Have you ever had a relationship that seems almost perfect? You like the same things, have the same goals, and get along just great, with one exception. Your partner has unresolved trauma that keeps causing problems. Whether it is anxiety, jealousy, mistrust, or some other issue, these things can truly destroy otherwise good relationships. Wouldn’t you love to know if someone is practicing self-care before the relationship? With a new option from Hinge dating, you can!
What are Self-Care Prompts?
For people who have used Hinge dating before, you are well aware of their prompts. These are short questions aimed at helping users express themselves, which can be great for generating conversation starters between matches. In fact, a Hinge profile is a bit of a mixture between photos and prompts, making it an efficient way of quickly getting a feel of someone’s personality.
While Hinge dating prompts have historically focused on things like interests, experiences, and background, this new rollout of self-care prompts brings a new lens to expressing yourself: mental health and wellness. These prompts are designed to allow users to discuss their wellness journeys more openly, something that is often difficult to bring into the initial conversation.
Among Hinge dating’s self-care prompts are things like “A personal boundary is …,” “I feel most supported when …,” and “Therapy recently taught me …” In total, there are fifteen different self-care prompts that users can select from. As with all other Hinge prompts, users are not required to answer any. In fact, users choose up to three total prompts to feature in their profile.
What Are the Benefits of Self-Care Prompts?
Anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows that self-care is important. After all, it is hard to be in a positive relationship with someone else if you can’t properly take care of your own needs. In fact, research found that 97% of people want to date someone who actively takes care of their mental health and wellness but only 9% of people feel comfortable bringing up the topic on a first date.
This bit of dating statistics served as the concept behind these new Hinge prompts. It can be difficult to have conversations about mental health with your matches in the digital world. However, that is very important information that can help you determine overall compatibility. With the new self-care prompts from Hinge dating, users have a window to begin a discussion.
For example, if someone answers the “Therapy recently taught me …” prompt, this not only alerts potential matches that the user is actively engaged in therapy but also creates an opportunity to begin a dialogue about wellness. For many of us trying to navigate a digital world where it is sometimes difficult to tell reality from a carefully crafted image, this can help bring about more authentic discussions.
Evaluating the suitability of a match as a potential partner is often a time-intensive task. However, self-care prompts can help with this process. There has often been a stigma on mental health. Hinge dating is attempting to help users see taking care of themselves as not only expected but also a healthy part of being a potential partner, which is a great thing.
Will Self-Care Prompts Change Dating?
This is understandably a bit of a bold prediction. While Hinge dating’s self-care prompts may certainly help to lift the stigma of mental health a bit more, it is likely going to make little difference in individuals’ choices. Someone not taking care of their mental health is likely not going to call up a therapist upon seeing the prompts.
However, the true success of self-care prompts lies in the ability to create a path to a more health-positive conversation. By discussing things like therapy, emotions, and support networks, it can be much easier to infer about a potential partner’s emotional intelligence, maturity, and ability at self-regulation. This can go a long way towards determining if there are potential red flags that make the person not suitable for a serious relationship at the moment.
In reality, there is not secret formula for success when looking for matches in the digital world. But combing through Hinge profiles just got a bit easier thanks to the presence of these self-care prompts. One of the things that I have always loved about Hinge dating is that they seem to be on the cutting edge of making matching more stress free. This certainly seems to be the case with this new feature.
I will definitely be continuing to swipe on Hinge dating and will also be adding a self-care prompt to my Hinge profile. Happy dating everyone!
Rachel Hall, M.A., completed her education in English at the University of Pennsylvania and received her master’s degree in family therapy from Northern Washington University. She has been actively involved in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, OCD, and coping with life changes and traumatic events for both families and individual clients for over a decade. Her areas of expertise include narrative therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and therapy for traumatic cases. In addition, Rachel conducts workshops focusing on the psychology of positive thinking and coping skills for both parents and teens. She has also authored numerous articles on the topics of mental health, stress, family dynamics and parenting.
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