I love a good meme. I'm fairly certain everyone does in this day and age but do you know what it is? According to the google search dictionary, a meme is defined as the following:

- An element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.

- A humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.

Yes, memes are funny and entertaining but more than that, they are a part of our culture and are scarily important in regard to normalizing various aspects of our lives.

I have seen so many mental health memes lately. What used to be a taboo topic now seems to be something normal and darkly comical. For those who are dealing with a mental illness, this dark humor, you-are-not-alone message can help some people with recovery. Learning to laugh about something can really help someone cope with the harder realities of their situation (as long as the humor doesn't serve to normalize what in reality is a serious issue ). And knowing that other people are going through the same thing as you definitely takes away the gosh-I'm-such-a-crazy-freak feeling. But what about when these memes are in the hand of individuals without mental illness?

Suicide isn't funny

Clever? Yes. Funny? Debatable.

Twitter

Someone who isn't suicidal might look at this be like, "haha food pun" or "it be like that sometimes." But suicidal thoughts aren't a joke. If you are mentally healthy and have never had real suicidal thoughts, you relating to content about suicide minimizes the seriousness of it. I'm not saying that people without a mental illness can't be sad or want to escape sometimes. Life is hard so wanting to escape sometimes is normal. But they shouldn't be grouping their feelings in the same realm as someone who wants to die.

Dark memes are OK and useful and have a purpose for those who need them but there is a line that people who don't suffer from mental illness need to be cognizant of. Mental illnesses are illnesses. They aren't something to romanticized or belittled through inaccurate comparisons. This is especially important in the meme world because memes are a reflection of cultural beliefs. Anytime I make a point like this I always relate it back to a physical illness. People wouldn't think it's okay for non-cancer suffers to make jokes about cancer and relate to those jokes in a romanticized way. So why is it okay for people to do this with mental illness?