The Artidote: “Mental Health Over Every Damn Thing”
I’m motivated by the superficiality/distractions that social media is seemingly pushing us towards; the pointless news articles in the media, the unimportant information so many of us share on this never-ending feed. I want to bring something refreshing into the feed- The Artidote
While the Internet is booming with case studies and scholarly articles about the negative effects of social media on mental health, one man’s Facebook/Instagram page is a mosaic of everything that is enriching, inspiring and nourishing. He has also saved lives through this very platform!

Meet Jovanny Varela-Ferreyra, an artist and creator of The Artidote, a social media platform aimed to cultivate self-awareness and empathy through visual and written storytelling. Born in Mexico, Varela emigrated to the U.S. at the age of ten. Lacking English proficiency, he started expressing himself through drawing. During the rise of social media, Varela began experimenting with curating artwork online. His particular way of presenting artwork generates unlikely bonds between individuals across cultures and religions. Today, The Artidote community has become a global support group most recently responsible for saving suicidal lives on Snapchat.
In an interview with Healthcare Executive, he thoughtfully discusses social media and mental health.

It was important from me, since the beginning, to remind myself that the greatest personal fulfilment from running this space was not in growing likes but in growing (together with) people. That’s what set The Artidote apart from other social media pages; that I let it grow organically and that its message spread by word of mouth more than by heavily campaigning for people to like or share my content. The Artidote was always meant to be more than just a social media page; it has been simply using the tools of social media to bring people together.

I have no words to describe my mother’s influence on my life, let alone my work. The source of my bountiful love, empathy, self-awareness and my drive — the greatest values that I now possess were imparted in me by my mother. When she was a living body, there was a place in the world where I could always go and embrace that love. Since she passed away this past December, now she’s everywhere; I find here wherever there is love, peace & happiness.
What are some of the issues The Artidote addresses?

A better question would be: what are some issues The Artidote does not address? But a sincere answer would be that The Artidote addresses the issues that connect us as the fragile yet resilient human creatures we are; stories about our dreams, fears, vulnerabilities, joys, trials and tribulations; the same stories that we’ve been sharing with each other for millennia — but now on a format tailored for the 21st Century.

By de-stigmatizing the act of seeking help and by acknowledging that mental illnesses are as common as the flu but as serious as cancer. People are less hesitant to seek help for physical illnesses because our bodies are not where our personality, identity and world-views are. But when it comes to the mind, we feel that there must also be something wrong about us, as people. And I’m trying to break that taboo by normalizing conversations around mental health and spreading awareness about how real and serious they are (a lot of people worldwide still lack the basic understanding of what mental illnesses are or the fact that they exist).

It’s a feeling. I am an empath so it comes a bit naturally to me to “feel” an artwork or text. There are text and artworks that move more inside me than others — from these, I fuse the feelings that I get from both and that’s what I share to my community.

I can’t say. They’ve been always changing with my experience and situations. Right now is Kendrick Lamar. I don’t distinguish between painter, poet, sculptor or dancer — to me they’re all artists. And at the moment my favourite artist is Lamar. The way he story-tells by interweaving words and music makes me elated in a way that no other body of artwork does at this particular moment in my life.

Can you site some examples of artists who have helped reduce stigma around mental illness?
Unfortunately not. Not because they don’t exist — I’m sure they do — I’m just not aware of any that tackle the problem directly. It is a difficult theme to address in art (any art form) because art, by nature, is to be appreciated for its beauty and/or technical skills and under these expectations is very difficult to talk about mental illnesses without romanticizing them. Perhaps that’s why no artist comes to mind that has reduced the stigma around mental illness yet. But the conversation around mental illnesses and their stigma is still a conversation in its early stages.


What are your views on the effect of social media on self-esteem?
I can see how it has increased the self-esteem of many. It is the reason why you see so many posts about graduations, happy relationships, new job findings, successful careers in the making and overall happy/proud moments. The experiences and successes of people are given a platform where to feel liked and appreciated by their friends. And we all need validation, in one way or another, to feel good about ourselves and continue pursuing our goals.
But I can also see the other side of the spectrum: people whose life is not going so well that are constantly bombarded by everyone else’s happy moments to the point of feeling left out. So it has both positive and negative ramifications. This is one of the reasons why I began to hack the newsfeeds in early 2014 with vulnerably honest stories of pain, grief and life-ache. So that those who are suffering don’t feel left out and their experiences also be validated. To me, social media is nothing but a tool — like a hammer: you can build a house or smash somebody’s head with it. All depends on how you choose to use it.

No. Positivity is relative, isn’t it?
What may be an inspiring story to you might be a depressing story to someone else.
Take the topic of death, for instance. There are people who get genuinely upset, anxious, worried and paralyzed at the supposed meaninglessness of it all if we’re all going to die one day.
Then there are people like me, for instance, who think of death as the greatest motivator: the fact that we are all going to die one day (everyone you love and hate, and everyone that loves and hates you) jumpstarts my awareness of how meaningful every breathing moment is. This whole thing is beautiful to me because it won’t last forever.

“Genuine suffering” is a problematic term. Suffering is not a competition. There are people dying from bombs in Aleppo. There are people dying from a cocaine overdose in Los Angeles as they attempted to fill a void created by a mental illness like depression. There are people in Mumbai who are about to self-harm for the very first time because they can’t feel anything anymore due to a mental illness that nobody around them felt was a real thing and so they were not given the proper attention and support to handle this suffering. Can we say that one suffering is more genuine than the other?
We all require attention, affection, nurturing and care — just like every other living thing on this planet.
What are some of the definitely don’ts you abide by to not romanticize mental illness? I think that’s tricky- you never know how people percept it.

I avoid overly poetic/flowery writing that deals with mental illnesses. Depression is not pretty. Self-harm is not pretty. I also keep myself from posting on Snapchat the messages I receive of bleeding wrists because a) I don’t want to trigger those survivors who are recovering and b) I don’t want to romanticize the act of hurting your own body in a platform that, with its filters and beautiful format, makes it sometimes difficult to distinguish between reality and entertainment.

My motto is always “Mental Health Over Every Damn Thing.” And that includes putting myself into that equation. I need to be at a top mental and emotionally healthy state to be able to run this project, so I make sure people are aware that the one thing I cannot do is provide the professional support that only a licensed mental health professional can give. I always have to remind myself of who I am and who I’m not and of what The Artidote can and cannot do. It’s important for me that my community understands that The Artidote and its channels is not an alternative to therapy and that the Snapchat stories of Facebook posts will not cure a mental illness. To believe otherwise would be as preposterous as believing that a painting can cure cancer.
The Artidote is a storytelling, safe space where people may express themselves openly without judgment and where mental health is emphasized. That’s simply it. As it is, it’s inspiring a lot of people in the way it cultivates empathy and self-awareness. Yet there are some cases that require much more than the resources The Artidote has at its disposal. For these cases, I always encourage them to seek the professional help necessary.
Author : Team HE
