mental health slogans

A truly effective mental health slogan is never a cookie-cutter positive slogan, but should fit the audience's scenario, avoid preaching, catch emotions first, and then talk about guidance. There is no unified template, only adapted expressions.

To be honest, I went through a lot of pitfalls in the past two years when I was helping street communities make missionary materials. At that time, in order to save trouble, I selected a bunch of common slogans on the market: "Smile at life", "There are no obstacles that cannot be overcome", and "Embrace life with positivity and optimism". I printed them into posters and pasted them all over the bulletin board of the community and the entrance of the unit building. As a result, half a month later, the number of visits to the community psychological service station did not increase at all. Instead, an aunt in her sixties came to the station to complain: "I got upset when I saw that 'there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome'. My old man has been bedridden for three years, and my son cannot come back from working outside. I buy food and cook every day and there is no one to help me. How can I get through this obstacle?" Is it because I am not optimistic enough? ”

My face burned with panic at the time, and later I sought advice from colleagues from different directions, only to find that everyone’s standards for judging good slogans were very different. Friends who do psychoanalysis prefer expressions that can poke at daily depression points, such as "You don't always have to be the sensible one" and "Your feelings are more important than other people's expectations." She said that many people are trapped in emotions and cannot get out. Essentially, they have too many "shoulds" suppressed in the subconscious. The slogan does not need to make great sense. Just touch the ignored emotional switch and the task has been completed. Friends who do cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are more pragmatic and feel that empty comfort is the most useless. It is best to give small action guidelines that can be implemented immediately, such as "Hug yourself for 30 seconds when you are sad" and "You can only do three things today." Even if it can only help people escape from the emotional whirlpool for a second, it is still useful. Friends with a humanistic orientation feel that there is no need to do anything, just conveying "acceptance" is enough, such as "There is no right or wrong emotion, you are already great" "Even if nothing is accomplished, you are still very precious", without making demands or giving methods, it is enough to let people know that their current state is allowed.

Oh, by the way, the promotional poster for the Peking University Psychology Center had no fancy design, just a line of small words "Allow yourself to waste some time." Many students in the comment area said that they immediately broke their guard after seeing this sentence. It turns out that you don't have to constantly force yourself to improve your grades, find internships, and catch up on progress. It's not a sin to stop and daze occasionally. I also saw a case posted by a public welfare organization that serves workers in Shenzhen. The first thing they posted on the publicity board of the industrial park was "Reject emo, work hard." The workers tore it up several times, and later changed it to "The braised eggs in the canteen are today's small reward." "Lying down for an hour is not a waste of time." After that, the power of their psychological hotline doubled. Some workers specifically called and said that after seeing the phrase "lying down for an hour is not a waste of time," they put down their worries about learning skills and starting a side job, and took a nap.

Of course, some colleagues who do public education feel that it takes too much energy to subdivide scenes and express expressions in this way. It is better to use positive and uplifting slogans to reach most people. This is not unreasonable. After all, publicity resources are limited and it is impossible to take care of everyone's emotional threshold. However, I have seen a detail in the elevator of the psychology department of a tertiary hospital before: "Don't force yourself to get better immediately" is posted on the inner wall of the elevator. Standing next to it is a junior high school girl in school uniform, holding a medical record with red eyes, staring at that sentence for almost half a minute, and finally quietly loosened her fingers that turned white. You see, even if only one person is poked, this sentence means more than a hundred empty slogans.

In the past two years, I have helped different organizations choose slogans, and I have also figured out some unwritten tips: Don't always tell others "what to do" from the perspective of an "educator", but tell them "I understand how you feel" from the perspective of a "traveler." Don’t write “Don’t be anxious”, write “Anxiety is normal and happens to everyone.”” ； Don't write "Be strong", write "It's okay to cry for a while if you can't hold it in anymore"” ； Don't write "love life", write "the magnolia downstairs is about to bloom, you can go and see it when you have time".

In fact, to put it bluntly, mental health promotion is not about completing KPIs and taking some good-looking work photos. Those words posted on the wall and printed on the flyers are essentially handing a soft tissue to the person passing by. There is no need to say "Don't cry" or teaching him how to stop crying. It is enough to let him know that his sadness is seen. If someone looks at that line of words and is willing to take two extra steps to push open the door of the psychological service station, then the mission of this slogan will be completely completed.