In middle school, I was taught that every one in four people would be diagnosed with a mental illness, which sounded crazy at the time. How could so many people have a mental illness? It was scary. I remember thinking to myself, "God, I hope that doesn't happen to me." Mental illnesses are no joke. So why do we find the media romanticizing them?
Today in books and movies we have the main character be someone with anxiety or depression, but they find someone who likes them in spite of their disease, and loves them. I don't think these authors *cough cough JOHN GREEN* or TV writers *cough cough American Horror Story* understand how serious these diseases are.
Impressionable teenagers are growing up thinking, "Well, maybe if I was depressed and quiet people would love me." It's making teenagers who actually have mental illnesses think, "Well, maybe I'll get better when someone loves me," and "When I find someone who loves me I wont make myself sick anymore."
It's disgusting that this is what we are leading people to think.
The reason I'm calling out John Green specifically for romanticizing mental illness is because that's what he tends to write about: teenagers with a "hidden mental illness" or cancer. Am I the only one who sees how seriously messed up that is? Same with American Horror Story; people genuinely thought Violet and Tate had a cute and romantic relationship because she was depressed and suicidal, and he liked her anyway.
We're giving people the idea that it's a good thing to have a mental illness, and that it will cause you to find love. No. It doesn't work like that.
Yes, you can find love and have an eating disorder. But that doesn't cure you. That doesn't mean you should starve yourself for days and weeks on end because you want a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
Its offensive to people who actually have these illnesses. You can read a John Green book and think "Man, I wish I met the one at group therapy in a mental hospital." But keep in mind there are kids out there who are in a mental hospital, who do have to go to group therapy, wishing more than anything else they could get the darkness out of their head. That they could live one day without having their disease looming over their lives.
Why are we telling people to use mental illness as a crutch for a relationship? It's causing unhealthy relationships and unhealthy mindsets. Who are we trying to market to with these ideas? Other than selling movie tickets and books, what other gain is there to come from telling teenagers to develop a mental illness? You wouldn't put that you have borderline personality disorder on your Tinder profile. So why is the media telling teenagers that illness is romantic?
