The Mental Health Concerns of Online Content Creators on Social Media

You can have depression and be on social media, but you better have it quietly

I have started referring to what I have now as “The Queen’s Depression.” It’s when you’re a mental health advocate in the public eye, and people have started to judge you for your weaknesses as though being an advocate is the same as promising that you have the whole depression thing down pat. It’s when you metaphorically drive around social media doing the queen’s wave, adding in a terrible British accent “Pip, pip, seems to be absolutely dreadful today, carry on, nothing to see here, all is well, still leading the people.”

I am neither British, nor did I promise to be an example, or pretend to lead anyone when three years ago I had a mental breakdown and realized that none of the resources I found in front of me were helpful in the way I needed them to be. I set out to bridge the gap between those talking about their experiences and those professionally treating them. I have a modest following (about 5K on twitter as of this writing), and yet already feel like my feeling unwell disappoints people. That I need to ensure that I am always helping people and that means keeping my twitter engaged and watching my numbers, no matter how awful of a habit I know that to be.