#mental health culture

[hyperlexichypatia]

As I keep shouting into the void, pathologizers love shifting discussion about material conditions into discussion about emotional states.

I rant approximately once a week about how the brain maturity myth transmuted “Young adults are too poor to move out of their parents’ homes or have children of their own” into “Young adults are too emotionally and neurologically immature to move out of their parents’ homes or have children of their own.”

I’ve also talked about the misuse of “enabling” and “trauma” and “dopamine” .

And this is a pattern – people coin terms and concepts to describe material problems, and pathologization culture shifts them to be about problems in the brain or psyche of the person experiencing them. Now we’re talking about neurochemicals, frontal lobes, and self-esteem instead of talking about wages, wealth distribution, and civil rights. Now we can say that poor, oppressed, and exploited people are suffering from a neurological/emotional defect that makes them not know what’s best for themselves, so they don’t need or deserve rights or money.

Here are some terms that have been so horribly misused by mental health culture that we’ve almost entirely forgotten that they were originally materialist critiques.

Codependency What it originally referred to: A non-addicted person being overly “helpful” to an addicted partner or relative, often out of financial desperation. For example: Making sure your alcoholic husband gets to work in the morning (even though he’s an adult who should be responsible for himself) because if he loses his job, you’ll lose your home. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/opinion/codependency-addiction-recovery.html What it’s been distorted into: Being “clingy,” being “too emotionally needy,” wanting things like affection and quality time from a partner. A way of pathologizing people, especially young women, for wanting things like love and commitment in a romantic relationship.

Compulsory Heterosexuality What it originally referred to: In the 1980 in essay "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence," https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/493756 Adrienne Rich described compulsory heterosexuality as a set of social conditions that coerce women into heterosexual relationships and prioritize those relationships over relationships between women (both romantic and platonic). She also defines “lesbian” much more broadly than current discourse does, encompassing a wide variety of romantic and platonic relationships between women. While she does suggest that women who identify as heterosexual might be doing so out of unquestioned social norms, this is not the primary point she’s making. What it’s been distorted into: The patronizing, biphobic idea that lesbians somehow falsely believe themselves to be attracted to men. Part of the overall “Women don’t really know what they want or what’s good for them” theme of contemporary discourse.

Emotional Labor What it originally referred to: The implicit or explicit requirement that workers (especially women workers, especially workers in female-dominated “pink collar” jobs, especially tipped workers) perform emotional intimacy with customers, coworkers, and bosses above and beyond the actual job being done. Having to smile, be “friendly,” flirt, give the impression of genuine caring, politely accept harassment, etc. https://weld.la.psu.edu/what-is-emotional-labor/ What it’s been distorted into: Everything under the sun. Everything from housework (which we already had a term for), to tolerating the existence of disabled people, to just caring about friends the way friends do. The original intent of the concept was “It’s unreasonable to expect your waitress to care about your problems, because she’s not really your friend,” not “It’s unreasonable to expect your actual friends to care about your problems unless you pay them, because that’s emotional labor,” and certainly not “Disabled people shouldn’t be allowed to be visibly disabled in public, because witnessing a disabled person is emotional labor.” Anything that causes a person emotional distress, even if that emotional distress is rooted in the distress-haver’s bigotry (Many nominally progressive people who would rightfully reject the bigoted logic of “Seeing gay or interracial couples upsets me, which is emotional labor, so they shouldn’t be allowed to exist in public” fully accept the bigoted logic of “Seeing disabled or poor people upsets me, which is emotional labor, so they shouldn’t be allowed to exist in public”).

Battered Wife Syndrome What it originally referred to: The all-encompassing trauma and fear of escalating violence experienced by people suffering ongoing domestic abuse, sometimes resulting in the abuse victim using necessary violence in self-defense. Because domestic abuse often escalates, often to murder, this fear is entirely rational and justified. This is the reasonable, justified belief that someone who beats you, stalks you, and threatens to kill you may actually kill you.

What it’s been distorted into: Like so many of these other items, the idea that women (in this case, women who are victims of domestic violence) don’t know what’s best for themselves. I debated including this one, because “syndrome” was a wrongful framing from the beginning – a justified and rational fear of escalating violence in a situation in which escalating violence is occurring is not a “syndrome.” But the original meaning at least partially acknowledged the material conditions of escalating violence.

I’m not saying the original meanings of these terms are ones I necessarily agree with – as a cognitive liberty absolutist, I’m unsurprisingly not that enamored of either second-wave feminism or 1970s addiction discourse. And as much as I dislike what “emotional labor” has become, I accept that “Women are unfairly expected to care about other people’s feelings more than men are” is a true statement.

What I am saying is that all of these terms originally, at least partly, took material conditions into account in their usage. Subsequent usage has entirely stripped the materialist critique and fully replaced it with emotional pathologization, specifically of women. Acknowledgement that women have their choices constrained by poverty, violence, and oppression has been replaced with the idea that women don’t know what’s best for themselves and need to be coercively “helped” for their own good. Acknowledgement that working-class women experience a gender-and-class-specific form of economic exploitation has been rebranded as yet another variation of “Disabled people are burdensome for wanting to exist.”

Over and over, materialist critiques are reframed as emotional or cognitive defects of marginalized people. The next time you hear a superficially sympathetic (but actually pathologizing) argument for “Marginalized people make bad choices because…” consider stopping and asking: “Wait, who are we to assume that this person’s choices are ‘bad’? And if they are, is there something about their material conditions that constrains their options or makes the ‘bad’ choice the best available option?”

#mad pride #neurodiversity #ableism #ageism #youth rights #liberation #disability rights #classism #capitalism #mental health culture #pop psychology #feminism #emotional labor

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

i just hate "neurodivergent"

its creating this culture where sane people think its supportive and cool to treat me like i don't have a legitimate disability. its created a trichotomy where all mental health is classed as either "neurotypical", "neurodivergent," or "mentally ill", implicitly if not explicitly. where sane people act like you have mental illness easy mode if you have ADHD or autism or anxiety and if you try to complain about it you get shut down. where it's still mostly okay to demonize schizophrenia and personality disorders and every other scaaaaaaaaaaary mental illness out there. where people are lumped together as if they have shared experiences regardless of what those experiences actually are. where support needs differences aren't recognized. where people still think all mental illnesses can be solved with behavioral changes. where what should be a blanket term is basically just used to refer to certain presentations of ADHD and ASD. where the myth of a "standard neurotype" gets perpetuated. im so tired. i just want to have problems and be unapologetic about having problems.

#mental health #mental health culture #mental illness #mental illness culture

[charles-breaks-beakers]

HETEROSEXUAL CIS-PEOPLE LOOK HERE

Snaps my fingers at you as you scroll past this post

Look at me. Listen.

I'm not the best at serious posts, but that article up there reminded me of how important it is that people like you stand up for us. So hold on while I try to get this out of my mushy end-of-work-day brain.

We could fight this fight ourselves for decades trying to reach the equal laws, gender affirming trans healthcare that doesn't have a 2-5+ soul-eating years of waiting time, medical care with equal knowledge of lgbtqia+ bodies, and, what is often forgotten, inclusion in the little everyday areas of life like our way of speaking or things being set up or designed with the existence of queer people in mind.

But you joining in could get us there so much faster.

The power you have as a hetero cis person is that you set the standard for what is seen as the average way of treating us among other hetero cis people. You have been given the power of deciding what's "normal" and I'm begging you to use it.

Richard Green is a great example of to what extent your actions can help our situation, and smaller ways of support still add up to a great impact on society, and could make the days of the queer people you interact with.

Educate yourself before you speak up, but don't be silent.

#lgbtqia+ #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbtq+ #lgbtqia+ rights #lgbtq+ rights #lgbtq rights #interesting #article #psychology #mental health #psychologist #reading #culture #cooking #drawing #music #nature #science #baking #pets #inspirational #gaming #photography #fashion #writing

[oliviawhen]

May comic! Happy mental health awareness month. 🐝 Comic brought to you by my constant worry that I don't exist if I have nothing to show for myself.  

Advice to my past self: Read about burnout. Stretch. Stand up. Get lunch. Ask for extensions. Get help. Sleep. Take time off if you need to, don't ask. Take care of yourself.

#comic #mental health #bee #illustration #hustle culture #acryla gouache #long post #art #top posts

[convert-bunny]

Embracing Mental Health Culture: Transforming Lives and Communities with Join Kaya

Building a supportive mental health culture is crucial for individuals and organizations alike. Join Kaya helps you how to foster a positive environment that prioritizes mental well-being, reduces stigma, and promotes open conversations. Discover practical tips and strategies to cultivate a culture that values mental health. Start creating a positive mental health culture today for a happier and more productive life.

#Mental Health Services #Global Mental Health Platform #Mental health culture

[ailurophilerebeccaexists]

Once I learn how to stop being me it’s over for y’all

#jirai girl #bpd culture is #bpd safe #bpd vent #actually bpd #bpd feels #bpd problems #bpd #bpd thoughts #tw depressing thoughts #tw self destruction #hell is a teenage girl #tw depressing stuff #tw mental illness #tw mental health #tw depression

[ccorinthian]

fuck you ageism fuck you life ending at 30 fuck you makeup industry forcing us to feel bad about a natural process fuck you hustle culture fuck you instagram fuck you youtube fuck you glorification and deification of youth fuck you who make people feel bad for not having "achieved anything" in their 20s fuck you people who peaked in high school and try to drag everybody down by insisting it's all downhill after 19

#im not dedicating hours and days and weeks of my 20s of hard work on my mental health to cope w shit i went through #for some bitches on websites to tell me ill shrivel up and die when i hit 30 unless my life is perfect by then #youre not dragging me down to that mindset and i wont let your doom and gloom about turning older make me feel like shit !! #some of us have to rebuild ourselves from ground up and that shit takes time and thats FINE and if you think otherwise fuck off honestly #ageism is such a disgustingly overlooked aspect thats so ingrained in our culture and you need to recognise it #or you'll just feel worse and worse about yourself with every passing day bc guess what baby you cant go back!! #SICK of the negativity surrounding age on this website get yourself the fuck together honestly

[chaotic-autumn]

never let anyone convince you that your excitement isn't beautiful. what an incredible thing it is, to notice and be overcome by any bright spot in this too-dark world.

it doesn't matter what you're excited about, how small it seems to other people, your joy deserves to grow as big as it can. nurture it. help it grow strong so that when you are hurting your joy can lend you its strength.

#against nihilism #for a rainy day #depression #mental health #neurodivergent #adhd #adhd community #nerd shit #nerdfighteria #fandom meta #adhd shit #chaotic textpost #cringe culture #anti cringe culture #fuck cringe culture #nerd culture

[deesi-academia]

#i couldnt find the meme so i made it again hah #so real. #people pleaser #boundaries #mental health #desiblr #desi #chaotic academia #humor #dark academia #memes #light academia #desi culture #healing #1k #2k

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

Had to share this video to show you how beautiful and culturally rich Palestine is. These are the cities of Palestine and their names. Despite the destruction and death, we still have hope. And we will survive this 🙏🇵🇸

It's a beautiful country full of beautiful people, and we deserve to live, frankly.

#this song is an arabic song by a lebanese singer #the lyrics say: Tomorrow this nightmare will be over // and the sun will rise // and on this beloved land we will meet #love my country and its people ❤️🇵🇸 #i will not allow any hate on this post specifically #take it as a mental health break #palestine #current events #free palestine #ethnic cleansing #palestine 🇵🇸 #gaza #jerusalem #free palestine 🇵🇸 #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #video #beauty #culture #words

[escitalopram-fanatic]

Having BPD is wishing the people who hurt you miss you like you miss them.

#mental health #mental illness #bpd #vent #actually bpd #borderline personality disorder #actually borderline #borderline culture is #bpd thoughts #bpd culture is #bpd problems

[thebibliosphere]

Hi new friends. Please don’t censor words, especially triggering ones. Seeing trigger words written l!ke th!s doesn’t stop them from being triggering.

It just stops Tumblr’s built in filter (see under settings) from working which many of us have in place to protect ourselves.

This has happened to me multiple times this week, and as someone currently struggling with suicidal ideation, has not been great.

You are not on TikTok or Insta, please use the full words so people can protect themselves. Thank you 💖

#suicidal ideation #mental health #tumblr culture #how to use the blue hellsite

[wolveria]

With how incredibly cruel people can be in fandoms nowadays, I can understand the lack of interaction on tumblr.

I know it's well meaning, but I have a feeling folks who say "people who boop can also interact directly with blogs!" have never been sent hate mail, or received nasty comments, or been put on a list that gets passed around because they ship/write/draw the "wrong" thing.

SO yeah. The lack of interaction isn't what's killing fandoms. It's the people who go out of their way to harass other fans that leads to less interaction that kills fandoms.

And it's not really fair to expect people to interact in a hostile environment.

#fandom #tumblr #tumblr culture #fandom culture #boop #just wanted to put my two cents out there #since i have been a prolific blog on tumblr for years #and it is NOT always easy or nice or good on my mental health #so i don't blame lurkers in the least #this is a lurker-friendly blog

[eriklehnsherrific]

in case you need to hear this

workout because its good for your heart, lungs, releases endorphins, and you want to get stronger. not because it’ll make you skinny or make your body look a certain way.

wear sunscreen every day in order to protect yourself from easily preventable and deadly skin cancer, not with the goal of preventing aging (there is nothing wrong with aging or wrinkles; it is a natural part of life and reflection of the life you live).

eat more vegetables because you need the fiber to make you more regular, they help lower your risk of eye and digestive problems, and they help in nutrient re-uptake. not because eating only carbs is “bad” for you. you need a combination of carbs, fruit/veg, protein, fiber, fat, etc for a full balanced diet. 

cut out dairy from your diet if it makes you shit your brains out every single time without fail, not because it will “make you fat”.

drink more water because, despite how annoying it is to be told “just drink water”, it does actually make you feel better if you’re anxious or your head hurts or you don’t have any energy. not because it’ll “flush out your immune system uwu” or it will make your skin clear.

drink green tea because its delicious, not because it’s a “natural detox”. ( “detoxes” aren’t real. your kidneys detoxify your blood for you)

not everything “natural” is automatically healthy for you. not everything “unnatural” is automatically unhealthy/dangerous

cutting out whole food groups and labeling them as “bad for you” in any form is restrictive. if you aren’t allergic to gluten, you don’t need to cut gluten from your diet in order to be healthy. if you were not specifically instructed by a doctor to go keto in order to aid treatment for a disease (such as cancer or epilepsy), you do not and should not go keto. 

do “healthy” things because you deserve to live a long, healthy life. yes, you. your weight doesn’t matter and it has never mattered. you deserve to keep yourself safe. 

#anti diet #anti diet culture #mental health #body neutrality #self care #self love #also note: this is not me saying that being physically healthy/without issue is the only thing a person needs to have value. #people who aren't healthy have value #disabled people have value #everyone has value regardless of their appearance/weight #thats the point #thoughts on diet culture while i am a bit high #listen to me im right

[deadassjsawhitegirl]

"bpd is this" "bpd is that"

can i just say bpd is more than a favorite person? i understand that part as ive experienced it but thats not all there is

as someone who doesnt currently have a "fp" i hate that thats all bpd tumblr is. js shit about your feelings towards other people, i understand but oh my god i wish there was more. it feels like romanticism of the mental illness that people are gifted the option of assisted su!c!de for. and thats not fucking right.

im sorry if this sounds rude or anything but it just makes me feel really alone in my illness and thats a shitty feeling to have, esp as someone who has bpd.

#bpd feels #actually bpd #bpd #bpd vent #bpd thoughts #bpd problems #bpd safe #fp bpd #actually borderline #bpd splitting #borderline personality disorder #borderline thoughts #borderline culture is #borderline pd #borderline blog #living with borderline #romantizing life #block dont report #mental illness #actually mentally ill #mental health #mentally fucked #emotional health #bpd fp #fp #favorite person #alone with my thoughts #maybe mean? #im sorry #whatever

[ailurophilerebeccaexists]

Touched starved and touch repulsed

#bpd safe #bpd vent #bpd feels #bpd culture is #bpd thoughts #bpd problems #tw mental health #tw depressing stuff #hell is a teenage girl #tw depressing thoughts #i’m miserable #i hate everything