Let me just get something abundantly clear: mental illness is not beautiful. Someone with a mental illness can be beautiful, but the disease itself is silent torture. Sometimes it feels like romanticization of mental illness is everywhere these days and this just feeds the mental health stigma.
Whether it’s some trendy post about what mental health "is" or how people with mental health illnesses actually "are," it’s pretty likely to be somewhere in the realm of social media. Media, celebrities, TV shows, movies, models, etc. have been glamorizing mental illness. I can't go on Twitter or Tumblr without seeing black and white photos of a person self-harming themselves that are made to look artistic and appealing. You see the quizzes and articles on Facebook and other social media sites that help determine which mental illness might fit you the best. This trend is dangerous. I'm sure it started out as a way to raise awareness and educate people about these illnesses that are affecting millions of people, but somewhere we got confused. Yes, it's destigmatizing mental illness, but it's doing so in a way that It's making it seem beautiful, fashionable, and even desirable.
It worries me that there are people in the world who strive for a mental illness diagnosis, who want the label of depression. This shows a huge misunderstanding. Having a mental illness is horrible and no matter how much you want to have one (?!) it doesn’t work like that. You can’t choose to be mentally unwell. My thoughts tear me apart sometimes, I hate these illnesses that I have. I hate that life can be going amazingly and I can be achieving highly but my illness is still horrific. I hate the constant fear that I’m going to become too unwell and lose all of the things around me. There is nothing beautiful about mental illness. It controls and consumes your life without you even knowing it. Depression isn't beautiful. Recovery is.
It is great that we are talking about mental health more and more. It is great that so many people are trying to raise awareness and understanding. Mental illness being in the spotlight does not make it fashionable, something to strive for or something that people should want. People are unwell because they are unwell, not because they want to be "trendy" or "fashionable." The aim is to stamp out stigma and stereotypes, not to change them.
