Written by: Himani Bhattarai - 24008, Grade XI
Posted on: 22 July, 2022
Mental illness has become a really trendy topic these days. People are being vocal about mental illness and are learning to accept it. It has been less of a taboo in society now. Just because people romanticize mental illness does not mean it is out of existence. Being vocal about mental illness and romanticizing it are two different things. Being vocal about mental illness means talking about mental Sharing their experience in different media. People have started opening up about mental illness which have helped the victims overcome their fear and different problems related to mental illness . Romanticizing it is a completely different thing. It means viewing mental illness in a glamorous way.
Scrolling through social media, I have seen people post quotes like “ Life is so hard right now, I wanna kill myself”, “ School gives me depression”. I'm pretty sure most of us are familiar with this. People have not only normalised mental illness but they have learned to embrace it. Majority of teenagers have started romanticizing mental illness. It has also been labeled as “aesthetic”.Social media is responsible for this increment in the romanticization of mental illness. It allows youths to create a romanticized perception towards the idea of mental illness. It presents mental illness in a depressing yet attractive way. Which is why most teenagers are attracted to the term “ anxiety”. Anxiety, OCD, Depression, Suicide are some of the terms that I frequently see in social medias these days. I have seen various merchandise labeled as “anxiety”, “ sad vibes only”, and depressing quotes. People are wearing such clothes as a trend. Since, Mental illness is trending these days I dont think these merchandise are targeted toward people who actually suffer from mental illness. Would a person diagnosed from cancer wear a clothing piece labelled as cancer?No right? So, Why would a person suffering from mental illness wear and promote merchandise labeled as anxiety? Corporations are launching these merchandise because mental illness is trending in a hauntingly beautiful, aesthetic way. People are embracing mental illness and they want to be labeled as a person suffering from it just to be on trend despite being aware that there are people out there who are suffering from those problems and are facing difficulties to open up about their mental health. At a certain point romanticizing mental health led to self injuries. People began taking pictures and posting sensitive posts about hurting themselves.
Romanticizing mental illness creates a negative impact on youths. Mainly on the people who are actually the victim of mental illness. They see people posting about mental illness without having much knowledge about it. They see people embracing problems which they never wished for. They see graphic images of self injury posted by people as a trend which builds insecurity inside them. Viewing mental illness in a glamorous and attractive way has nothing to do with awareness. It creates more and more problems for the patients of mental illness as it presents problems in a way that is not 100% true. Depression, Anxiety, OCD etc is a real problem and it mustn’t be viewed in a glamorous way. People must change their outlook about mental illness and raise awareness instead of romanticizing it.
