The Glamorization of Mental Illness
MENTAL DISORDERS: A GLAMOROUS ATTRACTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA? Rola Jadayel and Karim Medlej University of Balamand, Lebanon Jinan Jennifer Jadayel International School - Al Koura, Lebanon
Through the last decade, efforts have been invested in spreading awareness related to mental health in general. Those efforts aimed particularly at reducing the stigma and discrimination against people with mental health disorders. The key message disseminated was that mental illnesses should be regarded as a common illness and that any accompanying discrimination or exclusion can affect people in a way that may be worse than the disorder itself. A mental illness is defined as a condition that causes serious disorder in one’s thoughts or feelings. It is well agreed that mental health is to be dealt with cautiously and followed upon by a professional. As successful as they may have been, such campaigns failed to assess one vibrant factor that has become vital: the role of the media. This paper aims at examining particularly the role social media; it emphasizes the fact that such openness in mental health issues can be misleading and in some cases manipulative, thus leading to more complex disorders in some cases. This work will present two case studies illustrating the glamorization of some mental health diseases on social media and how the youth might be misled into wrong practices in that respect. It will also detail the results of focus groups conducted at the Counseling Center of the University of Balamand which will project the point of view of university students on that issue.
A previous study published in the journal “Dissenting Voices”, conducted by Emily Tanner, has shown that social media has, in fact, played a significant role in glamorizing mental health disorders. In her article, Tanner states that there is a “ disturbing sub-culture on Instagram in which young people are sharing messages which promote dangerous (even deadly) behaviors”. The author goes on by saying that some individuals whom she has investigated online for romanticizing mental health disorders have shared images which idealize suicide and depression (Tanner, 2015). Other pictures included those depicting extremely skinny bodies under the notion of “thinspo”, an abbreviation for the internet slang “thin- spiration”. This trend aims to encourage individuals to take part in extreme and often dangerous diet plans which involve self-starving and self-induced vomiting. Tanner then claims that such images “collectively
serve to promote debilitating mental health issues and almost certainly encourage young people who have
not yet engaged in these behaviors to try them as a means to cope with issues in their own lives”.
Moreover, in an article titled “Social Media Is Redefining Depression”, published by The Atlantic, Anne-
Sophie Bine states that such a phenomenon is “hardly unusual” and that “the depression many teenagers,
like those on Tumblr, say they have is one that’s linked to a notion of “beautiful” suffering”. The writer
goes on by describing the life of Laura U., a 16-year-old victim of social media’s glamorization of
depression and suicide. Laura witnessed numerous gloomy black-and-white images which often contained
sentences such as “So it’s okay for you to hurt me, but I can’t hurt myself?” or “I want to die a lovely
death,” that romanticize suicide and self-harm. Bine also added that adolescent psychiatry expert, Dr. Stan
Kutcher, believes that the idea of glamorized depression has become a trend scattered on social media. He
states that “the pendulum has been swung from let no body talk about it to let everybody blab about it”,
describing how mental health issues are being trivialized on such platforms. Furthermore, in a recent book
by James Ball entitled “Post Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World”, the author cleverly describes the
art of news-making and truth-stretching, particularly in politics and the way it evolved over the last few
years. Focusing on social media in chapter five of the book, he defines and discusses the effect of the
‘filter bubble’: “...our friends tend to have fairly similar political views to our own, and so we are likely to
share stories we would agree with. If we get most - or even a sizable chunk - of our news from our
Facebook feed, we can be left with the impression that almost everyone agrees with us.” He continues,
“sharing a post that your bubble will agree with offers affirmation through likes. That desire to share only
a particular set of our views creates a feedback effect and can push polarization even further. When these
effects combine with people who have joined pages supporting political parties or candidates, they
become still stronger: the bubble is self-reinforcing”. Although the book tackles the rise of politics,
media, and online infrastructure that has devalued truth, it does, in fact, apply to many other disciplines,
particularly to the discipline of mental health.
We’ve reached a point in time in which we, as human beings, are capable of realizing a problem, acting upon it, and actually making a change. Raising awareness on the importance of mental health has never been more effective. More and more victims and mental health professionals are speaking up. However, social media platforms are not only being used to raise awareness on the issue but also to change the issue’s image completely. Nowadays, anorexia nervosa, self-harm, depression, anxiety disorders, and many other mental health disorders are being glamorized, romanticized, and consequently promoted through many social media platforms, especially websites and blogs. Websites that promote anorexia, for example, are called “pro-ana” websites in which publishers post shocking photos, extreme diet plans, and unhealthy techniques in order to drastically lose weight. Members of the pro-anorexia websites were found to share impractical dieting tips and ways to burn calories using unconventional methods. (Tanner, 2015).
Moreover, celebrities are also enhancing this unplanned movement. Although people have always been inspired by their idols, the current outreach is remarkably wider. Selena Gomez, a singer and actress with over one hundred million followers on Instagram, is the executive producer of the famous series 13 Reasons Why. This series has been claimed to address the topic of suicide in a “ dangerous and irresponsible manner” (Andrews, 2017). 13 Reasons Why has also been classified as extremely dangerous for teenagers for it is seen to glamorize depression and promote suicidal acts (Acuna, 2017). Another celebrity who casually, intentionally or otherwise, promotes depression is Lana Del Rey, a singer who has a follower count of ten million on Instagram. She is known to promote depression through some of her lyrics and music videos, leading a number of her followers and fans to regard the illness as one that is appealing. On the other hand, the engagement tools on social media and the dynamics are full of subliminal messages. For example, figure 8 is a post on Tumblr stating “I am not good with people”; the hidden message is a declaration of social anxiety, which as shown has initiated near five thousand interactions promoting the post and therefore sending a positive feedback to the person who posted it, hence enhancing his or her statement as likable and desirable, further glamorizing the disorder.
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