Are You Personally Afflicted By Healing Content Fatigue?
It’s 3:30pm. You’re bored at work, so you open your phone to pass the time. You tap Instagram and see another post about attachment styles. Bookmark it for later. Next up is TikTok. The first video on your FYP page is about trauma responses. Save that too. YouTube bombards you with videos that promise you’ll “never need to hear another piece of advice again” after watching them.
Suddenly, you feel insecure. You’ve been taking all the right steps towards bettering yourself, but the crippling anxiety, confusion, and paralysis are still here. You must be doing something wrong, right?
Not exactly. You're not failing at your healing journey. You're drowning in information overload.
It’s no secret that healing is trending. With an abundance of resources combined with the accessibility of social media, there’s never been a better opportunity for personal growth. But healing isn’t a “gotta catch ‘em all” process. There’s no award given to those who successfully “conquer” every spiritual and psychological term, quite the contrary actually. If anything, consuming too much educational content on social media might be blocking your breakthrough to peace.
Or perhaps you’re already there. What if you’re already more healed than that little rectangle in your hand says you are? What if information overload is preventing you from recognizing your progress?
What is Information Overload in the Healing Space?
Information overload (IO) happens when we're exposed to more info than our brains can properly process. In a 2024 study published in Science Direct, researchers found that when information overload occurs, it leads to negative effects rather than positive ones, like poor decision-making, lower productivity levels, and increased cognitive stress.
The IO concept applies to areas like the nightly news as much as it does to the digital self-help space, and the surge of healing-related content over the past few years has been massive. In a 2022 analysis published in JMIR Formative Research, researchers explored trauma-related hashtags on TikTok. The results? Staggering: “#trauma” had 14.6 billion views, “#traumatized” had 1.8 billion views, and “#traumatok” had 2.6 billion. The researchers also referenced a related study that found “#mentalhealth” was the most viewed hashtag in the space at that time, clocking in at more than 25 billion views.
Healing as a trending concept is in no way a “bad” thing, though. The influx of healing content means more people have access to concepts that were once only available to those with a top-shelf insurance plan or the disposable income to pay for therapy.
Yet, as with all good things, consuming too much self-help content can lead to physical and cognitive fatigue. Before you know it, you're stuck in a loop of constantly taking in advice without actually giving yourself the chance to implement it. Despite how contradictory it sounds, constantly viewing, reading, and listening to healing content has the potential to hinder emotional growth rather than catalyze it.
Practicing Discernment in Healing (Not Every Message is Meant for You!)
Another term that’s been bubbling to the digital surface recently is discernment. Does every piece of knowledge or advice you’re seeing apply to your lived experience? Probably not.
Practicing discernment is arguably one of the most important skills to develop on the healing journey. You may have a favorite creator or healer whose content you relate to the most, but that doesn’t mean that everything they’re saying applies to your situation. We sometimes view content as if every wound being addressed is our own, every trauma pattern is one we’re stuck in, until suddenly, we have three new attachment styles and a freshly glamorized image of our shadow self.
Learning to discern starts with paying attention to what truly resonates, not what has the most views or what your favorite creator swears by. What message makes something shift inside of you? What fills your body with a quiet, confident "yes"? If a lesson or teaching doesn’t immediately resonate or cause some form of intuitive reaction, then it simply might not be relevant to your situation.
Healing advice that fits you will feel like recognition, not like molding yourself into someone else's experience.
Pro tip: Diversifying your “teacher portfolio” can help to broaden your avenues to success in the healing process. Pick and choose perspectives from different trusted teachers that force you to do the work, not validate your comfortability.
You Might Be More Healed Than Creators Know You Are
Something that isn’t mentioned in the healing space enough? If content is leaving you drained, anxious, or disheartened, it’s probably not because you need more teaching. It might be because you're more healed than you (or the algorithm) think you are.
The truth about healing is it isn't always visible. In fact, most of it isn’t visible at all. Healing is usually quiet and off-screen. It's in the way you no longer spiral when someone ghosts you. It's how you set boundaries without guilt. It's how you can sit with discomfort instead of reaching for a cheap dopamine hit or distraction.
When we constantly consume content about healing, we’re holding ourselves against an impossible standard. Social media creates the illusion that everyone is having daily profound epiphanies while you're simply watching from the other side. The reality? Healing is more than the “epiphany.” It’s integrating the self-analysis and living in the progress you’ve already made.
If you feel fatigued from healing but know in your heart that you’ve made progress, then maybe you're not behind. Maybe you're actually ahead, and your nervous system is asking you to stop consuming and start implementing. The real work starts when you “walk the walk” instead of listening to creators “talk the talk.” As Dan Siegel, MD, famously puts it, “Integration is the heart of healing.”
So What Comes After Healing Fatigue? Healing with Intention
Integrating lessons looks like intention over obsession. Before diving into another thread about trauma responses or watching another video about attachment styles, ask yourself, "Am I here because I need this information, or am I seeking it out of habit?"
Balance is key here. The post-consumption phase of the healing journey isn't about cutting yourself off from all resources. It's about creating boundaries with social media to avoid a constant state of self-analysis paralysis. It's about trusting that you don't need to know everything about healing to continue making progress on your journey. After all, there is no better teacher than experiencing life itself.
You’re allowed to be okay. You’re allowed to be a work-in-progress. You’re allowed to take a beat, breathe, and recognize that you’re already more than you ever thought you’d be. Sometimes the most “healed” thing you can do is stop searching for what's wrong and start living like you’re already right.
Recovery From Healing Content Fatigue Starts Now
So here's your permission to step back. You already passed “go.” It’s time to collect your $200. Unfollow those accounts that make you feel like you're never doing enough. Stop the scroll when your body asks you to. Trust that the healing you've already done counts.
What would it feel like to trust that you're more healed than you think? What would it look like to integrate what you've learned instead of falling victim to information overload? Maybe it's time to find out!
