To improve mental health, we must do more than just raise awareness

IT’S good to talk, the saying goes, and we are talking about mental health more than ever. This is generally seen as positive: raising awareness breaks down stigma long associated with conditions like anxiety and depression and empowers people to seek help. But we should be asking whether this trend is entirely a force for good – and confronting the possibility that it might, in some cases, be counterproductive.

The most obvious shift is that language once the preserve of psychotherapists has been co-opted into common parlance. Trauma, boundaries, triggering and so on: “therapy speak” is now ubiquitous. This can sometimes …