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I keep seeing the words "optimize" and "mental health" together and im ready to become the joker
O P T I M I Z E
i got an email from a chair company the other day that suggested my mental health would be improved by ..buying one of their chairs. and some stretching of course
Sad? Buy a chair you stupid bitch
Sad? Buy a chair you stupid bitch
usually i'd roll my eyes at this bc im used to it and own a million of the original app.. The Self Help book, gifted by well-meaning people in my life, but the uptick in inescapable for-profit wellness movements, influencers and apps during covid has been really damaging to me
wellness mental health movements focus on your personal responsibility to "get better" and SelF CaRE. they ignore chronic suffers and the material conditions that affect mental health
these scam artists even have a name for themselves, Wellpernuers. ready to make money from you at your most vulnerable while muddying the waters when it comes to conversations about what ill mental health looks like
the chronic sufferer doesn't exist because we are an uncomfortable reality incompatible with capitalism and the damaging lies of for-profit wellness movements. "go for a run. do yoga. eat a salad. I felt down too until i..... " we've heard it all before.
im bipolar and I go to suicide forms to escape the din of empty influencer platitudes, app recommendations and copy-pasted helpline numbers, where people talk to each other without shame or judgment about the comfort that nonexistence could bring
i haven't been to these forms in years but im back in 2020 and 2021 and I think these movements are partly to blame as my experience feels so alien to the current mental health movements
these movements of sunny faced yoga influencers telling me they know how I feel and I can get over it just like them makes it harder to ignore the self-hatred that's part of my illness and brings me back to self-blame and the frustration that i just. cant. get. better.
anyway, I hope I haven't upset anyone. im just frustrated by all of this and genuinely worried about how this stuff is affecting me and other people.
I wish it was easier to talk openly about mental illness
[Monkey paw finger curls]
![I wish it was easier to talk openly about mental illness [Monkey paw finger curls]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtjY257WQAAKAj9.jpg "I wish it was easier to talk openly about mental illness [Monkey paw finger curls]")
![I wish it was easier to talk openly about mental illness [Monkey paw finger curls]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtjY3FEWgAAegnq.jpg "I wish it was easier to talk openly about mental illness [Monkey paw finger curls]")
[Monkey paw finger curls]
I went to multiple doctors/therapists before one told me the truth. I would never get better and I need to learn to manage it. It was exactly what a needed to hear instead of beating myself up for feeling like I had failed every time I relapsed into depression
he held a book in front of my face and said what do you see. i said "the book" and then he held it back further and asked again and i said "the room and you and the book". he told me the book is my depression and that it will always be there but it won't be the only thing I see
this blew my fucking mind because I was 16 and no one had ever told me I couldn't get over it. people were more comfortable dropping books like "who move my cheese" and "You can be happy no matter what" in my teenage lap and leaving it up to me to figure it the fuck out
