But behind the glitz and glamour of influencers’ feeds, there are thriving communities on Instagram filled with people supporting one another through their mental health journeys. Check out these accounts to find solidarity in mental health struggles, along with a break from the curated perfection of Instagram.
Self-Love and Self-Care
The Latest Kate
When you’re struggling to speak to yourself kindly, The Latest Kate has a cute animal to do it for you. The adorable characters in her original artwork cover themes like body positivity, self-love and self-care, and battling depression and anxiety. Kate also includes quick tips for dealing with mental health issues, like counting in 10-second increments to deal with anxiety.
Bianca L. Rodriguez
Bianca’s struggles with depression, anxiety and alcoholism led her on a path to help others with their mental health journeys. She focuses on the spiritual side of mental health in order to “teach people how to connect with and harness their intuition to become the fullest most badass version of themselves.” Through her Instagram account, she has found a community of like-minded souls around the world. The message she aims to send to her followers can be summed up in the name of her account: you are complete. “All the answers you seek reside within you,” she tells Verywell. “If you feel lost find a mentor, healer, spiritual advisor that you trust to guide you but not to tell you who you are. That is up to you.”
Joanna Konstantopoulou
As a registered Health Psychologist in the United Kingdom, Joanna Konstantopoulou specializes in the intersection of physical and mental health. She posts mental health tips, nutrition advice, and encouraging quotes. Her biggest piece of mental health advice? Prioritize self-care. “Self-care is a vital part of our emotional and physiological health,” she tells Verywell. Joanna tries to anticipate challenges she may have throughout the week so she can be prepared with a self-care plan. She also schedules “me-time” each week to ensure self-care remains a priority.
Heidi Williams
Years ago, Heidi experienced an 18-month episode of suicidal depression, debilitating anxiety, and explosive PTSD, which inspired her to begin studying trauma and neuropsychology. Her Instagram feed is filled with photos of gorgeous yoga poses across the Salt Lake City landscape, and her captions share advice on dealing with mental health struggles. She says that working with her nervous system is what sparked her radical journey with healing, and she wants to teach her followers how they can utilize the same approach. “You are wired, not just for healing, but for the miraculous,” she tells Verywell. “It’s not a luxury, it’s a basic human right. This isn’t some spiritual platitude. It’s science. Your body has what it takes to create the kind of changes, motivation, relief, freedom, bliss, or whatever else you are desperately wanting.”
Sara-Jayne Poletti
Sara-Jayne grew up in a Catholic household where talking about mental illness was taboo. “I knew the way that I thought and felt things was different, but it wasn’t until my early twenties that I realized just how impactful it was on my whole life,” she tells Verywell. When she decided to seek professional help as an adult, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and later, post-traumatic stress disorder. The photos that fill her Instagram feed range from pretty plants to books and coffee to the medication she takes for her mental health. “I like to post what my past self needed or wanted to hear,” she tells Verywell. “I aim to be as authentic as possible so that people can see a well-rounded version of someone living—and thriving—with mental illness.”
Christina Wolfgram
Sometimes, laughter is the best form of self-care. Christina started her Instagram back in 2013 as a comedy account. When she shared the humor she found in her mental health struggles, her followers told her how much it helped them, and she knew she had to continue to share those experiences. She still posts comedy content, but now with the intention of making sure others struggling with mental illness know they’re not alone. “Receiving comments and messages from other people like me made me feel less alone than ever,” she tells Verywell. Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts
Living with Anxiety
Anxiety Sugar
As Amy struggled with depression and anxiety, she found that following accounts where people shared their mental health stories made her feel less alone. A little over a year ago, she finally decided to start her own account to share her mental health struggles. Her feed is filled with flowers, books, coffee, and encouraging quotes, paired with honest accounts of her journey with mental health issues. Amy knows that Instagram can have negative effects on mental health, but for her, the platform has been empowering. “As my account grew, so did the community itself, and now we all support one another in our recovery journeys,” she tells Verywell.
That Sappy Writer
Akanksha originally started her account as a platform to share her poetry, but she began to steer her content toward sharing her experience with anxiety, which she was diagnosed with at age 16. “Having people around you, who understand and love you, can be groundbreaking," she tells Verywell. “We cannot undermine the power of sheer love. That’s what this account is, for me and the followers, a space to love, talk without apprehensions, and discuss our daily struggles.”
Beth Brawley
Beth learned from personal experience how much therapy can help with anxiety, which inspired her to pursue a career in psychology. Now a Licensed Professional Counselor, she specializes in treating disorders like anxiety, OCD, and body-focused repetitive behaviors. “My hope is that I can be a helpful voice heard in the midst of life’s chaos,” she tells Verywell. “A voice that is compassionate and encouraging. A voice that challenges someone to keep going.” On Instagram, she shares encouraging handwritten quotes and advice and ends each post with a reminder that she believes in her followers and their ability to conquer their struggles.
Jera Foster-Fell
With a quick glance at Jera’s Instagram feed, she might seem like a typical influencer with a glamorous life. But a closer look reveals the reality behind her beautiful photos: she opens up about learning to be okay with weight gain, mild freakouts about hairy toes, and struggling with social anxiety. For Jera, one of the beautiful things about Instagram is that it allows us to connect with others and feel less alone, which is especially important for invisible struggles like mental illness. “When you break your leg, it’s clear and obvious for people to see,” she tells Verywell. “But when something is wrong on the inside, it’s harder for people to comprehend. So many of us have mental health issues, big and small, so it’s incredibly important for us to open up the conversation and connect.”
Battling Depression
Marcela Sabiá
Brazilian artist Marcela Sabiá posts original illustrations that encourage a positive relationship with mental health. She is candid about her struggles with depression and anxiety, shares her experiences taking medication, and encourages body positivity and self-love. She wants to make social media a place of support and honesty, rather than a toxic space for mental health. “It’s so easy to create an image of a life that isn’t real on these platforms,” she tells Verywell. “People compare themselves and get depressed because they believe some people have literally perfect lives. We need to say that we have bad days, that we cry, and that we have mental illnesses too. We need to make people feel less alone.”
Kate Speer
If seeing dogs on your Insta feed brightens your day, give Kate Speer a follow. CEO of The Dogist, Kate often shares photos of her psychiatric service dog Waffle, snapshots of the Vermont landscape she calls home, and honest portrayals of her life with depression. Her posts are a reminder of how helpful it can be to share our struggles and ask for help. “It has taken me years but I finally understand that asking for help is not just an act of pure courage,” she writes on Instagram. “It is also a gift to those we ask for help from. Asking for help is the door that lets our people in.”
Miss Calathea
Follow Sarah for a refreshing burst of green on your feed. Her account, @misscalathea, catalogs her collection of plants alongside her struggles with depression and anxiety. She began posting about her plants and mental health while in a psychiatric clinic during her last depressive episode. At first, she was surprised to learn that many members of the plant community of Instagram also experience mental health issues. Now, it makes sense to her—caring for plants can be therapeutic. “Just like me, many people find joy and calmness in plants,” she tells Verywell. “They are the reason they get up every day because plants give them a sense of responsibility (like pets do, too). I feel like I grow and thrive together with my plants every day.”
Kelsey Lindell
Kelsey Lindell shares snippets of her life as a yoga instructor and preschool teacher in Minneapolis, with activities that range from getting pizza at Domino’s to attending influencer conferences. She also discusses mental health and shares her recovery from a suicide attempt that led her to spend time in a psychiatric clinic. “Trauma therapy and antidepressants were the building blocks of my new life, and in combination with sacrifices, great friends, and hard work my life changed,” she writes on Instagram. “Not quickly, in fact, it felt so long and painful it seemed like I’d never get there. But it did.”
Eating Disorder Recovery
Francesca Rose
Francesca’s feed is filled with colorful food photos, crafted from her original vegan recipes. In addition to healthy recipes, she also encourages a healthy relationship with food, as she has been in recovery from anorexia, orthorexia, and exercise addiction for the last 10 years. “It’s been an onion-like journey of uncovering layers of myself, taking a few steps forward and a few steps back,” she tells Verywell. Her account has created a community that holds her accountable in a positive way. “Knowing people are ‘checking up’ on me makes me want to be a better human,” she says. “I always think of the ‘worst case scenario’ in terms of who is watching what I post. I think back to when I was really sick and easily triggered—coming from that perspective, I ensure that what I post is extremely sensitive and considered.”
Michaela’s Motto
Growing up as a dancer, Michaela Bell always struggled with body image. When she began her professional dance career, she became fearful of carbs and processed foods. “It sounds ‘healthy’ but it was the furthest from it mentally,” she tells Verywell. “Plus I was cutting out healthy food groups that my body needed.” Later, her eating disorder shifted to a cycle of binging and restricting food. “That is a hamster wheel cycle that carries a lot of shame and guilt. It really held me captive for 3 years,” she says. She slowly broke the cycle through a recovery process that included counseling, a strong support system and self-discovery. Now, she is a personal trainer and nutrition coach, and she shares fitness and nutrition advice on Instagram, along with her story of eating disorder recovery. “My goal is not to be perfect but to be RELATABLE,” she says. “I want to encourage others to live a healthy lifestyle. I want to show everyone that you can be healthy without restricting or isolating yourself.”
Diandra Moreira
Society’s obsession with skinny influenced Diandra’s relationship with food from an early age. “I remember being celebrated for having lost weight and hearing harsh whispers of those who had gained weight,” she tells Verywell. “Nothing seemed more terrifying to me than being the topic of those harsh whispers.” This fear and obsession with food gradually took over her life, which eventually led her to seek help from an inpatient program for her eating disorder. She started her recovery account when she felt she had hit rock bottom. “I couldn’t keep this shameful secret to myself anymore,” she says. “I felt like in order to kickstart the healing process, I needed to be completely honest with myself and with others.” And this honesty has worked for Diandra. “I have experienced indescribable healing from connecting with others who have had similar journeys to mine, and who understand me,” she tells Verywell.
Dr. Colleen Reichmann
Colleen is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of individuals with eating disorders, and she has experienced an eating disorder herself. On Instagram, she shares advice and encouragement related to eating disorder recovery and healthier relationships with food and our bodies. “I will often receive messages thanking me, or saying something along the lines of ‘because of your post this morning I ate breakfast,’” she tells Verywell. “Those types of things make the time and energy that I invest into the account 100% worth it.” Colleen also reminds us that mental health struggles are normal—even therapists need help sometimes. “When my mental health feels like it is slipping, I am always sure to seek therapy,” she says. “I am an avid believer that therapy works. There is no shame in therapists needing their own therapists!”
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Still Blooming Me PTSD
“I am a busy mom, devoted wife, and caring friend,” Elena Breese tells Verywell. “And I am also a Boston Marathon bombing survivor living with PTSD.” She lived with debilitating symptoms for three years before she was voluntarily hospitalized and diagnosed with PTSD. Her experience in the hospital led her to start her blog (along with an Instagram account), Still Blooming Me PTSD. “I had been journaling non-stop since my hospitalization and I just kept feeling a push to share it,” she says. “The calling became an internal burning I couldn’t ignore, and I really thought no one would read it and that it would be a cathartic outlet for me.” But she found a community through her blog, which has been the best part of sharing her story. “I didn’t realize how lonely I was in my struggle until I met other people like me, and once I did, I felt that loneliness melt away!” she tells Verywell.
Lesley-Ann
When Lesley-Ann’s father passed away and her mental health began to deteriorate, she decided to open up to her Instagram followers about her PTSD. “I felt like I couldn’t keep up my Instagram account without being honest about what was really going on in my life,” she tells Verywell. “It felt lonely to only post about things that were going well.” Now, she doesn’t shy away from sharing any aspect of her daily life, from picking up her antidepressants to being a plant mom to fitness and its impact on her mental health. She hopes that her account will let her followers know that they’re not alone in their struggles, and she shares her story for her own personal growth. “It has probably helped me more than any of my followers,” she says. “It made me more confident to speak out about my PTSD and helped me to stop feeling ashamed of what happened to me.”
Mari Stracke
After being diagnosed with depression and anxiety and trying out different medications and therapies, Mari decided to start blogging about mental health. Later, she was diagnosed with PTSD after she and a friend experienced a violent robbery. Blogging and posting to Instagram became a cathartic way for her to deal with her struggles. “When I post about my struggles, they are out there and not stuck in my head anymore. It’s very liberating,” she tells Verywell. She knows that social media can be filled with negativity, but she says the community she’s found through Instagram is stronger than the individuals who criticize and try to bring others down. “In building communities and standing strong together, celebrating love and kindness toward one another, we take their ammunition away,” she says. “One stigma-free post at a time.”
Addiction and Sobriety
Roxanne Emery
After a long battle with mental health issues and addiction, Roxanne is now launching a music career as her alter ego Røry. Her Instagram account celebrates self-love and body positivity, and she openly shares her struggles with mental health, alcoholism, and sobriety. “When I say I am sober today, I don’t just mean I am not drunk or high. I mean my mind is sober,” she writes on Instagram. “My thoughts are clear. My emotions are present and real. My purpose is being realized.”
Sarah Ashley Martin
Nine years ago, Sarah almost lost her life to a suicide attempt. Addicted to heroin, she felt utterly hopeless and believed suicide was the only way to escape her addiction. “I am truly one of the lucky ones,” she tells Verywell. “Because today, nine years later, I have made a full recovery on all accounts. Today, not only am I healthy and happy but I am educated and empowered.” She went back to school, studied political science and anthropology, and conducted research on the international socio-economic development of opioid drug treatments. Now, she is the director of a youth treatment center and advocates in the state government for those suffering from addiction and mental health issues. Sarah started her Instagram account to share her inspiring story. “I have a deep sense of obligation to share my journey and life with people so they can see that recovery from anything is possible,” she tells Verywell.
Jason Wahler
The Hills aired its last episode over a decade ago, and in the time since, reality TV star Jason Wahler has gone on a journey from alcoholism to sobriety. On Instagram, he shares his everyday life as a husband and father. He also posts candidly about his struggles with addiction and the strength he found through recovery. “Some people thought I liked to party, others thought I was self-medicating. The reality, I was just trying to feel normal,” he writes on Instagram. “Today, through recovery and self-discovery, I am comfortable and content in my own skin.”
Brandi Meier
Brandi is on her journey of recovery from alcoholism and has been sober for years. She shares her story on Instagram because addiction looks different for everyone—someone could be struggling even if they don’t look like the stereotype of an “addict”. “Superficially, I had it together,” she tells Verywell. “But I was about to go to jail for a second DUI and was walking around with a blood alcohol content level that was lethal.” Now that she has been sober for a few years, she focuses on the strength she’s found from healing and the spiritual aspect of her journey more than the substance itself. “The power that is found in recovery is nothing short of magic,” she tells Verywell.
Maternal Mental Health
Running In Triangles
When Vanessa started her website and Instagram account, Running In Triangles, she thought it would just be another mom blog. But she realized she couldn’t be the mom who posted glittery crafts and gourmet recipes. “I was the mom that fed her kids cereal for dinner and let them have way too much screen time because I was depressed and exhausted,” she tells Verywell. “And when I opened up about that, other moms raised their hands and said, ‘Me too.’” After giving birth to her second child, Vanessa was diagnosed with postpartum depression. Her third pregnancy brought a relapse of symptoms, and she continues to manage episodes of depression through a combination of medication and therapy. She uses her account and blog to connect with moms who feel alone. “I remember being one of them, aimlessly scrolling and looking at all the perfect moms with their perfect babies,” she says. “I just wanted to see one other mom admit that it was hard and that motherhood sucked sometimes.”
Alyssa DeRose
Alyssa has struggled with anxiety throughout her adult life, and during her first pregnancy, it worsened to debilitating prenatal anxiety. After giving birth, she dealt with postpartum depression for almost a year before she realized that her suffering wasn’t normal. When she sought professional help, she began taking medication and has been living a happy and healthy life since. She uses her Instagram account to connect with other mothers and remind her followers that motherhood is not perfect. “Give yourself permission to be human and make mistakes,” she tells Verywell. “There are no perfect mothers; welcome to the club!”
Jennifer Robins
Jennifer’s account is primarily focused on home and decorating, with photos of her beautiful home and DIY projects, but she keeps it real by sharing her struggles with mental health. After having her first child, Jennifer suffered from a severe case of postpartum depression and continues to live with depression and anxiety. When her depression was at its worst, she decided to start sharing her story on Instagram. “I felt alone and ashamed. I had a healthy baby, happy marriage, and life and I felt ashamed to be depressed despite all my blessings,” she tells Verywell. “So I started sharing my illness and experiences so that maybe someone else might avoid those feelings I felt.”
