Social Media Therapists On Instagram Can Resemble Cult Leaders – BuzzFeed News

This is an excerpt from Please Like Me, BuzzFeed News’ newsletter about how influencers are battling for your attention. You can sign up here.The search for a good therapist can be rough. In my experience, it’s like going on a series of particularly emotionally intense dates where you have to wait weeks and then pay them hundreds of dollars to judge you.So I’m grateful when I’m doomscrolling Instagram and a friend shares an aesthetically pleasing graphic about mental health to their story. The same goes for TikTok when my unsettlingly personalized algorithm gently feeds me “six easy hacks to manage your exact cocktail of mental illnesses,” from a kind-looking therapist.At this stage in a global mental health crisis, when scores of apocalypses are simultaneously having their way with our collective psyche (from the fallout of a yearslong pandemic to literal war), social media therapists have noticed a need for easier and cheaper access to mental health resources. Therapists don’t necessarily have to be good at therapy to become influencers — but they do need to be excellent at viral marketing. BuzzFeed News spoke with six licensed therapists about their online presence and the dangers of relying on social media posts…
Read More