions like bipolar disorder, OCD, or schizophrenia, leaving people who suffer from them feeling invalidated. Not only that but in some cases, mental health memes can act as triggers for those experiencing specific symptoms by simplifying them or depicting them in a funny way.
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Therefore, it’s important to mindfully engage with mental health memes online. To avoid any potential harm while scrolling, seek balance by looking at content that promotes understanding, supports empathy, and discusses mental health struggles using reliable sources and facts. When sharing memes, be aware of them promoting the correct and empathic message instead of feeding into outdated and misleading stereotypes.
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