Do we truly understand the definition of being mentally healthy?
What is mental health? Does it mean being ‘happy’ at all times? And what does being ‘happy’ even imply? Can it possibly be that the general idea of ‘happiness’ and being ‘mentally healthy,’ at least how the media portrays it, is a hoax?
It can be agreed upon, to those who think about this matter into more depth, that mental health is highly misrepresented in the media. The media often does a fantastic job in distorting the understanding and therefore, efficient communication of mental illnesses. In today’s social media platforms, there exists so-called ‘obsession’ on the image of ‘appearing happy.’ It has become such a norm that speaking out about mental health issues has become a topic of ‘taboo.’ Looking at the fact that mental illnesses are not visible to the eye, such as obvious physical illnesses, AND it is quite easy to employ a fake image of happiness, it is also misconstrued that one can tell when someone is mentally ill just by looking at them. People who have a certain mental illness, especially when portrayed in several forms of media, are often stereotyped as being violent and dangerous to society as a whole.
Where do we see this misrepresentation?
Have you watched the 2019 Joaquin Phoenix’s version of ‘Joker’? While the movie does a great job in presenting the renowned villain, causing the audience in feeling a shiver down their spine, it also does a commendable job at bringing out society’s fear of what is particularly hard to understand, and easy to stereotype. Arthur Fleck has bipolar disorder, which is an illness which carries many stereotypes with it. Once Fleck completely stops taking his medication, he becomes alarmingly violent and begins his “descent into madness.” Consequently, viewers are made to believe that medication is the only solution to keeping an eventual, brutal, manic episode at bay, within people diagnosed with bipolar disorders. Fear is commonly the reason why many harmful stereotypes are created.
Love cures all, but does it really?
It is an incredibly prevalent, and also unfortunate trope seen in the media, that love cures all. We can evidently see this in the 2004 romantic comedy-drama, starring Zach Braff and Natalie Portman, ‘Garden State.’ Braff’s character, Andrew Largeman is clinically diagnosed with depression and has been taking antidepressants for his condition for a relatively long time. Once he meets and falls in love with Portman’s character, Sam, he is ‘magically’ cured of his depression and goes off his medication. He also starts to believe that it was his medication all along which made him depressed, and not the depression in itself. This creates a harmful impression to those who suffer from depression that it is their lack of willpower, and the lack of a significant other in their lives, that prevents them from being happy. Depression can be caused by genetics or a chemical imbalance in the brain, and while finding a loved one does help one feel supported, it does not magically make that imbalance disappear, and should not presume to do so.
What is social media’s stance on mental health?
“We argue that it is individuals, rather than institutions, who are leading the way in bringing conversations about mental health into public online spaces. We believe this is important to highlight, as the more negative affordances of social media are often emphasised.” (Betton et al., 2015) It is primarily us, on social media, who put forth some misconceptions about mental health. We use the phrase, ‘I feel depressed,’ as a way of expressing feeling upset about something, when in reality it is much more complex than that. Social media often produces an anxiety within a person for them to look their best, act their best and never speak about mental health issues.
The very fact that we do not talk about mental health openly, and consider it as a ‘hush, hush,’ topic, is the reason why stereotypes and misconceptions keep being created. The criminalization of mental illnesses is often highlighted in social media, “for example, certain mental health conditions such as schizophrenia are seen as being so disruptive that people with those conditions must be isolated from society.” (Saleh, 2020) Schizophrenia, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder and illnesses alike, often get a bad reputation in the media and create a fear within society that should be eradicated.
Social media, and media in general, can do a much better job at presenting mental health in an increasingly positive light. These platforms are there precisely for us to use and communicate so as to avoid misunderstandings and misconceptions about issues which are quite important for many people.
References:
Betton, V., Borschmann, R., Docherty, M., Coleman, S., Brown, M., & Henderson, C. (2015). The Role of Social Media in Reducing Stigma and Discrimination. British Journal Of Psychiatry, 206(6), 443–444. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152835
Saleh, N. (2020). How Mental Health Issues Are Damaged by Mass Media. Verywell Mind. Retrieved 20 January 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/mental-health-stigmas-in-mass-media-4153888.
