42. Lena Derhally MA, LPC On Social Media & Narcissism: How Social Media Impacts Our Mental Health

Social media has become a tidal wave of influence over the last decade. Highlight reels, filters, and the chase for likes breeds a sense of comparison and lacking in all of us. How is social media impacting us, our children, and our future? That is what we are getting into with today’s guest, Lena Derhally. Lena Derhally is a licensed and Imago certified psychotherapist specializing in trauma-informed individual and couples therapy. Some of the issues she focuses on are: anxiety, difficult life transitions, grief, boundary issues, toxic workplaces and emotional abuse with romantic partners and family members. She is the author of The Facebook Narcissist: How to Identify and Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones from Social Media Narcissism. I am excited to share this conversation with you that is all about how social media is impacting our mental health and what we can do to maintain a healthy relationship with social media. Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 2:51 - Why Lena chose to write a book about narcissism 5:19 - What is narcissism? 7:32 - Is social media making us narcissistic? 11:09 - What are the 3 E’s and types of narcissists? 15:12 - How does social media impact all mental health disorders? 16:37 - Social media and surveillance capitalism 19:04 - How our brain handles social media 21:39 - How do we make genuine connections in a social media world? 24:18 - Dealing with kids and social media 29:17 - Social media and dopamine 30:37 - Can people with narcissism change? 34:26 - Start noticing how you feel on social media 36:55 - Lena’s morning routine 38:28 - Lena’s podcast recommendations 39:20 - What Lena does to cultivate joy 42:31 - How to learn more and work with Lena