Gemma Spake

Here's the other thing about psychology and mental health content like that.

It does really well.

It gets really great engagement because people are filming them in a way that is generalized.

That's exactly why they do it this way.

They want it to be relatable.

This content wants people to see themselves and resonate with what they're saying and send to their friends and save it and forward it and whatever.

But then people end up believing something deeply and very serious about themselves that may not be accurate.

At times it is, but even if it is accurate, if you're only going off of this content, it's going to be based on a very simplified version of things that may actually not be helpful anyways.

Another reason this content does really well is because as people, we are constantly looking for something that will help us make sense of our experiences.

Basically, when we're young, especially, you know, this girl in this video is like 17.

Her target audience is probably other teenagers.

When we're in our teens, 20s, 30s, and life in general is very confusing.

Someone giving you a general label to grasp onto that explains your experiences, especially in this way, is very reassuring.

The issue is, is that that can actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy as you mold yourself to fit the label, not the other way around.

And when you don't have clinical help,

Alongside it, I have some friends who are psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and more and more they're talking about how people will come into appointments or sessions essentially with two to three labels.

They'll be like, I have BPD, I have bipolar, I have OCD, I have ADHD.

And it's only after a little bit of investigating or in fact, like some confusion that like this person doesn't actually seem to match the criteria that they will ask the client and the client will be like, oh, I diagnosed myself online.

Sometimes they're right.

That's the thing.