My patients want Taylor Swift to be their therapist. With new album, she already is. | Opinion

For many in our culture, Taylor Swift is a projection of the best — and worst — of us all. We see Taylor in ourselves, and we see ourselves in Taylor. With her, we have loved, we have lost, we have laughed, and we have mourned.

As a child-focused clinical psychologist in-training, Taylor and her music have been a consistent character in my psychotherapy sessions with patients. One of my young patients even recently boldly told me during session, “you’ve taught me a lot, but it would be better if Taylor Swift were my therapist.” And in many ways – Taylor is like a colleague of mine — helping guide treatment through bibliotherapy techniques. Together, my patients and I explore the ways in which Taylor writes about her experiences of anxiety, depression, friendship challenges, and self-esteem.

In recent years, Taylor has bravely let us in on her own, vicarious, or possibly fictional, experiences through lyrics related to suicidality in her songs. In “Folklore”’s, “This is Me Trying,” she uses powerful imagery of what some may interpret as a moment considering, and ultimately surviving, suicidal ideation:

“Pulled the car off the road to the lookout / could’ve followed my fears all the way down.”

When “Red (Taylor’s Version)“ was released, many fans resonated with her lyrics in “Forever Winter” to be about the narrator’s experience processing the death of a friend by suicide. In the United States it is estimated that for every person who dies by suicide 135 people are exposed to the death and this may confer very serious health consequences, including suicidal ideation. Suicide bereaved individuals may relate to Taylor’s experiences of grief and self-blame:

“If I was standing there in your apartment / I’d take that bomb in your head and disarm it / I’d say I love you even at your darkest and / Please don’t go”

However, never before has Taylor so explicitly addressed suicidality in her work as in her newest title track song on “The Tortured Poet’s Department.” In these newly minted lyrics, she highlights an unfortunately all-too-common experience of relationship breakup leading to increased suicidal ideation as she sings:

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me / but you told Lucy that you’d kill yourself if I ever leave / and I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen”

I am grateful to Taylor for continuing the conversation regarding thoughts of suicide, reminding us all that these are conversations that should not remain hidden or behind closed doors. These experiences should be hers to freely share and claim in her art and contribute towards the reduction of stigma surrounding these conversations.

Taylor has a powerful opportunity to raise awareness of suicide-related mental health resources and even help fund the cause. Similarly, celebrities like Logic, who have arguably less influence than Taylor, have attached resources to songs with heavy themes. In Logic’s case, this even involved naming his song, “1-800-273-8255” after the former national suicide and crisis lifeline phone number.

I think of my young patients who identify deeply with Taylor and who have explicitly listed Taylor’s album releases as a reason to live in the face of crisis. I am confident that Taylor’s endorsement of suicide-focused resources could give those like them the courage to reach out knowing that their greatest inspiration, and para-social best friend, have faced and overcome similar challenges. There is a vital opportunity for Taylor to show us all how moments of suicidal ideation should not be shame-filled, and that we all have the ability to learn alternative ways of coping in moments of despair.

If you listen to Taylor’s new work and find yourself in the middle of a familiar experience, know you are not alone. Help is available and there is hope. If you are a local Kentuckian and in a suicidal crisis, you can call or text the 24-hour National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number 988.

Haley Hintz is a clinical psychology doctoral student at Eastern Kentucky University.