Serena Ahmad (9) | STAFF REPORTER
Society has distorted the portrayal of mental illnesses through the increased usage of media. This has resulted in the term becoming desensitized amongst younger generations, evident through how individuals commonly misuse it. This crisis is often derived from the trends of self-diagnosis and the romanticization mental illnesses.
Adolescents are exposed to concepts of mental health through the use of social media. This allows them to easily connect their personal experiences to the ones shared by certain influencers. By associating their symptoms to another individual, they falsely diagnose themselves with a condition they may or may not have. According to a survey conducted by LifeStance Health, 29% of respondents have self-diagnosed themselves with a mental health condition using information online. Alternatively, people should seek help from a professional who can properly diagnose them.
Mental illnesses have been romanticized through various approaches, such as associating oneself with a fictional character who suffers from an illness. Rather than acknowledging the mental illness of the character, they label it as a quirk and disregard its significance to mental health and well-being. These characters are incorporated in fiction to add representation and educate viewers as to how mental illness affects people, not as a way to misrepresent it as a silly trait.
By glorifying mental illness, we undermine its importance and fail to break the stigma surrounding mental health.
