3 insights from Hearst Magazines’ Mind Lab on mental health, wellness

COVID-era lockdowns may be in the rearview mirror but high rates of anxiety and depression spurred by the pandemic continue to persist long after the fog has lifted.

Now, excessive smartphone use, social media and “doom scrolling — things that the Surgeon General recently identified as public health issues — are contributing to the ongoing mental health crisis.

As such, behavioral health remains a relevant topic of concern for medical marketers and industry stakeholders.

Mental health was also a prominent aspect of Hearst Magazines’ Mind Lab, an event held Tuesday morning that featured several behavioral health experts as well as retired professional soccer player Ashlyn Harris and TikTok megastar Tefi Pessoa.

Below are three of the main takeaways from Hearst Magazines’ Mind Lab.

1. How Ashlyn Harris manages her ‘mental strength’

The event kicked off with a fireside chat featuring Harris, who opened up about her approach to mental health during her younger years in professional sports.

A theme tossed around frequently during the panels was that mental health could be viewed through a different lens as “mental strength” — something that can be strengthened and improved over time.

Harris, who started her soccer career as a teenager, said she had to learn how to navigate her emotions and mental state as part of her physical training regimen. 

She explained how she worked with a sports psychologist to better understand how bad habits like a lack of sleep, a poor diet or negative self-talk adversely impacted her mental and physical performance.

“It took me a long time to understand what I like to call my ‘IPZ’ — my ideal performance zone,” Harris said. “I worked on how I engaged in my ideal performance zone — how much sleep I got, how I talked to myself when no one was around, how I viewed myself when I looked in the mirror. It didn’t always have to deal with my performance on the field; it was everything leading up to it… By the time I got to college, it became an art.”

Harris perfected a self-care routine that she stuck to in the days leading up to a game — noting that sometimes, preparation and prevention can be just as important in mental health as dealing with a crisis after the fact. 

Now, she relies on her mental “toolkit” to deal with challenges she faces.

“I know when I’m walking into any situation, I have worked tirelessly to gain the tools, to help me regulate, stabilize and excel,” she said.

She added that mental health in sports continues to be overlooked when it comes to athletes preparing for competition and requires more interest and investment.

“LeBron James is willing to spend millions of dollars for physical care, but are we willing to invest in mental health care?” she said.

2. Tefi Pessoa and mental health on TikTok

Hearst Magazines brought in an authentic player by way of social media star Tefi Pessoa — who boasts 1.8 million followers on TikTok and 273,000 on Instagram — to talk about how mental health conversations have changed on social media.

“I found this community online and I found people who were mentally ill like me,” Pessoa joked. “Everytime there’s a mental health awareness [event or month], there’s an uptick in work for me.”

Pessoa has often mentioned mental health in her videos, discussing her own battle with depression.

“Hi, my name is Tefi, and I struggle with depression,” she notes in one 2022 TikTok video. “I have the kind of depression that makes me feel like nobody likes me, like everything is hopeless, like there’s no point in me doing anything because I’ll never accomplish anything because… I’m not enough.”

She goes on to explain how small daily tasks like brushing her teeth could feel as difficult as a marathon in her darkest states. 

However, with professional help and medication — as well as talking about her feelings on social media — Pessoa said she’s seen an improvement in her own wellbeing and wants to help others.