How “Toxic Positivity” Can Harm Mental Health

 


By Steven Booth, Founder of Elevation Behavioral Health
 
"Don't be a downer!" 
 
"You're fine!" 
 
"There's nothing to worry about." 
 
We've all heard them. These mostly well-intentioned admonitions to suck it up, focus on the positive, and keep smiling that feel dismissive to our suffering. How long have we been fed the sugary-sweet mantra that we must go through life seeing the glass as perpetually “half full?” But some of life's problems are hardly solved with cheerful quips, and it's important to note that it's okay not to feel okay!
 
This mask of positivity is thus termed "toxic positivity". But how could it possibly be toxic to be a positive person, you ask? Well, in real life with real human beings, the expectation to hide our sad stuff is simply unrealistic. In reality, life is chock full of real ups and real downs, and to attempt to suppress any negative emotions we might experience will only come back to bite us eventually. All that energy spent trying to hold those feelings at bay can absolutely become toxic. We cannot effectively lie to ourselves for the sake of others on an ongoing basis and not have it makes us sick at some point.

How to Address Depression Honestly


As much as we might want to present a false front to the world—for everyone else’s sake instead of our own—if we are indeed experiencing a debilitating depression episode we are only fooling ourselves. The mind-body connection is too smart to fall for that fake smile. Pushing all the symptoms of depression underground only causes them to fester and grow. The symptoms of depression include:
  • Persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness
  • Loss of interest in daily life
  • Deep fatigue
  • Sleep problems
  • Trouble making decisions
  • Loss of appetite or increased appetite that lead to weight loss or gain
  • Inappropriate feelings of shame or guilt
  • Slowed motor movements
  • Thoughts of suicide
The sooner the depression is treated, the sooner you will be able to regain normal functioning. This is the opposite advice of the glass-half-full squad who caused the toxic positivity in the first place. Instead of trying to hide your true emotional state, recognize it and reach out to a mental health professional who can provide the support you deserve. Treatment for the depression will involve a three-pronged approach:
  1. Medication. In most cases you will be treated with antidepressants. Along with therapy, there are positive effects of antidepressants. Antidepressant drug therapy is helpful in about half the patients who use these medications, so definitely worth a shot. It is common to trial 2 or 3 different antidepressants before finding the one that causes the fewest side effects and is the most effective in treating the symptoms.
  2. Psychotherapy. The connection between our thoughts and our behaviors is powerful. Through behavioral therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy, a licensed therapist can guide you toward changing thoughts that do not advance healthy actions.
  3. Mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness teaches you how to recognize troubled distracting thoughts that keep you in an emotionally depressed place, and to acknowledge them for what they are without judgment. Accepting your emotions and validating them, and then choosing to move on, is the opposite of toxic positivity.

Elevation Behavioral Health is a Luxury Residential Mental Health Program in Los Angeles
 


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