The Mighty Logo
Mental Health

People Use #MyMentalHealthIn5Words to Explain Their Mental Health on Twitter

Elizabeth Cassidy
 • 
The most helpful emails in health
Get hand-picked resources and highlights from our Mighty community straight to your inbox.
Browse our free newsletters

Explaining your mental health to others isn’t always easy. Sometimes finding the right words seems impossible, or, when you do speak out, others don’t seem to understand or are unsupportive. On Monday, the hashtag #MyMentalHealthIn5Words started trending on Twitter, as a way for users to explain their experience living with mental illness in simpler terms.

The hashtag was started by Amanda Stafford (@ShutUpAmanda), who hosts a mental health hashtag “game,” #MandasHeadgames, on Sunday nights. Stafford started the hashtag game over two years ago in hopes of starting more conversations around mental health. The idea came from Stafford’s own experience living with a mental illness, and not wanting others to feel like she did for 10 years before she sought help.

“There are so many people, too many who think they are suffering alone, or who don’t even recognize they have a mental illness, so every week I try to spread the message of hope,” Stafford told The Mighty.

Stafford chose to narrow this week’s hashtag to five words so that tweets would be concise, and potentially more relatable.

“When you see how many people say the same thing as you, it helps combat that feeling of isolation,” she said. “It shows you that you aren’t alone.”

While everyone’s experience with mental illness is different, people can share similar aspects. Here are some experiences you may relate to if you have a mental illness.

What are five words you’d use to describe your mental health? Let us know in the comments below.

If you or someone you know needs help, visit our suicide prevention resources page.

If you need support right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or reach the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741-741.

Header image via Twitter.

Elizabeth Cassidy
 • 

Elizabeth is the reporter at The Mighty. Elizabeth also runs the Elizabeth Explains column of Mighty Brief, The Mighty's daily newsletter. Follow her on twitter @ekcassidy4 or send an email to elizabeth@themighty.com.

elizabeth-cassidy
Originally published: December 19, 2017
Want more of The Mighty?
You can find even more stories on our Home page. There, you’ll also find thoughts and questions by our community.
Take Me Home