Beautifully Melancholic: A Tragedy Within Itself

Romanticizing a tragedy is a tragedy in itself. Today, the romanticization of sadness and mental illness has left a detrimental impact on many people. Social media platforms often glorify mental health struggles, presenting them as sources of artistic inspiration or emotional depth rather than serious challenges that require appropriate support. This is not the primary issue—art definitely serves as a way for artists to cope and express themselves. However, portraying mental health struggles as appealing can lead to a harmful normalization of these issues, making it seem as if chronic sadness and depression are not only acceptable, but they are desirable. Such idealization encourages people to internalize their suffering as a key part of their identity, potentially heightening their issues rather than encouraging them to seek support. Furthermore, as we enter the dreary winter months, social media idealizes seasonal depression. 

The glorification of mental illness in social media platforms is a hazardous issue, particularly because of how deeply entrenched it has become in today’s content. On social media, it is normal to see videos of influencers empathizing with American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman, who suffers from antisocial personality disorder. The mental illnesses that these characters depict have become a source of amusement; using meme culture, we idealize their rash behavior as desirable. There is a fine line between spreading awareness about mental illness and glamorizing it. To draw awareness to mental illness is to address it with an intention of educating the public, whereas glamorizing aims to romanticize illness and make these serious topics alluring. Though it may not seem very serious, glamorizing mental illness in media culture has contributed to several other issues as well. 

The BBC studied the impact of romanticizing mental illnesses in fictional characters through aesthetically pleasing social media edits, finding that these edits lead to blurry lines between our emotions and serious challenges. Dangerous representations of mentally-ill characters have led people to internalize said harmful depictions and self-diagnose mental illnesses. According to one study set, 93 to 95 percent of the involuntarily celibate community self-diagnosed themselves with mental illnesses. Though there is a possibility of people in this sample set suffering from mental illness, social media glamorization has led to self-diagnoses rather than seeking medical help. Even outside of this community, people have inadvertently idealized fictional characters and fostered a desire to self-diagnose mental illnesses in every piece of content they consume. A study conducted by the University of Balamand found that anorexia nervosa, practicing self-harm, and having depressive or anxiety disorders are sensationaized. One of the study’s participants admitted to feeling that depression was appealing, while another confessed that they thought anorexia was “nice.” Making serious mental illnesses seem desirable perpetuates dangerous stereotypes that consequently harm a plethora of people. 

Outside the realm of fictional characters in arts and television, we have created our own romanticized archetypes of the mentally ill. The “sad girl” trope has long been explored in the media. Although the trope has a negative connotation, consumers want to become the “sad girl” that their favorite singers and authors express. Though it may not be wrong for one to create emotional art as a means of relieving their inner turmoil, this becomes an issue when consumers fail to understand the artist’s pain for themselves. In fact, Fiona Apple was a prominent artist who represented the “sad girl” trope through her lyrics expressing her struggles with mental illness and assault. However, her work was eventually taken down; in attempts to fit in with the “sad girl” trope, TikTok users began romanticizing the sexual assault, eating disorder, mental illness, and depression she faced. Through hashtags such as #sadgirl and #femalemanipulator, TikTok users sensationalized Apple’s struggles rather than using her music as a means of understanding her strength and resilience in combating mental illness. Similarly, the “sad girl autumn” trend encourages loneliness and self-isolation. It aims to portray the seemingly nostalgic, introspective aspect behind the autumn season; however, it often results in the romanticization of seasonal depression. For instance, an influencer may pose with her hot cup of coffee in a dimly lit room to curate a form of seasonal sadness, which deliberately normalizes and romanticizes being depressed in autumn. As a result, people suffering from seasonal depression may feel that their struggles are not serious. Though posts about seasonal depression may bring attention to the real issue, romanticization of sadness has commodified many real negative emotions and harmful effects. Instead of attempting to seek treatment, those affected by seasonal depression are encouraged to live with the suffering because we have made pain aesthetic. 

The glamorization of mental illness within common media and our tendency to romanticize it raises numerous questions as to why we are inclined to participate in what harms us. There are multiple pressing reasons for this, such as the longing to connect with others, even if it is through their mental illness. We cannot entirely avoid social media, and we must address that many influencers and consumers may suffer from mental illnesses. We must understand that there is a difference between spreading awareness and glamorizing. We should use social media as a way to encourage others to seek medical assistance and find communities. It is our collective responsibility to constantly check ourselves and the content we are consuming to ensure that it addresses mental health struggles instead of perpetuating them. We must remember that it is indeed okay to be okay.