With such a statement, then I pondered with the following question: Why is depression treated as a form of fraternized with originality, like a trend? HOWEVER, know your work. Mental illness is OK to use as a general term, but specific conditions should be used when possible ("She has bipolar disorder"). It’s something that people live with, both the mentally ill and their loved ones, on a daily basis. The controversial “13 Reasons Why” is an example of a bad representation of mental illness. 6. Post-Traumatic Martyr morphed into actual full-fledged Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s about living life together, as equals. I wonder, though, if some of our acceptance of mental illness has been amplified and distorted to romanticize mental illness, while the actual victims of it are still met with… When we latch onto these images and these stories, we deny ourselves and others the opportunity to see the disorder, and, more importantly, the person who is struggling with it, for what and who they really are. Romanticizing Mental Illness. So please, if you decide to write a romance on a mental illness, make it more realistic. Men named Heidi are crazy rare -- in 1972, 18 boys were named Heidi, and that's Peak Naming Boys Heidi. I ached for someone who I could save – or the other way around – from the trials and traumas that life hands us. There’s nothing poetic about trying to find your best friend at the bottom of a bottle. The reality is, the more people romanticize mental illness, the less it’s taken seriously. I’m not trying to shame anyone with a mental illness, the people who are brave enough to speak about their journey and raise awareness or the ones who have not reached that point. The romanticism of mental illness hurts people who actually suffer from a mental illness. Message me. Literature that glorifies self-harm and suicide as forms of release, such as bad rip-offs of “Romeo and Juliet,” romanticize mental illness and can cause teens to replicate these dangerous behaviors. The As I healed from my rape, my girlfriend was not my storybook love interest. Rather than writing poetically about your struggles and leaving it in a pit of despair, write a resolution. They romanticize and glamorize it publicly on social media and similar websites, in particular, the world's most popular micro-blogging platform -- tumblr. By telling people that mental illness is beautiful, we are teaching them not to seek help or look for treatment. Mental illness and low self-esteem are terrible things. Email wemustbebroken@gmail.com to inquire or have your work featured. Writing is not about the writer, it’s about the reader. thank you for this post. The reality is this: struggling with ED, depression, anxiety, and other illnesses is painful. Many authors use mental illness as a tool or a metaphor, with little regard to the real-world impact of these types of issues. More importantly, I believe, Esther’s experience with mental illness does not romanticize her experience. I struggled to eat, sleep, and function on a regular basis. (Let me put out there that there are FAR worse books out there than Twilight, and the only reason I refer to it a lot is because most of you have either heard about it or read it, so it's the example that'll make sense to the majority of you.) And that is dangerously tragic in itself. Whether it was watching Norman Bates stab a motel guest to death in the shower in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, reading articles that dramatize and demonize mental illness, or seeing posts on social media that romanticize depression and anxiety, most have seen mental illness portrayed inaccurately in the media. At least in the United States, 56% adults who have reported they had mental illnesses, did not get proper care for it according to Mental Health America. It took me fifteen years to get here. 3. There are 3 steps that we can do to diagnose whether or not we have that mental illness: observation, interview, and psychological test. Things in books that should be left behind in 2016 – That Bookshelf Bitch. I was fully prepared to discuss the inadvisability of writing a LGBT romance where the girl gets the guy. There is a huge stigma surrounding mental illness. By Kayla McEwen • PS Behrend Contributor • Mental Health March 11, 2018 at 9:00am. But it seems that the movement to de-stigmatize them has gotten horrifically confused with a movement to romanticize them. The line sometimes blurs between the person's true self and the mental illness, but the line nonetheless exists. Research is key. The most casual incidents of physical encounters with strangers – a bump on the bus downtown, a glance into the eyes of someone who resembled my attacker, a grope from behind at the club – reduced me to a shaking, anxious shell. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The level of truth in this is disputed by some who have recovered and others who claim to be experts in the field of mental health; they state that your mental illness is never your identity. I am going to answer this question from the perspective of a staff member of an inpatient psychiatric unit. I can relate to this so much and wish that I could of expressed my thoughts as well as you have in this post! Well, I’m doing it anyway. Dear Hope is a community driven site that features work from across the world! Portray them accurately). Search for mental health online, and some of … It’s the uncomfortable truth. As all forms of media romanticize mental illness, people may find faking mental illness to be interesting or to seek attention. She faced as much anger and frustration about what happened to me, as well as unnecessary and unwarranted guilt that she hadn’t been there to stop it. I didn’t need to be saved from what happened to me, and it wouldn’t have been possible even if I did. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but I romanticized mental illness and mental health issues. Ah, I guess I’ll have to change it..sorry. Loving someone who is dealing with mental health issues means listening to them when they need it, but giving them space when they need that instead. It would do well to ask a mental health professional to act as a sensitivity reader and correct any mistakes you may have missed. It can hinder them from receiving the real help they need. Thank-you! Mental illness has the potential to be debilitating and destructive to an individual on a personal level, but the reader sees Esther struggling to cope with her reality in a way that shows the humanity behind her illness. Showing the ugly consequences is important for not glorifying it (at the same time, don't overdo it. But mental illness is not romantic or glamorous; it can be crippling and life altering. That’s not to say that what these people are feeling is not real. How Can The Media Help To De-Romanticize Mental Illness? Do not use love as a 'cure' for mental illness. Make sure that what you're writing is a person,with an identity, with his/her due share of flaws and triumphs that is not dictated by what they're diagnosed with. As for my fiction writing, there’s more … I hid my diagnosis, my meds, my doctor and therapy appointments. Have discussions about how mental illness affects people from all walks of life. They romanticize and glamorize it publicly on social media and similar websites, in particular, the world's most popular micro-blogging platform -- tumblr. Release. I would be okay.”. I mainly write poetry and use it as a tool to work through my experiences and feelings, so lots of my writing, especially when things ain’t going to well, are focused around that and my mental state. As years passed, I gradually grew into my identity as a young queer woman and, although I believe Post-Traumatic Martyr is a somewhat lifelong condition, I began to believe that there was a reason I was still here. But I’m a bit nervous I could accidentally end up romanticizing mental illness. If every time someone posts a sappy quote on their Tumblr, who’s to say if it’s a cry for help? The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. 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