Are we overwhelmed with worrying about our own mental well-being?

"Sometimes I would catch myself sitting with friends and instead of enjoying myself, I would think about whether I was too tense, whether my anxiety was returning, whether I was working on myself enough," says Ana Pajić.

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The Constitutional Court's decisions will cost over a million euros, Photo: Getty Images
The Constitutional Court's decisions will cost over a million euros, Photo: Getty Images
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Kristina Kljajić, BBC journalist

In order to alleviate the frequent panic attacks, Ana Pajić began psychotherapy, tried meditation, wrote down her thoughts, and followed the advice of experts.

However, instead of her life becoming easier and simpler, she noticed that she was thinking more and more about how she felt - almost obsessively.

"Every time I felt anxious, I would immediately analyze why I was feeling that way, what it meant, how could I fix it?"

"Sometimes I would catch myself sitting with friends and instead of enjoying myself, I would think about whether I was too tense, whether my anxiety was returning, whether I was working on myself enough," says Ana.

Taking care of mental health and dealing with stress in everyday life are important for the well-being of every individual, he warns. World Health Organization.

However, quality psychological help is not available to everyone.

Young people in Serbia do not believe that professional help for mental health problems is available to them, according to a study. An alternative report on their position and needs in Serbia for 2025. Umbrella organizations of Serbian youth.

A survey on the "Hello 20s" platform indicates that as many as a quarter of 20-year-olds in Serbia who participated in this research, mostly girls, struggle with depression and anxiety.

Hashtag #MentalHealth (mental health) has been used more than 28 million times globally on TikTok.

"Many people today struggle with mental health problems, and it seems that their number is increasing in modern society, despite our constant exposure to the cult of happiness, the therapy industry, self-help literature, well-being practices and techniques, and similar content," says Dino Manzoni, a psychologist at the Institute of Medicine and Social Sciences of the ZRC SAZU in Ljubljana.

People often turn to easily accessible popular psychology, he adds.

Popular psychology is a term used to describe the popularization of psychological theories and concepts.

Self-help books, advice in magazines, on social media, and on TV shows are increasingly prevalent, but this content often lacks solid foundation in science.

"We are exposed to the idea that we must be happy at all costs, and that is why there is a psychologization of all social problems, where individuals are solely responsible for happiness and success regardless of external circumstances," Manzoni explains to BBC Serbian.

Social media and toxic positivity

"These five tips will help you cope with anxiety", "Do you have ADHD?, in this video you will find out" - videos with such messages appeared in every corner of the internet, and Ana watched them constantly.

"At one point I thought I had all sorts of mental problems," she recalls.

She often wrote down everything that disturbed her during the day and turned to ChatGPT-iju, a chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to answer questions.

Social media is flooded with content about mental health, diagnostic criteria and symptom checklists, points out psychologist Manzoni.

Algorithms they usually promote the content that users watch most often, which often means they are bombarded with more and more similar messages and videos.

"This can lead to lay self-diagnosis and, consequently, to the over-medicalization of unwanted emotional states," Manzoni is convinced.

Medicalization is the practice by which life processes become the subject of medical study, diagnosis, or therapy.

So, we often encounter people who, while sad, describe themselves as depressed or anxious if they are upset.

But it's not just laypeople who accept all these methods and advice.

American books, such as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, “are often criticized for constantly expanding diagnostic criteria to include more and more different psychological conditions,” says Manzoni.

"This means that psychopharmacological treatment is often recommended to a wider range of people, leading to increased use of medication even for problems that can be solved in other ways," says Manzoni.

It scared Anna that she wasn't in a good mood all the time.

"I didn't accept negative emotions, I fell into a vortex of toxic positivity," says this black-haired girl.

Toxic positivity is the insistence on happiness regardless of life circumstances and the expectation to suppress negative emotions and experiences.

Blocking or ignoring "negative" emotions can have harmful health consequences, said Antonio Rodelar, a specialist in anxiety disorders and clinical hypnosis, for the BBC.

"The range of emotions includes those that are unregulated, such as sadness, dissatisfaction, anger, anxiety, or envy."

"We can't ignore it as human beings, we have a range of emotions that have a function and give us information about what's going on in the environment and in our body," he explains.

Why we can't do without popular psychology

In the past they religion and philosophy were the main teachings for understanding human nature.

However, how science developed, psychology took its place as a rational explanation of internal conflicts and human needs.

Popular psychology emerged in the second half of the 20th century and it has to do with the loss of some universal rules - that there are no values ​​that are given in advance, says Aleksandar Prica, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.

As a result, man begins to concern himself more and more, while on the other hand we have the strong influence of capitalism and individualism, which carry the idea that "every man is a small universe," he explains.

Thus, psychology moves from "professional and scientific frameworks into a more popular form, where it becomes a kind of trend."

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The fear industry

Ana spent a lot of money in bookstores, on courses and classes. joge.

"Meditation apps, calming supplements, self-help books, everything is marketed in a way that encourages the feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with us and that we need to constantly work on ourselves," she says.

The mental health and well-being industry is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of euros, and by 2027, it is believed to reach a market value of around 28 billion euros, according to data from the non-profit organization Global Wellness institute.

The market lures us with numerous products and services that promise to maximize happiness and health and reinforce the idea that we all have the right to happiness, explains Manzoni.

"On the other hand, the therapeutic industry and culture offer peace of mind," he adds.

Modern society creates a paradox: despite constant messages about the importance of well-being and happiness, psychological suffering does not decrease, but often deepens, because standards of happiness and perceptions of health become a burden instead of bringing relief, he explains.

'We don't always have to work on ourselves'

Ana has been trying to live a more relaxed life for several months now.

"A lot of my energy went into self-analysis, I don't have to be perfect at everything," she explains.

Now she tries to "think less" and notice things around her more when she's walking, going to the gym, or sitting with friends.

"You don't always have to work on yourself, your relationships or your career, allow yourself to simply do nothing, which is not easy in modern society."

"If you're lucky enough, you might be able to lose yourself for a while in activities you love, but without the need for an end goal or reward," concludes psychologist Manzoni.

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