I notice a lot of streamers commenting on Twitter or other social media about depression and anxiety, and it got me wondering about why people with mental health conditions are in the public eye...
We've all seen it, scrolling through Twitter and we'll see lots of posts referring to mental health, people looking for support and encouragement, apologies for not being ourselves and live often enough. And very often it makes me super happy to see people being open and honest, and it opens the forum for us to reach out, however, it generally means we're reaching out during an episode, I'd love to see us be more open without the need for an episode to start before we put ourselves out there.
As to the why behind there being such a high number of streamers out there with mental health issues, I always feel it's a combination of things, obviously I can't speak for everyone and would love to hear your views about your take on everything mental health-centric and the streaming community. For me; I am naturally drawn to computers, I'm a bit socially awkward in part to my personality and in part to my experiences, I have control when I'm behind the screen in the comfort of my own home, and I can put on a performance, letting out just a little bit of myself as I see necessary rather than all of me being on show at once. My experiences have taught me that folks with mental health issues tend to gravitate towards each other, we have that level of understanding, perhaps more attuned to our mortality, and the silly annoyances of the day tend to be swept away with less issue, but we're not as willing to put ourselves and our emotions out there on the line in person.
Streaming is a great way to open up, to control situations and also garner approval from others for being ourselves, it allows us to express ourselves and reach an audience without leaving the house and our comfort zones, allows us to share our passions without 'real people' casting judgement on us, rather it is people who have some inherent interest that turns up. It is, of course, a double-edged sword, when we don't get praise and validation it can lead into a spiral of doubt and self-pity, and this is something we need to be more aware of, to educate more on, and to do our best to mitigate as best we can.
Thanks for reading my thoughts today, as I saw I'd love to hear your views on mental health in the streaming, and wider, communities!
Take care all,
Rori