Mental health is a big deal these days. While I think people use it as an excuse for other problems, I have enough family members and friends who have had their struggles with issues that I know how important taking care of mental health is.
We see a big enough emphasis on mental health these days that the White House named this month National Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a big industry, too, with therapy apps and countless medications available to treat conditions.
Maybe that’s why an article I stumbled on last week caught my attention. It turns out that free speech is good for our mental health.
Psychologist Dr. Chloe Carmichael has appeared on Fox News and PragerU and is a best-selling author, and she maintains that free speech is good for all of us. She writes at Greater Good Magazine that “we may even benefit from talking with members of the communities where we live and work…even if (sometimes especially if) their viewpoints differ from our own. While free speech can feel like a burden, it also carries benefits.”
Carmichael maintains that free speech is essential in the process of learning and growing as individuals. Exposing ourselves to other ideas can help us change our minds on issues or solidify our convictions. She also points out that the freedom to say “stupid things” can help us learn by experience.
“Without free speech, we are less likely to examine our thoughts and get feedback on them, which actually leaves us more vulnerable to harboring inaccurate or distorted views,” she writes.
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For all of the talk from the left about “safe spaces,” which supposedly allow leftists to shut out opposing views, suppressing ideas and perspectives does the opposite of empowering people. The notion that speech is violence makes people less secure and stable, according to Carmichael.
“Words are not violence (I say this as a clinical psychologist and as a woman who suffered extreme, life-threatening domestic violence before meeting my wonderful husband),” she writes. “Teaching people that ‘words are violence’ is actually disempowering because it suggests that we should cower in fear or risk physical blows over words rather than reserving that type of retreat or attack for situations of actual physical danger.”
Carmichael also states that free speech helps us combat anxiety and depression. Expressing our opinions and ideas honestly gives us a stronger feeling of control and clear-headedness. We experience a better sense of social support when we’re confident that nobody can cancel us. Free speech makes us more self-aware, which helps us guard against our feelings controlling us.
“As a clinical psychologist, I believe that suppressing freedom of expression deprives us of healthy discussions where people can persuade each other through intellectual exploration and develop ideas that help society,” Carmichael concludes. “Social support that includes free speech allows people to put their thoughts and feelings on the table to examine them, reflect on them, and even change them in a gradual, authentic manner over time.”
Trust the science; it says that free speech is good for everybody. And the next time somebody tries to suppress your opinions, tell them to leave you alone because you’re working on your mental health.
