Joined the group just to say my teen daughter is absolutely in love with the show…as soon as she finishes it she starts it again. Admittedly she tried to get me to watch it this past week but with Thanksgiving and a busy life I didn’t really have time to watch much. She struggles with self harm and depressive moods, we are trying to get her help she’s in therapy and on some meds we are trying for mood stabilizing as well as ADHD. I’m just curious as someone who really doesn’t know that much about the show is she trying to tell me something? Is it something to worry about or is it cathartic? She literally watches is it over and over and in most of her spare time.
If she has any substance abused tendencies too I’d tread lightly. It’s a great exploration of substance abuse but so many individual scenes may trigger her to want to drink/use.
It’s very powerful to help a depressed person feel seen though. The “stupid piece of shit” and “good damage” episodes made 12kw light bulbs go off in my head… hearing inner monologues so similar to my own made me suddenly feel less alone… but the show can’t really go further than there. Seeing bojack or diane go to therapy isn’t the same thing as going yourself.
I will say this too: watch it with her. She wants you to watch it because she wants you to understand her… in ways she probably couldn’t put into words before the show and can’t do any better than the show did. If you don’t have time… specifically ask her which episodes are her favorites and watch them with her and ask her questions afterwards about if she feels the same way as any of the characters you perceive she might relate to.