The Insidious Hug of Mental Health Memery

Content advisory: This post contains discussion of depression and suicidality.

This post was originally written for an assignment under a different name.

Dying has a 100% rate of solving the problems. Forcing people to live against their wishes only enables a proportion of people to improve their lives. On the other hand, it still leaves them vulnerable to the conditions which caused them to be suicidal to begin with. It isn't fair to force the ones who won't have a "happy ending" to continue enduring a life that will never bring anything but pain and misery. The matter is exponentially worse when done for the sake of people who might have otherwise experienced happiness that they'd never have been deprived of had their wishes been respected when they were suicidal.

The above paragraph is not my own. It's a quote modified in this post for grammar, style, and context. It was posted in a discussion in response to a post featuring the following image.

^{Original Image: Stranger Things}

The image was posted on /r/2meirl42meirl4meirl, a Reddit user-created community or "subreddit" named for two communities before it. /r/me_irl is a subreddit originally intended for self-deprecating humor. /r/2me_irl4me_irl is a derivative of /r/me_irl for self-deprecating memes rooted in self-loathing. /r/2meirl42meirl4meirl is takes the concept another step further with over 100,000 users sharing memes about depression and suicide. It is one of many communities on Reddit and elsewhere in which people come together from all around the world come together to laugh at their depression.

The social internet has given unprecedented focus to mental health issues. Anonymity and pseudonymity break down the barriers of cultural stigma, and user-created subforums provide safe spaces for people everywhere to discuss their lives and mental health. However since the popularization of online life, mental health among young people is worse than ever, and use heavy use of social media is strongly correlated with depression. And a study conducted by Michelle L. McNicol, BPsych(Hons), and Einar B. Thorsteinsson, PhD found that discussion forum usage in particular was a strong predictor of unhealthy internet addiction among adolescents.

These issues are complicated. Certainly, negative depression meme communities are a symptom of a much larger problem which lacks any easy solution. But those vulnerable to toxic messaging about mental health can benefit greatly from understanding what these communities are and how they work and avoid unhealthy online environments.

Following are a few of the lies many mental health meme communities try to spread.

It's hopeless

These communities often find humor in the advice given by those who aren't struggling with depression or anxiety or in vain attempts to cure depression or anxiety. However, often this mockery of a lack of understanding by outsiders becomes a mockery at all attempts to get better. A great example of this phenomenon is /r/wowthanksimcured, a community dedicated to mocking unhelpful mental-health advice. This community rightly mocks advice like "just cheer up" or "happiness is a choice," but also often mocks advice known to mitigate the symptoms of depression in many people such as improving exercise, increasing time outdoors, and expanding one's social circle. Sometimes, even the idea that depression or anxiety can be mitigated at all is met with mockery.

Even when silly social media posts about smiling more are being mocked justifiably, mental-health communities dedicated to dismissing hope aren't healthy. Time can be much better spent supporting one another and focusing on advice that can actually help people. There is hope. It just doesn't make for a great meme.

It's not a big deal

We use comedy to put ourselves at ease about the problems in our lives and the world around us. Humor can be confessional in nature, revealing little secrets we don't share and feel ashamed of. For instance, a self-deprecating joke about eating too much junk food could be relatable to an audience and temporarily relieve the social pressure surrounding healthy eating. This kind of humor can be a positive part of mental health discussion. It can break down some of the mental health stigmas that hurt so many people.

However, if taken too far or not balanced with productive discussion about addressing mental health issues, this kind of humor can minimize the severity of the mental health crisis and rob some people of much-needed urgency in getting help. Mental health humor online often depicts extreme social isolation, dissociation, and suicidality as more common than they actually are, normalizing extreme mental states in echo chambers of misery. It's okay to use humor to call attention to our society's mental health problems, but not to dismiss them.

Medication is the only solution

Medication is a great tool for many people who suffer from many mental health conditions. For many, medication is a necessity. But medication is not the only way to mitigate the effects of many mental health issues. And medication alone is rarely a complete solution. Some mental health humor communities see anti-depressants as a panacea, after dismissing all other advice as unhelpful nonsense. Lifestyle often contributes both positively and negatively to mental health issues. Cynically ignoring lifestyle change as a means of becoming happier helps no one.

Alternately, some communities present medication as a cop-out that cannot help. These communities suggest that only once one accepts depression at its worst can he live with it, and that medication is a means of hiding from the real problem or numbing oneself. These attitudes keeps some people from getting the medication they need.

Ultimately, humor is a useful tool for de-stigmatizing and starting conversations about mental health. However, communities built around mental health humor without support can promote toxic mindsets around mental health and mental illness