“Someone’s Therapist Knows All About You”: 50 Memes That One Should Probably Discuss In Therapy

To be or not to be, to love or not to love, to eat this chocolate cake in one sitting or… Wait, where did it go? These are some of the decisions we find ourselves making on a daily basis, our brains running quicker than the speed of light trying to figure out which choices are the best and how we can continue existing whilst making them. 

Therefore, the mind requires a holiday after time. 5 minutes of meditation or 5 hours of scrolling on social media may do the trick, but sorting through all the baggage that tends to pile up may take a professional’s helping hand. That very professional goes by the name of “therapist.” 

But for those of us too scared of seeking one out, we have the next best thing—the “Someone’s therapist” Instagram page. Obviously, we’re not being serious when we compare the two. Seek out therapy, it’ll help ya out. 

Do you know how hilarious it is to read scientific papers on memes? Look at this bit of fantastic writing right here by researchers Umair Akram and Jennifer Drabble that delves into what memes are: “Composed of an image and short caption, internet memes visually depict an element of a culture or behavioral system, in a humorous way that contextually relates to a particular demographic. Typically, they are rapidly shared, with many variations of the original.”

Such a sophisticated way to describe the funny-haha content. However, their study uncovered something peculiar. While several psychiatrists and media outlets believe internet memes to be associated with adverse consequences when it comes to mental health, their research proved otherwise. Instead of further compromising people’s mental health, the researchers found that memes help facilitate feelings of joy, happiness and companionship. 

Before we dive further into the positives of memes, let’s look at the other side of the same coin. Social media as a whole tends to get a bit of a bad rep when it comes to mental health. Elise Champanhet argues that the often-played comparison game—between ourselves and idealistically painted lives, relationships, bodies, etc.—can cause many people to have low self-esteem and further drive feelings of depression and anxiety. 

Very rarely are those lives as perfect as they’re made to seem, yet it’s difficult to ignore the negative feelings when we realize someone reached important milestones before us or succeeded in their studies or career in less time. Are we failures for not all following the same schedule? Of course not! But you can’t quiet that voice in the back of your head whispering that you may be happier had you done all the things you told yourself to do.