How journalists report on mental illness is crucial, because incorrect reporting can easily reinforce stereotypes and stigma in society. They were just told to stop being sad or stop being stressed, which still happens to this day, as if that ever works. Also read: Why Are We Romanticising Mental Illness On Social Media? have all been addressed to some degree, remnants of our society’s overall dismissal of the validity of mental illness have evolved (rather than rejected), as our relationship with mental illness has developed. According to the UK’s leading mental health charity, MIND, 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. Mental illness is made out to be glamorous or romantic due to the way it is represented within media; some believe that mental illness is something that will differentiate them the crowd or make them unique or special, when in reality mental illness is a large burden on the lives of those suffering through it. In our society, mental illness has become “romantic,” “edgy,” and “trendy.” Because of mental illness’ stigma in our society today, what people actually know about it is very limited. I’m just trying to say that the show, in terms of the tapes, shows the wrong messages. This is not me—a person with a mental illness— saying that people like me have a monopoly on discontentment. It is great that many more people have been educated about mental illness, and the stigma of mental health to slowly fade away. It might have accidentally given the wrong idea to the viewer. These archetypes became popular due to a greater societal acceptance of people (particularly men) portraying more emotion in everyday life and the embrace of individuality that came with modernism and postmodernism. Enter: the “sad boy” archetype. I think we can all agree, this shit is old, stale and frankly, was never all that engaging. To examine the confusion over mental illness, let’s pick apart one of the aforementioned examples of brilliant authors committing suicide, namely, Plath. Unfortunately, these archetypes played upon a certain, flawed association that we make in contemporary society: that discontent is the same as depression. Mental illness then becomes desensitized because “everybody has it.” Having a mental illness doesn’t make you tragic or beautiful. Purpose Mental illness has become an important public health issue in society, and media are the most common sources of information about mental illnesses. And that is dangerously tragic in itself. This attitude of dismissal is now heavily prevalent in society due to archetypes like the “different” lil boy seen in film, television, gag-inducing teen short fiction novels, etc.. I’m not going to say that Hannah didn’t endure some of the worse things and that the perpetrator didn’t deserve to be called out, but rather that she wouldn’t have left these if she didn’t want them to suffer. To wrap this all up as neatly as possible, we need to be able to see mental illness not as something to abuse for one’s own good, nor as something to characterize a person or even to enrich a narrative. While this open online discussion can help foster a sense of community, there has also been a trend of treating mental illness like it’s something that should be sought-after. What romanticisation does is that it creates a glamorous and fancy portrayal of mental illness. For a $60 hoodie, that’s only $9. Social media is particularly awful in creating this distorted image of mental health that is sometimes appealing to people, making it an ‘aesthetic’. Because I'm tired of seeing people romanticize the idea of having a mental illness. There is a huge stigma surrounding mental illness. This is a dangerous, dangerous equivocation, due to the fact that the two can frequently go hand in hand, but certainly aren’t associated with one another. Whereas racial bias, gender bias, religious bias etc. More “likes”. Social media and internet blogs could be used as a proper tool. With everything being more transparent on social media, some influencers are also being transparent about what they have suffered from. On these sites, users utilize mental illness … ( Log Out /  SUBMIT ARTICLES!!! Many are drawn to the tragic stories of those who suffer from mental illness, who are accompanied by their loving, understanding, and supportive partners. Plath realizes that the lives are out there in front of her if she so chooses to pursue them, but she can’t, and turns the errors she perceives about life upon herself. But were these people even diagnosed? In fact, many TV shows and films have an alarmingly poor grasp on what it really means to have a mental illness and perpetuate harmful stereotypes that feed the stigmas attached to it. Whether you’re someone struggling, a friend trying to understand, a teacher wondering how to introduce your lesson, a doctor trying to decide on a diagnosis or simply a campaigner trying to reduce stigma, it … Article updated on April 10, 2020. Romanticism of mental illnesses on social media can also lead to a number of other problems such as drug dependency, self-harm, and body dysmorphia. The reason that these people are so insufferable is because we are associating discontentment and mental illness in a dangerous way. Finding movies about mental health — especially ones that accurately represent what it’s like to live with mental illness — can often be difficult. This terrible trope spawned from studies that demonstrate that more intelligent people are often more depressed than less intelligent people, as well as from countless brilliant authors who were depressed, bipolar, had high anxiety, or committed suicide (Hemingway, Plath, Wallace, Woolf, just to name a few). Mental health issues are real, and they ruin lives. An evolution of the different/hipster guy, the sad boy is often portrayed as a “misunderstood genius,” who has difficulty relating to others just because he’s so gosh-darn brooding and mysterious. Normalization and popularization of mental illness can contribute to distorted ideas and assumptions and even make mental illness into a fad. Romanticizing of mental illness is the depiction of it as glamorous and fanciful. The mental health space can be difficult for many people to understand. Black-and-white photos of self-harm scars overlai… And most of these are just trying to profit off people that are suffering. Youtubers making videos/skits about it, rappers writing about depression and artist drawing inspiration from depression. Both of them have used their combined knowledge of mental illness, psychology and love of film to come up with 6 of the most popular movies that get both the science and the realities of mental illness wrong. The no-name rapper is most likely citing the recent success of rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt, Mick Jenkins, and others. This quote addresses the modern and postmodern romanticism of certain mental illnesses and then dismisses the validity of mental illness in general, simultaneously. These people are starting discussions about mental illness by using clothing lines but can be easily achieved in other ways that aren’t taking people’s money and “glamorizing” mental health. Mental health isn’t as simple or one-dimensional as the media tend to portray it as. Usually, on movies, a romantic bond is developed and strengthened over the gentle cares of the loved one towards ill person and love magically cures everything. Of course, a few of the people on the tapes did disturbing things, but some were just being teenagers, they probably did things that you have done, or someone you know have done before. The Glorification and Romanticism of Suicide in Pop Culture. For people who are not educated on mental illnesses, movie depictions can lead them to falsely associate behaviors to certain mental illnesses. There is absolutely nothing romantic about a mental disorder. Basically, they’re being portrayed as more intelligent because they are sad. Mental illness is a type of affliction on a person just like anything physical, and should be treated and addressed as such. Not everything needs to be about merch and money. A disturbing amount of blogs and tags encourage self-harm. People in media need to start thinking about what they are portraying and ask themselves whether they are spreading awareness or if they are unintentionally having a negative influence on their viewers. The Impact of Media Mental disorders in the media (e.g., movies, tele vision, songs, news reports) often are inaccurately portrayed, overdramatized, and even romanticized (Harper, 2005). Yet, not once throughout the hole first season mental illness is even mentioned. I think we can all put a little extra thought into what we put out into the world. The romanticism of mental illness hurts people who actually suffer from a mental illness. Most people are not even aware that they might be spreading a negative message and there isn’t much we can do. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. But having Hannah (The one that suicides) around during the show was problematic. Romanticism of mental illnesses. Contrary to the younger generations, older generations did not have the same peak in mental illness and/or suicidal tendencies. Merch about anxiety and depression is just them not using their platform properly. It could work to properly educate society on what a mental illness really is. Or come to our weekly meetings at McGinley 2nd floor, every Tuesday at 9pm! In social media especially, romanticization of mental illness is becoming increasingly prominent, especially on platforms such as Tumblr. So if you did something unintentionally, you shouldn’t be one of the reasons someone suicides. Sometimes it feels like romanticization of mental illness is everywhere these days and this feeds mental health stigma. There is a lot about mental health in the media, it is portrayed in many different ways in the media.However it is now becoming more mental health-friendly than it was before where there was a lot of stigma in the media towards mental illness and those who suffer with illnesses. 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