Toxic Positivity

While extreme positivity seems harmless on the surface, there can be dire consequences born from ignoring an entire spectrum of human emotions. Some people choose to recognize and express only happiness, even in distressing situations that call for other “negative” emotions such as sadness or anger. This behaviour is known as “toxic positivity” which refers to the concept of hyper-focusing on positive emotions and positive experiences at the detriment of other emotions (Lukin, 2019).

A primary disseminator contributing to the rise of toxic positivity is social media, as it promotes unhealthy mental practises and misleading methods to deal with negative emotions (Lukin, 2019). For example, social media portrays the image that people are wrong to have emotions other than happiness, condemning such experiences and forcing others to conform to this expectation. As such, this narrative played out on social media has greatly increased behaviours of forced positivity and suppressed negative interactions or expressions.

So why is toxic positivity harmful? Toxic positivity is bad for our mental health as it forces a positive outlook on a negative situation as a form of encouragement in response to one’s negative feelings (Long & Quintero, 2019). Examples of toxic positivity statements include “Failure is not an option”, “Good vibes only”, and “Delete negativity”. Toxic positivity creates a feeling of shame within us where we fear expressing our most authentic emotions which may sometimes be negative ones and instead put up a brave front in front of others to hide our negative emotions. It also causes us to suppress and deny our emotions, which can lead to difficulty in processing and accepting distressing thoughts and feelings. This is shown in the current COVID-19 pandemic landscape as many are using toxic positivity as a coping mechanism to help them through tough times. They tell themselves that everything is fine and to keep working hard even when they are struggling with job losses, financial woes and physical separations from family members. This can be extremely detrimental to their mental health as they do not have sufficient space to process their negative emotions, which can be bottled up over time and result in a lot of pent-up stress and health problems such as cardiovascular disease.

Toxic positivity arises when an individual is solely fixated on happiness and optimistic views. As a result, they overgeneralize optimism and happiness across all situations, thus inhibiting unpleasant emotions (Wibowo, 2020). One way to combat toxic positivity is by voicing out one’s feelings. Studies have shown that verbally expressing one’s feelings helps one cope with negative emotions because it produces diminished responses to negative emotional images in the amygdala and other limbic regions (Lieberman et al., 2021). Voicing out one’s feelings helps to activate the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex which dampens the response of the amygdala which reduces emotional distress (Lieberman et al., 2021). As a result, this aids in the regulation of negative experiences and contributes to better mental and physical health.

Toxic positivity is often mistaken as a way to console ourselves and appreciate the good during the bad to feel better. However, it is important to validate our feelings, even the negative ones, to ensure the well-being of our mental health. We can be brave in communicating our feelings, and speak to someone we can trust during bad times.

REFERENCES:

1. Lieberman, M., Eisenberger, N., Crockett, M., Tom, S., Pfeifer, J., & Way, B. (2021). Putting feelings into words affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Association For Psychological Science, 18(5), 421-428.

2. Lukin, K. (2019, August 1). Toxic positivity: Don't always look on the bright side. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-man-cave/201908/toxic-positivity-dont-always-look-the-bright-side.

3. Quintero, S., & Long, J. (2019). Toxic positivity: The dark side of positive vibes. The Psychology Group Fort Lauderdale. Retrieved from https://thepsychologygroup.com/toxic-positivity/.

4. Wibowo, R.S. (2020). The answers are not always optimist: Overcoming toxic positivity during COVID-19 outbreak. Binus University. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rahmadina-Wibowo-2/publication/349824345_The_Answers_Are_Not_Always_Optimism_Overcoming_Toxic_Positivity_During_ESSAY/links/60425453299bf1e078572fac/The-Answers-Are-Not-Always-Optimism-Overcoming-Toxic-Positivity-During-ESSAY.pdf