![]() ‘Trauma is about shame and secrecy’īessel van der Kolk is laughing. “I think it’s beneficial for people to know they’re not alone … often people don’t have friends or family talking about abuse, neglect, domestic partner violence or feelings generally,” says Taylor.Īt their best, these memes help sufferers process the things that have happened to them in a safe way, helping them to confront difficult issues without being exposed or triggered – like a visual diary, or even a form of exposure therapy. “The main motivation was healing myself, but I think ultimately allowed others space to heal themselves, too.” “I used my meme page as an attempt to process what was going on with my life, from cutting out my father to processing childhood trauma,” she says. Many accounts tend to be knowingly subversive and ironic, such as this meme from mental health meme queen “Being mentally ill is a full-time job and I’m getting employee of the month.” “I feel so seen,” I think, when I log into Instagram and am confronted by a meme about self-sabotage. And with this new enthusiasm for mental health memes come questions: Does their proliferation risk watering down the terminology? Should we worry about people self-diagnosing online? And do we risk opening up the mental health conversation to cynical commercial interests? Memes as exposure therapy Though I am mostly recovered, seeing words that once were used clinically to describe my illness splashed all over the internet is certainly an adjustment – especially when they are used thoughtlessly. It has now become so ubiquitous that it’s been co-opted by the political right as an example of leftwing oversensitivity – see Donald Trump Jr’s book of the same name. The most obvious example is the use of the word “triggered”, which was originally used to describe the way the brains of people with PTSD react when re-exposed to something that recalls the original trauma and puts them in fight-or-flight mode. You’re as likely to find references to PTSD on Instagram as you are on a medical website, and mental health memes in particular have been on the increase in fact, their preponderance has been unmistakable during the pandemic. Need This Fixed Asap” …….Fast forward to 2021 and the word “trauma” is everywhere. Image source: speddie23 #30 Faculty With 2 Masters Degrees And A Phd: “My Speakers Wont Work And I Am Giving A Very Important Presentation Right Now. ![]() Image source: fuzzypops #29 “Can You Help Me Get The Files Of This USB?” Get Handed One Of These Image source: teeny_big_tree #28 ID10T – Pulling Teeth Image source: Snakeoffbreak #27 I Made This Meme Instead Of Doing The Thing They Asked For Image source: devdevo1919 #26 It Was Old Man Teams! Image source: tsaven #25 Administrative Access Image source: #24 My Co-Worker Decided He Wanted A Standing Desk Image source: boydskywalker #23 Big IT Time ![]() Image source: paulmcgr #22 The Truth Comes Out Image source: msf2115 #21 Oh, So Now You’re Going To Start Working Fine? Image source: NRG_Factor #20 One Day Son, All This Will Be Yours! Image source: RudestBuddhist #19 Its Really Not Hard ![]() Image source: pablogaruda #18 This Hits Home Image source: nicolas_the_fox #17 Happy Little Outages Here And There
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