While increased awareness is positive, mental health terminology is often misused as a shield. People can use labels to deflect responsibility, expecting empathy without accountability, which complicates professional and personal development.
Research indicates trigger warnings are ineffective. They don't reduce distress from upsetting content and can increase anxiety by making a person experience the negative emotion twice: once in anticipation and again during the content.
The greatest obstacle to expanding personal capacity isn't stress or trauma itself, but the active avoidance of facing life's difficulties. Our refusal to engage with challenges is what ultimately shrinks our lives and potential, not the challenges themselves.
Shift the focus of mental health from coping and feeling comfortable to building the capacity to handle life's challenges. The goal isn't to feel better, but to become a better, more resilient person through difficult experiences.
Evidence suggests that much of what people claim as post-traumatic growth is an imaginary coping mechanism. It's a way to rationalize suffering and reduce cognitive dissonance, rather than a true, observable transformation in thinking, feeling, or action.
The common advice to 'protect your mental health' often encourages avoidance. A more effective approach is to 'exercise' it. By actively and intentionally engaging with manageable challenges, you build resilience and expand your mental capacity, much like a muscle.
Building an identity around personal wounds filters all experiences through pain, hindering growth. Recognizing that pain is a common human experience, rather than an exclusive burden, allows you to stop protecting your wounds and start healing from them.