Your thoughts, emotions, and state of mental health (hurdles included) make you, well, YOU. With the Minds Issue, Well+Good is shining a light on the collective need for more candid conversations, advocacy, and equity surrounding mental health and wellness.
You'll find a collection of honest, stigma-free, science-backed personal essays and reported features that highlight experiences of folks living with mental and cognitive conditions, along with intel from leading experts and researchers who are paving the way for a more open-minded and empowered tomorrow.
Alexis Berger, Deputy Editor
Editor's Letter
I've often leaned on the platitude "it could always be worse" as an affirmation to help me through periods of hardship and struggle, and plain old bad days. I'm sure my inclination toward the phrase has something to do with my awareness of certain layers of privilege with which I live. I’m a white, cisgender, heterosexual, neurotypical, thin, financially stable, young woman, and those points of identity render my life easier and safer than that of many other people in this highly prejudiced and unfair world. Still, telling myself things could always be worse has never made me feel any bit better—ever.
Rather, the idea has only served to discredit my reality. The truth is, accessing mental wellness isn't easy 100 percent of the time. And that’s the case for everyone.
Creating space for all people to achieve mental wellness requires us to prioritize awareness, empathy, support, and community care. And doing so demands that we acknowledge, rather than dismiss or minimize, our unique and individual experiences.
With our Minds digital issue, Well+Good is examining the many ways that emotions and also conditions of mental health, development, and cognition can impact a person’s identity, relationships, and ways they show up in the world. The hope is that this issue will inspire you to listen to yourself, to believe yourself, and also to cultivate an openness to do the same for others.
For the Minds issue, I spoke with award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Elaine Welteroth about the Black maternal mortality crisis and the heightened rate of medical gaslighting that Black women experience compared to the general population. While awareness is a key first step for striking meaningful change, Welteroth made the great point that “we can't just keep talking about the problem. We really have to wrap our arms around solutions.” That wisdom certainly pertains to eradicating racial bias in the health-care system, and it also relates to a great many other topics examined throughout the issue.
Rather than adopting a self-extinguishing outlook that “it can always be worse,” join me in committing to the idea that “it can always be better.” Engaging with that truth as a solutions-oriented affirmation—while, yes, also maintaining a firm grasp on gratitude—holds the power to elevate us individually and systemically while protecting the universal right to mental wellness.
By Erin Bunch
Skin Dysmorphia Is a Very Real
Mental Health Concern
By Erica Sloan
It’s All in Your Head: How I Fell Into the Common Trap of Self-Gaslighting as a Lifelong Migraine Sufferer
BY Suzannah Weiss
Are Vibes Bad Everywhere?
Creative
Jenna Gibson – Creative Direction
I Don't 'Have Autism' —I'm Autistic. Here's Why That Matters
Alyssa Gray – Art & Creative Production
Natalie Carroll – Art & Creative Production
Alexis Berger – Deputy Editor
Betty Gold – SR. Food Editor
Contributing Editors
Jennifer Heimlich – Sr. Fitness Editor
ERICA SLOAN – SR. lifestyle Editor
Erin Bunch | HELEN CAREFOOT
RACHEL KRAUS | FRANCESCA KREMPA
AMELIA MCBRIDE | ANJALI PRASERTONG
ANNIE TOMLIN | JESSIE VAN AMBURG
SUZANNAH WEISS | ZOE WEINER
Contributors
Taylor Camille – Director, Podcasts
PODCAST
Celine Cortes – Associate Director,
Audience Development
Delaney Lamb – Email Marketing Associate
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
Kendall Bryant – Director of Product
PRODUCT
Alexis Reliford – Director of Social Media
Amanda Gaines – Social Media Manager
SOCIAL
Taylor Bell – Social Media Producer
read more
Medical Gaslighting Is a Pill Elaine Welteroth Says No One Should Have To Swallow
You, Me, and ADHD: Dating Someone Else With ADHD
BY Helen Carefoot
Burnout Is Tough—When You’re Dealing with Intersectional Burnout,
It Can Be Even Tougher
BY Anjali Prasertong
Eugenicists Shaped the Pathologized Way Many Americans Think About Nutrition Today
presented by
BY Rachel Kraus
Cover Story
Melenie McGregor – Sr. Video Producer
By Francesca Krempa
Finding the Beauty in My
Own Bittersweet
By Annie Tomlin
Parents of Kids With Disabilities Are in Mental Health Crisis
BY Amelia McBride
I've often leaned on the platitude "it could always be worse" as an affirmation to help me through periods of hardship and struggle, and plain old bad days. I'm sure my inclination toward the phrase has something to do with my awareness of certain layers of privilege with which I live. I’m a white, cisgender, heterosexual, neurotypical, thin, financially stable, young woman, and those points of identity render my life easier and safer than that of many other people in this highly prejudiced and unfair world. Still, telling myself things could always be worse has never made me feel any bit better—ever.
Rather, the idea has only served to discredit my reality. The truth is, accessing mental wellness isn't easy 100 percent of the time. And that’s the case for everyone.
Creating space for all people to achieve mental wellness requires us to prioritize awareness, empathy, support, and community care. And doing so demands that we acknowledge, rather than dismiss or minimize, our unique and individual experiences.
With our Minds digital issue, Well+Good is examining the many ways that emotions and also conditions of mental health, development, and cognition can impact a person’s identity, relationships, and ways they show up in the world. The hope is that this issue will inspire you to listen to yourself, to believe yourself, and also to cultivate an openness to do the same for others.
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