The sense of community found by some users on TikTok has led to some very frank discussions about mental health. Many advocates have used the platform to encourage people who are struggling with mental health or to offer insight as mental health professionals.
Others have used TikTok as a way to start conversations about the impacts of medication for mental health issues, both good and bad.
In a video that has since drawn over 1.6 million views, one user has shared her experience going on Wellbutrin, an antidepressant. Musician June Henry (@junehenryawesome) says taking the medication caused her to reevaluate her life and make major changes, like dying her hair, removing a facial piercing, buying a bed frame, and even leaving a polycule—a polyamorous group of three or more people.
“I was always scared of getting on medication because I thought it would take away from who I am, but I started medication about a month ago, and two or three weeks in, I woke up one day and I looked around, and I was like, why the f*ck am I polyamorous?” she says in the video.
Henry then elaborates on the changes the medication has caused her to make.
“I started asking myself, why am I polyamorous? And then I dyed my hair brown, I took out my bridge piercing, I broke up with the ‘cule, and I have never been happier,” she says. “I feel so f*cking stable and so normal.”
She then jokes about big pharma’s intentions to break up polycules.
“So maybe they did it,” she says. “Maybe big pharma’s whole goal is to break up the ‘cule. They succeeded. Whatever, I’ve got a bed frame now. I’m no longer a polyamorous pink-haired b*tch sleeping on a mattress on the floor. I’m stable and I’ve got a f*cking bed frame.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Henry via TikTok direct message.
Some viewers shared how they had seen their own daily lives improve after taking Wellbutrin and other medications to manage symptoms of their mental health issues.
“I take wellbutrin and now regularly go to the gym and can pick up after myself and it’s so?” one commenter wrote.
“Three weeks into Wellbutrin I looked around the room I’d moved into three years ago that was still full of unpacked boxes, and I fixed that,” another said.
“I’m a lexapro girlie and I tell ya it’s like swimming in the deep end and suddenly you just stand up in the shallows like why was I drownin,” a further user aptly put.
@junehenryawesome #wellbutrin #thankyouwellbutrin #normalgirl #regular #monogomous ♬ original sound – june henry
Others shared that they had differing experiences with medication that were not always positive.
“Wellbutrin made me not recognize my own reflection in the mirror but i’m glad it’s working for yall,” a commenter claimed.
“Wellbutrin did the exact opposite for me unfortunately but love this for you!!” another shared.
“Wellbutrin made me almost kms like 20 times in 2 weeks,” a further user wrote.