✎ Written by: Dubravka Rebic ✓ Fact-checked by: Carola Tuerk, Ph.D.
Never in history did we have free access to such valuable mental health content that could help us improve our well-being. The digital age evolution made it possible for mental health influencers to share their knowledge with millions of others in need and help them overcome their struggles.
Some of these Instagram advocates are doctors and clinical psychologists, and some are individuals that can also share valuable and helpful advice based on their personal journeys or struggles.
Nevertheless, they are all on the same mission: to provide people with powerful tools and the right kind of psychological support. And while the tools that they share are not a replacement for professional help, they can serve as valuable assets in our mental health toolkits.
In order to help you choose which ones to follow, we singled out five mental health social media accounts with content that could provide you with valuable advice on how to improve your well-being.
The face behind this page is a clinical psychologist, Dr. Nicole LePera. Her work has gained a cult following for providing people with actionable tools on how to gain more self-awareness and overcome mental health struggles.
"I was trained that all people can do is basically manage symptoms. I wish I had been taught more about trauma, epigenetics, and the importance of conscious awareness. These are things I teach every day now because they lead to immense healing", said Dr. LePera.
Here’s what we love about @the.holistic.psychologist:
Complex psychological concepts are broken down into bite-sized pieces that correlate with our day-to-day experiences.
The way the content is shared reminds us of real-life conversations.
Follow Dr. Nicole LePera on Instagram:
2. @dr.julie
One morning, clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Smith woke up to find herself a social media phenomenon. Before she went to bed, she had posted a video of herself explaining the different faces of depression. Overnight, the video went viral.
A few months later, she appeared on This Morning, replicating some of her videos, such as: drilling holes in a "stress bucket" of water to emphasize the value of having release valves and adding colored drops of water to a container of water to demonstrate the positive effects of self-care.
Today she has more than three million followers on TikTok, her book Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before spent four weeks at the top of bestseller lists, and the number of people that might benefit from her advice continues to rise.
Here's what we love about her page:
The advice is clear, actionable, and engaging.
The educational aspect is so empowering that it can improve our ability to manage our mental health.
Follow Dr. Julie Smith on Instagram:
3. @hubermanlab
Neuroscientist and Stanford University School of Medicine professor Dr. Andrew Huberman translates science into everyday mechanisms and practices that can enhance our well-being.
He uses analogies and metaphors to break down complex neurobiological concepts so that the general audience can visualize and understand them. But he also offers easy-to-use tools to help us with health, sleep, and cognitive function.
Here’s what we love about his content:
Science-based tools for improving mental health are presented in an understandable, actionable way.
Clinical research is presented in layman's terms.
Follow Dr. Andrew Huberman on Instagram:
Nawal Mustafa (@thebraincoach) is a scientist who is pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology. She shares strategies and advice to help us deal with issues many of us face, such as setting boundaries and improving personal relationships and self-esteem.
What we love about Nawal's content:
There's a particular focus on helpful do's and don'ts lists, which makes content approachable and actionable.
The aesthetics feel safe and calming.
Follow Nawal Mustafa on Instagram:
A few years ago, Nate Postlethwait walked away from a successful career in real estate, sold his home, and traveled around the world for several months. While traveling, he publicly shared his journey of healing from childhood trauma and overcoming mental health struggles.
Quickly, a community began to form. Other survivors shared their stories in the comments section, and Nate's social media following grew. From that point on, he has led numerous webinars on inner child work, written a four-week course on this work, and maintained an effective role in helping survivors without financial means to find trauma-informed therapy tools.
Here's what we love about Nate's content:
The content is written in an extremely compassionate way.
The posts are informative and empowering.
Follow Nate Postlethwait on Instagram:
Social media is not a substitute for therapy. Content that's presented on Instagram is often generalized and cannot be tailored to the individual; therefore, it can not be used instead of treatment or as a substitute for crisis care.
However, it can provide us with tools to improve our overall well-being and connect us with many people who are going through the same journey and make us feel less alone.
By connecting with others and having access to such useful content, we can become active participants in our own healing and gain the necessary knowledge to thrive. The more we know, the more powerful we become. Spread the word!
Myndlift provides professional supervised brain training combined with human care. Connect with us to kick start your journey for better brain health from here.
About the author:
To help create awareness and positive change in the mental health space, Dubravka Rebic puts a lot of time and energy into researching and writing. From poring over scientific studies to reading entire books in order to write a single content piece, she puts in the hard work to ensure her content is of the highest quality and provides maximum value.
About the reviewer:
Carola is a cognitive neuroscientist and a scientific consultant for Myndlift. In her research, she is particularly interested in how early life experiences shape brain development and mental health with a particular focus on children. She has obtained a BSc in psychology, an MSc in neuroscience, and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and is passionate about brain health.