How This Negative Instagram Account Is Promoting Mental Health | Tech Reddy

Affirmations, even when used in the context of pop psychology and social media, are statements that people think or say aloud, and sometimes continue, in the hope of presenting the facts. For example: This story will not fade.

On Instagram, there are many affirmations that promote gratitude, motivation, and self-love. Some have hundreds of thousands of followers, posting messages along the lines of “My skin is beautiful, I make a lot of money,” “I love the Monday Craze,” and “The best artists and Soundcloud has very few followers.”

One account, however, stands.

As its name suggests, @disappointingaffirmations, it already has over 180,000 followers despite being only four months old, and it delivers a message unlike any other affirmation. But the best mantras, rainbows-and-butterflies, all good mantras, are a bit cruel, a little defeated, and the accounts are sad.

But don’t be fooled—the account isn’t trying to rip you off. Instead, it tries to show the struggles with mental health in a raw, honest, and refreshing way.

“When people cry, the first thing people think is ‘don’t cry,’ you know? It’s like ‘hiding those emotions,'” Dave Tarnowski, a 44-year-old New York banker and part-time meme-maker behind the counter, told VICE. Tarnowski was recently diagnosed with autism and ADHD, though he thinks he’s struggled with both since he was a teenager.He runs the meme accounts @nickcaveandthebadmemes and @sadpeaks.

Tarnowski said that holding back negative or difficult emotions because one doesn’t want to be around people who are upset or depressed is more exhausting than help. Most of the “sad confessions” are based on honest thoughts that people don’t like but don’t have the courage to share, let alone on Instagram with a picture of the blue sky.

“If I could do it all over again, I would live my life in a different way” was the first comment Tarnowski wrote, although he posted it as a comment on @nickcaveandthebadmemes. The story got a positive reaction from Tarnowski’s fans, so he joined in and started @disappointingaffirmations soon after.

Since then, he has been posting messages like “Don’t have a panic attack. You’ve got it;” “Don’t be afraid to try new things. It’s like lowering your expectations;” and “You’re important. You’re not important.

Some people read this and get angry. Some Instagram users said the terror attack was no joke. But Tarnowski, who suffers from panic attacks himself, doesn’t tell anyone to incite panic, and the random attacks aren’t funny. He’s letting people in on the stupid things that come out of many people’s mouths or minds, and showing them that it can’t hurt to find some humor in among them.

To him, most of the rhetoric shows people who may not know what it’s like to struggle with mental health and how ridiculous some of the things they say are—like saying to someone not to cry while crying.

“People have feelings. We all have feelings, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. I think it’s part of the whole ‘only good vibes’ thing that I can’t stand,” said Tarnowski.

The Instagram account also shines a light without darkness on what some consider unwanted or “disturbing” ideas, many people with mental health problems think , although, well, they don’t need it.

“A lot of people don’t want to deal with mental illness in a funny way. I mean, it’s not funny. Mental illness is not funny,” Tarnowski said. “But the saying is, for the person who goes through these things with disdain, he will take away the strength of the strength. The sadness will be removed from it.”

“Mental illness is not fun. But the truth is, for someone who goes through these things with disdain, it takes a lot of energy. It’s a little bit sadder than that.”

In a sentence that sounds similar to positive affirmations people use, Tarnowski summarizes how approaching mental health with humor can help: “Making light is shining light.” In other words, humor is a great tool to talk about things that are not being talked about.

Talking about mental health is as important to Tarnowski as it is to the next person. The difference is that Tarnowski wants people to be less open and honest about the circumstances of the war. He pointed out how the Buddha said that life is the nature of suffering.

“You know, not everything is sunshine and rainbows,” Tarnowski said. “Sometimes, life is stupid.”

Follow Romano Santos on Instagram.