popPSYCHOLOGY: Week of Oct 13th-19th, 2025
YouTube’s mental health section for teens, Emma Watson’s views on the societal pressures to get married young, & so much more.
popPSYCHOLOGY is a new series from Dr. Jessica Rabon and myself to bring you a weekly rundown of mental health news that has made the headlines over the past week. Without further ado, let’s get into some highlights:
YouTube launched a new mental health section for teenagers, which creates video “shelves” that provide adolescents with age-appropriate information about various mental health topics. These video shelves will appear when users with teen accounts search for mental health related content on YouTube.
Megan Thee Stallion won The Trevor Project’s 2025 Mental Health Champion of the Year award, an award that recognizes public figures who use their platforms to fight stigma and advocate for LGBTQ+ youth. Megan Thee Stallion was noted by the Trevor Project to promote inclusive mental health care and resources, especially for marginalized communities.
On Tuesday, October 14th, 31-year-old Summer Equitz died by an apparent suicide at Disney World’s Contemporary Resort in Florida. Reports online suggest that Equitz was a newlywed and longtime Disney fan who had even worked at the park as a host and character performer. Disney has not spoken out regarding the apparent suicide.
In a podcast interview, Emma Watson discussed the societal pressure put upon young adults to get married. She pushed back on the social norm to marry young, saying it’s a “violence to young people, especially women” that lower their self-worth and feelings of success.
New research finds short inspo videos are as effective at reducing stress as meditating. In this study published by the American Psychological Association, lead researcher Robin Nabi, PhD, adults in the control groups who watched short inspirational videos or did a guided meditation felt more hopeful than those who watched a comedy segment, scrolled on their phone, or did nothing at all (the control group). Feeling hope is correlated with reduced stress levels.
Finn Wolfhard spoke about his experiences with anxiety while filming Stranger Things. In an interview with Time, Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, shared about the pressure he felt as a teenage actor that led to him hyperventilating on set, a common symptom of a panic attack. Wolfhard shared that Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair) and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) offered support and disclosed they too felt similar pressure.
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You can find more from Jessica and Tina right here: @jessicaleighphd & @tinaclarklpc
