Randy Withers, LCMHC
Table of Contents
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Last Updated on December 14, 2021 by Randy Withers, LCMHC
The best mental health blogs are as diverse and original as the people who write for them. They vary in focus, size, readership, quality, and point of view.
Some focus on a single diagnosis –depression or PTSD or bipolar disorder. Others opt for a wider focus – addiction or suicide prevention or combating mental health stigma. They all have something important to say.
The best mental health blogs are professional, both in terms of the author’s experience as well as their production value. Many are labors of love, written from the perspective of the afflicted. Some are clinical; some are creative. All are worth your consideration.
Despite these differences, their discussions are original and creative, with thought-provoking posts, well-crafted graphics, and insightful essays.
This list zeroes in on mental health blogs that are pretty small when compared to the giants run by NAMI, The Mighty, Mental Health America, PsychCentral, and Psychology Today.
After all, the big ones get all the press as well as the exposure on Google and Bing. They can take a backseat seat for today.
My favorite type of mental health blog – which also happens to be the focus of this post – is one that manages to combine all those creative differences. Blogs that leverage both personal and professional experience. Blogs that show off the writer’s creativity and intellect. Blogs that I’d like to straight-up plagiarize because they are so damned fun to read.
Let’s you and I take a look at each one of the best mental health blogs to read in 2020 and see what makes them shine. Here goes:
Author’s Note: I’m taking some license with the term “Mental Health Blog” here so that this list can include blogs that focus on things like personal development and psychotherapy, too.
1. Kim Rosenthal, MD
What it’s About:
Author, Artist, and Psychiatrist Kim Rosenthal, M.D., is nothing if not prolific. Her website currently boasts more than 125 articles, making it one of the most diverse and voluminous blogs on this list.
Most of these articles include her own artwork, as well as her signature irreverent personality. She is passionate, well-informed, and kind, three things that are obvious in everything she writes.
She’s currently working on a large publication for recovering addicts. It’s called “The Wacky and Wonderful Recovery Workbook.” It’s filled with handouts and puzzles and great information about addiction and recovery.
Her blog is not constrained to addiction, though. She writes on a variety of subjects, from explanations of complicated mental disorders to practical ways to manage them. You could spend days and days reading her articles and never get bored.
Full disclosure: I know Kim Rosenthal. We work together. She’s the real deal, ya’ll. I even collaborated with her on her workbook and helped her create her website. But all that piping-hot fresh content? That’s hers and hers alone.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
Kim’s personality, creativity, and intellect make this blog shine. She is more concerned with creating quality content than she is with the science of writing viral blog posts, which to me is refreshing. Her site is young, too, so expect great things from her as time goes on.
Articles You Need to Read:
What I’d Steal:
Her articles. Like, all of them. They are chock-full of great information that will undoubtedly attract readers by the thousands.
2. The Angry Therapist
What it’s About:
John Kim is a therapist and life coach whose own history of problematic relationships and negative thinking patterns prompted him to adopt what is basically an alter ego – The Angry Therapist. He doesn’t give a shit anymore, ya’ll. Read any of his stories on Medium and you’ll see what I mean.
John has a website and is the author of two books. One A No BS Guide to Finding and Living Your Own Truth and the other is I USED TO BE A MISERABLE F*CK, which is in all-caps because that’s how it’s supposed to be.
He also has a successful podcast and offers paid coaching sessions to anyone brave enough for his feedback.
He enjoys a following of more than 20,000 readers on Medium, publishing stories that usually take from three to ten minutes to read. Think of his posts as appetizers for his two books, which are totally awesome.
I am a big fan of John’s because I, like him, am a male therapist who also doesn’t give a damn anymore. That may sound cold, given our profession, but I’m telling you – it’s a much-needed attitude that more therapists need to adopt. Too many of them are concerned with soothing egos and less with facilitating real change.
John’s writing is inspiring. And if you don’t like it, please know that he doesn’t care.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
John’s attitude. He’s also an engaging writer. If you prefer your mental health writings with flowers and cupcakes, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you are ready to get your therapeutic bell rung, put him on your shortlist.
Articles You Need to Read:
What I’d Steal:
His attitude, fearlessness, and ability to go against the grain and pursue his authentic self. He’d probably slap me back-handed for saying it like that, but I am me and he is him.
3. The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser
What it’s About:
Bruce Gerencser is an avid and prolific blogger who lives in rural Ohio with his wife of more than four decades. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for 25 years in three different states but left the ministry in 2005. In 2008 he left Christianity as well.
He now considers himself a humanist and an atheist.
His blog is about that journey, and why and how he chose the path he did. His blog, by the way, is enormous. He’s got something like 3,000 separate entries. I mean, good lord.
Bruce Gerencser is my hero. For one thing, he’s got a huge readership, many of whom are pissed off Evangelicals who seem to believe that Bruce just needs a stern talking to about his errant ways.
Bruce does a great job of interacting with his readers in the comment section of his blog, which he both reads and moderates. I’m impressed by this, given the sheer vitriol that many of his Christian readers express towards some of his life decisions. He has the patience of Job (sorry for the reference, Bruce), and a matter-of-fact wit that is straight-up hysterical.
Not surprisingly, many of his detractors do not find him as amusing as I do.
There’s one section of his blog that I think perfectly summarizes both the point of his blog and the views he expresses in it. It’s called “Why I Hate Jesus” and if you read one thing he has written, you need to read that.
I won’t spoil it for you other than to say that I’m sure he gets two basic types of responses to it. The first is from the atheist and agnostic crowd, who no doubt reads it while vigorously shaking their heads up and down in joyful agreement. The second is the response from the True Believers who I’m sure will want to hang him upside down on a cross and burn him alive for his blasphemy.
Seriously, though – regardless of which side you come down on this debate, how many things have you read recently that elicited that type of response?
By the way, some of you might be reading this and thinking to yourself, “well this doesn’t really sound like a mental health blog.” And you’d be right. Strictly speaking, it’s not.
But for many non-believers who keep their doubts hidden, Bruce provides relief from the depression and anxiety that plagues them. In a word, his writing is therapeutic, and that’s why it’s on this list.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
There’s a pattern developing here. As with many of the other blogs on this list, the author’s personality and passion make the words fly off the page.
Bruce is retired, happily married, and a grandfather – he does not need your admiration or your condemnation. And it shows in his writing, which is frank and honest and surprisingly vulnerable.
When you get right down to it, this blog is about a man who came to a crossroads and took the path less traveled.
Consider his journey for a moment, from Evangelical minister to outspoken atheist. You can call Bruce many things – and many have – but you have to also call him brave for putting himself out there.
It’s possible that this entry has offended some readers, too. If that describes your experience, I suggest you read his entire blog. He is very clear about his rationale. People who radically adhere to one set of dogma do so usually out of fear.
What, exactly, is the problem with hearing him out?
Articles You Need to Read:
It’s hard to pick two, but you should start with these gems:
What I’d Steal:
Bruce has a huge readership and a huge repository of articles, plus close to two dozen subject-specific series. But the thing I love the most is his tone, which to me comes off as confident, matter-of-fact, and annoyed.
Bruce knows who he is and he knows where he stands with the religion he left a decade ago. You can’t change his mind, but I dare you to try.
4. Blunt Therapy
What it’s About:
Blunt Therapy is a blog about mental health. It also publishes articles about addiction, counseling, relationships, and parenting, with both personal and professional perspectives.
Founded in late 2018, it is edited by a Board-Certified Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Clinical Addictions Specialist who lives in North Carolina.
Most of the articles are written by counselors and therapists who have also had their own struggles with mental illness and/or addiction. As a result, posts often blend professional opinion with personal experience.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
Full disclosure: You are reading this article on Blunt Therapy (and if you aren’t, somebody stole the entire thing and illegally posted it on their own blog). I am the editor in question.
Yes, I am a real counselor. I’ve also been in recovery for 15 years, which I like to think makes my writing authentic and well-informed.
Forgive the vanity, but I couldn’t write this article and NOT include my own blog. That would be dumb. I thank you for understanding.
In all seriousness, I hope Blunt Therapy makes some significant contributions to the societal conversations we’re having about mental illness and addiction. These two topics are close to my heart. I hope my passion for those subject spills onto the screen.
I spent ten years in secondary education as a teacher and academic counselor, and for almost 8 years now I’ve been working in mental health. I also have a degree in Writing, and what I’ve tried to do is leverage those three different skills into a blog that entertains and informs. I hope you like it.
Articles You Need to Read:
5. Love and Life Toolbox
What it’s About:
Lisa Kift is a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) and the founder of Love and Life Toolbox. Her blog is an awesome resource for marriages, relationships, and emotional health; it’s been around for more than 15 years.
There are also some heavy-hitters who endorse it, too. Names like Rick Hanson, Ph.D. (author of Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness), John Grohol, PsyD (creator of PsychCentral.com), and Linda Graham, MFT (author of Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being)
Lisa says her blog is “your emotional health and relationships fix.” It’s jam-packed with articles, tools, courses and other resources. She tackles important topics, from relationships to emotional health and trauma.
She offers online courses and personal consultations as well. There’s a ton of value to be found.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
Her crisp prose reinforces her obvious expertise in the subject matter. She writes in a professional, matter-of-fact style and makes good use of bulleted lists and smaller paragraphs.
She can hold your attention, too. Her writing style is part clinical, part expressive, an excellent marriage of two different styles.
The online courses she offers are also top-notch productions that show her expertise in the field. I appreciate professional expertise in mental health blogs, due to the complexity of the subject matter.
And if you don’t get the answer you need, Lisa offers consultations, from email question & answer sessions to live video chat.
Articles You Need to Read:
What to Steal:
She has an impressive array of eBooks for sale, as well as consultations and online courses. This is soon going to be a part of my blog, but I’m not there yet. I have great respect for all that she has been able to produce over the years.
And even if none of that stuff was true, her professionalism and even her site layout are commendable. I mean, for crying out loud, even her page loading speed is excellent.
6. Anxious Lass
What it’s About:
Anxious Lass is a candid mental health blog that deals primarily with social anxiety. It is written by a Brit named Kel who is equal parts blogger, mental health advocate, and professional portrait photographer. It’s got some great stuff on it.
Anxious Lass is popular on Pinterest and Instagram due to its abundant resources, articles, and educational materials. Kel writes from her own experience with social anxiety disorder, which she has had since childhood.
She draws from her own life to bring her readers a message of hope – along with actionable suggestions to manage anxiety. Readers can sign up for a free 7-day course that is full of useful tips.
Anxious Lass has a wonderful and diverse resource section as well that covers topics ranging from managing mental health to tips for blogging. I appreciate a Blog that is able to marry unrelated topics with such class and style. I bookmarked it. You should, too.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
It’s ironic that a woman who has struggled with social anxiety disorder for years has managed to craft such a warm and inviting blog. It’s like she’s a professional event planner or something. She uses soft shades of pink and blue along with crisp typography and beautiful graphics.
It’s no wonder that people on Pinterest can’t get enough of her.
The best thing about Anxious Lass, though, is how useful it is. Kel doesn’t only write about mental health. She writes about how to stay mentally healthy. Her advice is as good as any professionally-trained clinician’s.
Articles You Need to Read:
What I’d Steal:
I admire how she marries her own journey into writings designed to help other people. That’s not easy to do. Her blog is gorgeous, too. It’s definitely designed with women in mind.
She’s also written and produced some impressive courses and eBooks, to say nothing of her rich depository of mental health blog posts.
But the thing I’d most like to steal is her desire to help her readers. Whether the subject is social anxiety or writing a blog, Kel produces work that makes people’s lives better. What an impressive achievement that is to be sure.
7. Better Therapy
What It’s About:
Danish-born Psychologist Rune Moelbak, Ph.D. heads a successful psychotherapy practice in Houston, Texas, where he also manages a website named Better Therapy. It pulls double duty, serving as the face of his professional practice as well as hosting a blog about psychology and therapy.
His blog is called Insight: A Blog for the Critical Consumer of Psychotherapy. It is glorious.
It’s also enormous, easily dwarfing the rest of his site for all it’s clinical depth and passion. I couldn’t begin to guess at the number of articles he has published.
Dr. Moelbak is also one of the most well-credentialed bloggers on this list. He writes at the expert level on dozens of different topics, from Anger Management and Grief to Personality Disorders and the Unconscious. This is one of those sites that you can keep going back to for months and never run out of stuff to read.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
For me, Insight is the gold standard of professionally-written mental health blogs. Moelbak’s clinical expertise shows in everything he writes. He is thoughtful and erudite without clinging to clinical jargon. He’s also got an amazing point of view that’s strongly influenced by psychodynamic theory.
It is amazing to me that he can manage a successful blog and also put that level of effort into his writing. It’s a wonder he ever has time to sleep.
What makes Insight so compelling is it’s focus on psychotherapy. Moelbak writes these articles with his clients in mind, explaining complex psychological phenomena in a way that is easy to understand. That’s quite an amazing feat. And helpful, too.
Articles You Need to Read:
What I’d Steal:
Insight’s strength is the psychodynamic lens through which Dr. Moelbak sees the world. For years, therapists in the United States have been moving away from psychodynamic theory, which is a shame. Insight is the rare blog that moves towards it.
Modern theoretical orientations like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) are good at disrupting negative thought patterns and modifying maladaptive behaviors, but they don’t do a good job of getting to the root cause of the issue. Not the way Psychodynamic therapy can.
Because of its focus, Insight shines in a way that most other mental health blogs can’t.
8. Chipur
What It’s About:
Chipur is a Blog about Depression, Anxiety, and Bipolar Disorder. It was founded by Bill White, a mental health professional who has struggled with these conditions for many years.
His blog is one of the oldest on this list, with articles and posts that go back to 2011.
Bill’s writing has not gone unnoticed, either. Chipur’s been recognized by several other blogs, from Healthline and Medical News Today to PsychCentral. Scores of readers have also offered enthusiastic testimonials over the years.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
Bill White’s voice is authentic, congruent, and direct. It’s obvious he writes with a personal stake in the subject matter. He’s an expert who believes that education is a critical component of recovery.
Chipur is full of hundreds and hundreds of articles. Judging from all the comments, his readers are loyal and engage with on a near-constant basis. That’s one of the best parts of his blog, by the way. There’s nothing quite like a group of conscientious and engaged readers to make a blog feel whole.
And Bill, of course, deserves all the credit for managing such a special corner of the Web.
Articles You Need to Read:
What I’d Steal:
Chipur is one of those blogs that makes the Internet feel special and, I don’t know… a lot less slimy is what I’m trying not to say. His writing is candid and direct. His blog is old school, with minimal attention paid to visual splendor and design.
That, by the way, might also be its only weakness, but we’ll get into that in a minute.
For now, the thing you want to steal from Bill is dedication to his craft. Too many websites these days are full of sound and fury, with garbage content that only exists to get clicks. Chipur, by contrast, is a labor of love. I don’t even see where he has monetized it, which is too bad for him, given the impressive flow of traffic.
Chipur is also a great example of what happens when a blogger focuses on what matters: writing kick-ass content. Good on you, Bill.
9. Info Counselling: Evidenced-Based Therapy Techniques
What It’s About:
Info Counselling is a content-rich mental health blog created by a Canadian writer and certified hypnotherapist named Rachelle Megan. It’s a resource for mental health practitioners, for people in therapy, and for people who are interested in more information about mental health issues. And boy does it have a ton of resources.
Rachelle, who has bachelor’s degrees in psychology and in computer science from the University of Alberta and has completed graduate work in Counselling Psychology, is a passionate blogger and mental health advocate.
You can tell she takes her work seriously. I can only imagine how much time and effort goes into creating and maintaining such a thorough clearinghouse for mental health resources.
According to Rachelle, the purpose of her blog is several-fold. She writes it for members of the public, so they can learn about mental health. She also writes it for people struggling with mental illness, so they can learn about their illness. And she writes it for mental health practitioners, too, in order for them to connect with free or low-cost resources and worksheets for their clients.
What Makes it One of the Best Mental Health Blogs?
Info Counselling is a wonderful resource that is full of useful information. And props to Rachelle Megan for what she has created. Like many of the best mental health blogs on this list, you could spend days and days sifting through all the great stuff she’s managed to produce and collect over the years.
She’s got posts on mental health conditions like depression, panic, and anxiety. She’s got information about hypnosis and assertiveness and positive psychology. She’s got information on children and adolescents, relationships and addiction. What I’m trying to say here is that she’s got a ton of stuff to read.
It’s really good content, too. That’s a defining trait of all the blogs on this list, but it’s worth mentioning again. This is one of those sites that clinicians should bookmark and return to again and again. Good job Rachelle.
Articles You Need To Read:
- 9 Assertiveness Techniques to use in any situation
- Free CBT worksheets – best cognitive behavioral therapy worksheets
What I’d Steal
Info Counselling boasts an impressive array of resources, from book recommendations to CBT worksheets. The thing to steal is just how useful this website is. It’s an actual resource. You can go there, find what you need, learn about a topic, and apply it to your personal or professional life.
She gets a ton of traffic, too, for a site like this, so clearly her readers agree about its usefulness. Rachelle set out to create a blog that helps people. Info Counselling does just that.
Conclusion
As a mental health professional, my concern is the dissemination of quality information. Mental health and addictions are complex fields, with those who work in them often educated at the graduate level or higher. It’s not enough for the blogs to be well-written. Their information needs to be correct, too.
That doesn’t mean that a writer without that level of education has nothing to say of value. It also doesn’t mean that those who have the credentials have anything worthwhile to say.
But it does mean that quality is critical – or at least it should be, anyway. These are some of the best mental health blogs I’ve come across because quality is their defining trait.
I hope you enjoy reading this list of the best mental health blogs as much as I had while writing it. They are all worthy of your consideration. If you agree, feel free to leave a comment. If you think I’m wrong, you can tell me that, too.
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WordPress Hosting Options
- Bluehost – Excellent host for beginners.
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Freelance and Business Services
- Fiverr – it’s amazing how many low-cost high-quality services I’ve been able to find on it for 5 years and counting.
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WordPress Themes and Page Builders
- Elementor – The best Page Builder there is, hand down.
- GeneratePress, which is a terrific and highly customizable theme to use with Elementor (I might be using it on Blunt Therapy).
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Social Sharing and Social Media Management
- Revive Social. It allows you to post current and older posts to various social media channels. I use this and it is easy to set up and well worth the money. They also have a free version.
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Writing Tools:
I find these tools help to make writing blog posts just a little bit easier. Check them out.
- If you’re prone to spelling or grammar mistakes, Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant. It’s as good as you’ve heard.
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- Want a tool that’ll help you write better headlines? The Headline Analyzer from ShareThrough will rate your headline and tell you how well it will do.
Thank you for including me amongst all these amazing bloggers.
I just wanted to address the suggestion that I move over to media.net (coincidentally with an affiliate link to media.net).
I was in fact with media.net in the beginning and made a tiny fraction of what I now make with Mediavine. Media.net is nothing to write home about at all in terms of income, I’d only recommend them for beginners who can’t get into the bigger ad networks yet unless you do not need to make actual income from ads – which I do.
I’d rather serve ads that are a minor inconvenience if it means that I can still run my blog effectively and put as much time and resources into it as I do. I’m sure you can understand that!
Thanks Kel! I was thinking less about income and more about aesthetics, which I suppose is dumb when one is talking about ads. Thanks for the info about mediavine. I’ll have to look at them.
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbl eupon on a daily basis. It’s always helpful to read through articles from other authors and use something from their sites. |
Thanks for the lovely review of Bruce’s blog. I am his editor and friend and I really appreciate your kind words toward his blog. I enjoyed reading the entire post, and plan to check out some of the other mental health blogs you recommended.
I just read your review on Bruce Gerenscer’s blog and completely agree with you. I just discovered his blog last year and have been really intrigued by his insight and experience in a world that is very alien to me. I wasn’t raised in an evangelical home (fortunately), but am very concerned about the evangelical support of the current government. Bruce’s blog is a great way to stay informed because he is reasonable and obviously a thinking person.
Hi Caroline, I was thrilled to come across his blog as well. He’s amazing. Thanks for your comment!
Hi Randy, I really appreciate this article and have taken a look at all your favourite mental health bloggers. I’ve also read all your suggested improvements and I’m now off to check over my own blog to see if I can implement any of them.
As a mental health blogger, it’s interesting to read other recommended mh blogs; what they say and how they say it, so thank you for the heads up.
Caz
Hi Caz and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I’ll have to look at your blog as well. I have a list of mental health resources under the resources tab if you’d like to get a sense of what else is out there. Thanks!
this is really amazing, thanks for sharing this with us!!!
This blog is really amazing, thanks for sharing
Glad you found it helpful.