5 Must Watch TED Talks On Mental Health

Depressions isn’t always obvious. When we think about depression, it’s commonly assumed that this mental illness doesn’t affect normally functioning people. We associate it with dark bedrooms, people who don’t have materialistic comforts or goals in life, puffy eyes, and emotionless faces; but in actuality many people who suffer from depression lead normal, functioning lives. Those who suffer probably have a job, a warm family, happy kids, caring friends, or attend school and take on regular responsibilities even while they continue to suffer.

Below is a list of 5 TED Talks that I truly enjoyed listening that helped me understand about mindset and the need to make “mental health” a conversation we are all comfortable having. You can listen to them while you do your morning exercises or are relaxing with your beverage at the end of a long day. While it may not be feasible to watch all of them at once, do make time to tune-in as people boldly tell their stories in the hope that no one suffers alone.

• How to Practice Emotional First Aid | Guy Winch

Licensed psychologist who works with individuals, couples and families in New York. Author of different books in the field of psychological health.

Duration: ~18 minutes

From a young age, we are taught to regularly brush our teeth, keep any physical wounds clean and different other habits of physical hygiene. However, emotional hygiene is equally important and something that we weren’t trained to know about. As humans, we suffer both the kinds of injuries – emotional and physical. Unlike the latter, for the former we are told to suppress or ‘power through’ it. Emotional pain from experiences of failure, rejection or loneliness doesn’t always heal on its own.

It’s important to practice “emotional hygiene:” Learn, get helps with actionable, scientifically-supported tools for treating emotional wounds, heal them, and then strengthen our emotional resilience. He shares this beautiful talk through his personal stories that gets us back to reflecting in our lives.

• There’s no shame in taking care of Your Mental Health | Sangu Delle

An entrepreneur and clean water activist. A TED Fellow who hails from Ghana, he sees immense potential in the African economy.

Duration: 9 minutes

An incredible talk to be watched by everyone, but especially men. Drawing inspiration from his own battle with stress and stigma, Delle focuses on the idea that men should show emotion or talk openly about their mental health issues. He shines light on the open secret that men are influenced by emotion but suffer in silence and secrecy. This is a talk that aims to demystify and depolarize the idea that men should not speak about their feelings. He ends the talk saying that the next time when you think of ‘mental’ think about him and not a mad man who people assume is someone with unkempt hair and screaming on the streets.

• Why We Need To Talk About Suicide | Mark Henick

Mental health advocate, speaker, strategist, writer, podcaster, and media commentator.

Duration: 15 minutes

As he shares his personal story, Mark tells us that people often choose suicide to end their suffering and pain, not to end their lives. Those with suicidal thoughts seldom want to die, but they want to stop living, or stop everything around for a while in the hope that their unbearable pain will end. Understanding suicide and why people often turn to it as an escape is crucial in helping those who are struggling with suicidal thoughts.  Many individuals struggling with suicidal thoughts feel alone, or worthless, as though nobody would care if they did end their life. This is an idea that is touched on in Mark’s TedTalk, and highlights the importance of checking in on friends and family, as you never know what someone might be struggling with.

For those struggling with suicidal thoughts, he asks them to tell themselves this “just one more day” as there’s always a chance that a tomorrow will be better than your today.  

• The Power of Vulnerability | Brene Brown

Research professor at the University of Houston and author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers

Duration: ~21 minutes

A research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, as well as a well-known author of 7 books.  From her pivotal research in understanding vulnerability, she tells us how we can live a more meaningful life by addressing it. Vulnerability is beautiful, it is anything but weakness. In fact, it takes true strength and courage to allow yourself to be vulnerable. But, the problem is we numb vulnerability and thereby numb a lot more positive emotions too. By unlocking our willingness to show our weak sides, our true emotions and be our authentic self we can be a lot more kinder to ourselves and the world in large.

• Don’t suffer from your depression in silence | Nikki Webber Allen

Veteran of the entertainment industry, two-time Emmy winner with 20 years of experience producing content for media outlets including Warner Bros, HBO, ABC, 20th Century

Duration: ~7 minutes

Nikki openly shares about her own struggles and you relate to her as she talks about her anxiety and depression. They are the most common mental illnesses in America and prevalent especially in communities of color. However, these communities see mental illness as a stigma and rarely discuss mental illness in an open and compassionate manner. She highlights the importance of mental health and why communities of color must undo the humiliation that misreads depression as a weakness which prevents sufferers from getting help. On whichever side of the table you may be, you have to watch this to know that each one of us plays a part when it comes to strengthening the discourse around mental health.

These amazing talks are only a handful that you can watch on YouTube for free. Be sure to spend some time looking for talks to help you open up and help you help others. Our world needs a lot more kindness and acceptance which you and I can offer in abundance 🙂