Interactive mental health exercises coming to stressed, unhappy Pinterest users

The private interactions will begin popping up for U.S. users in weeks

Pinterest users will be able to choose from a number of exercises.
Photo courtesy/Pinterest

Pinterest, while still technically social media, is a little different than Facebook and Instagram — there’s seemingly less comparison and the content tends to be geared more toward bettering one’s life through healthy recipes, workouts, crafts and so on.

Adding to that theme, Pinterest announced Monday that a collection of emotional health exercises and resources will pop up within the app when search terms suggest the user may be stressed, anxious or sad.

These activities were created with the help of emotional health experts at Brainstorm, the Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, and with advice from Vibrant Emotional Health and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, according to Pinterest.


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Created to offer users an interactive way to improve their mood, these exercises are certainly not meant to replace professional care, Pinterest noted.

Pinterest adds that these interactions are private and are not connected to users' accounts. Nor will the platform display recommendations or ads based on the use of these resources.

The tools will be available to all users in the United States in the coming weeks. Product manager Annie Ta adds that Pinterest "will continue to improve the experience, work with more health experts and make these resources available to even more people around the world.”

Moreover, users searching for self-harm-related content will be redirected to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in just two taps.