What i learnt from posting on social media during depression : a few lessons for people with mental health conditions

Social media has become an inextrecable part of our lives. It is becoming more and more difficult not to be on platforms like Linkedin, x and many more. They have in some way become an integral part of our life. We cannot avoid certain platforms completely because we have our mentors and teachers or professional connections on them. But for individuals with a mood disorder these platforms can prove to be very dangerous, beacuse you have no control over what you write when your brain gives up on you - temporarily and goes haywire. Individuals with mood disorders are especially vulnerable and susceptible as self-attitude is frequently compromised in illness states. Because of little control over our emotional state, we can get caught up in the moment and lose sight of a rational perspective. During these times a patient is extremely likely to post things which they otherwise would not. So what we speak or write during these times, might not slways reflect our real self because the concept of the self as well as logical thinking abitlity are both fractured as well as diminished. However posting on social media during such times, can invite extreme amounts of judgement and criticism some going as far as calling the person despicable names, going as far as calling their mother names and making fun of depression and suicide ( yes human beings are capable of doing that too) and this feedback loop can worsen health of the sufferer. Of course for cruel people it makes no differnce and if anything happens they can just wash it off their hands saying 'oh that person is weak.' And no we dont have pot loads of money for Paid PR. The damage that is does to a sufferers reputation can sometimes be irrepairable. By writing something hurtful ,they put themselves in a position where they then invite extreme levels of trolling and jokes about depression, suicide , character and usage of extremly bad language. This is done by people in droves. That in turn will further lead you into more suffering which may days to heal. 1. Therefore a good way to avoid this is to montior your mood using trackers available online. Some of the good ones are dailyo (https://daylio.net/) where you do not have to write anything down but just click on icons under various subsections across hobbies, health, weather and many more. This way you can see patterns which will inform you about the stability of your mood across a specific timespan. This implies that you can predict a change in mood with some amount of accuracy and prevent damage. 2. Also please lock the apps on your phone using apps designed for the same, for example App lock, Stay foucused. This way you cannot access the apps and neither can you download a previously uninstalled application. 3. Living with a mood disorder is extremely challenging because it is a constant everyday struggle. We many a times compare our lives to healthy people and feel even more dejected that we have to overcome so many barriers just to function normally. Therefore see your struggles as unique. That will give you more strength to deal with misfortune and unlucky events that life has thrown at you. 4. The damage to the brain due to a mental health condition has neurobiological underpininngs as many recent studies show. For example 'In bipolar disorder, impairment in certain regions of the brain like the Prefrontal cortex, Hippocampus, Amygdala, Anterior, cingulate cortex and grey matter have been identified.'( ref. Google snippets) So patients suffering from depresssion can exhibit psychomotor retardation and impaired declarative memory, executive function, and, to a lesser extent, visual memory and attention when compared with healthy controls. 5.Never skip your medications, have your support system in place including your dear ones and doctors. In conclusion it can be said that prevetion is always better than cure. Be vigilent about your mental health by identifying triggers and doing your best to avoid them. Limit social media usage as much as possible or delete them all together.