IN 2015, Tumblr launched Post It Forward, a mental health issues awareness campaign aimed at encouraging online users to talk openly about their mental and emotional issues.

With the tagline “Be vocal. Share your story”, the campaign’s mission was to get people to post a selfie, video or note on Tumblr with the hashtag #postitforward about their experiences dealing with mental health issues.

The campaign received much attention, and as of last Monday, became the site’s number 1 trend.

Young people are speaking up

Between 2013 and 2016, overall discussions about mental health issues increased by 248% on Tumblr, and the youth (those aged between 13 and 24) were the main champions promoting this discourse. Similar trends were also observed on Facebook.

These trends point towards a wider normative shift taking place with regards to the public narrative of mental illness and self-disclosure patterns seen on the Internet.

Compared to developed countries, Malaysians, especially those belonging to older generations, are still less likely to come out and talk openly about mental health issues. But of late, social media has offered an avenue, especially for the youth, to be more candid and self-expressive about their struggles.

These days, there are many local groups that are vocal about mental health issues and advocacy on social media are championed by young adults. Examples that come to mind are the Malaysian Youth Mental Health Initiative (Minda), which recently launched a campaign #ImNot Ashamed with a clinical psychologist, and MY Psychology, started by a group of Psychology undergraduates.

Among other things, these groups empower other young adults to open up about their mental health struggles in a raw and honest way on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Candidness can go astray

Many youth are willing to share about their mental illness on social media because of the sense of affirmation and support gained.

By connecting online with others going through similar experiences, a person coping with mental illness may feel less ashamed and isolated, and even gain confidence when others respond positively to their posts.

In this way, being candid about mental illness online has clear advantages, by providing a support network as well as increasing public education on mental health issues.

However, there are risks involved when information is shared irresponsibly, or for the wrong intents and purposes.

Social media platforms are commonly used to spread information, build and maintain peer networks, as well as increase users’ personal influence and reputation.

This last function is usually achieved by presenting content in a way that is ‘trendy’ and appealing to a broad audience, much like marketing a product or brand.

The problem with applying this formula to mental illness is that it risks turning what is essentially a harmful and undesirable health condition into a romanticised aesthetic.

For every social media account discussing mental illness in a thoughtful and balanced manner, there is a parallel counter-narrative out there that presents mental illness in a fanciful or romanticised way.

These accounts tend to ‘glorify’ mental health issues, making it seem as though having a mental illness is positive, even desirable.

One such example is popular ‘meme’ with the following quote:  ‘Depression is not a sign of weakness; it means you have been strong for far too long’. (see attached picture)

The problem with this is that it creates a ‘fallen hero’ image. It creates the story of someone who has fought and in a way lost because ‘depression’ won in this scenario. Presenting depression in this way is both overgeneralising and factually wrong, as it ignores the biological complexities involved.

Besides this, there are times where mental illness is casually referenced online as a fad or a hip personality trait. Examples include picture captions describing a person as “bipolar” or “a little bit OCD”, or posts portraying self-harm and suicide as a tragic art form.

These messages can penetrate other online channels. Taking a recent example, the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” has been criticised by many mental health advocates for inadvertently glamourising suicide for vulnerable teenagers.

Despite its well-intentioned message about mental health, some have argued that the show’s central plot – about a teenage girl explaining the reasons why she killed herself in a post-mortem audio recording – reinforces the idea that suicide is a plausible way of finding closure and escaping pain.

By dramatising suicide as the final resolution, the show invites viewers to consider the idea that killing oneself in order to “convince” others of the depths of one’s struggles, instead of sharing burdens with others who can help bear them, could be a considerable option. This can be harmful, especially for those already suffering from depression, since they are more vulnerable to negative influences.

Keep the focus on reality

When mental illness is portrayed as something fanciful or glamourous, it distorts from the reality that these are in fact debilitating conditions, with serious health consequences. It only serves to create false images, stories and ideals that perpetuate misconstrued ideas.

This is not to suggest that people living with mental illness shouldn’t write about their experiences, whether on social media or elsewhere. Studies have shown that having an outlet to express their struggles can have a profound impact on recovery, more so if there is a supportive online community to bolster connection and well-being.

However, there is a difference between honest self-expression, and ‘glamourising’ the label of mental illness as a publicity device or even worse, a status symbol.

In an era where openness and self-disclosure on the Internet has become the norm, we need to examine the motives and the manner in which we share and disseminate information, especially on a serious subject matter like mental illness.

Is what we are sharing truthful and genuine? Are we encouraging useful discourse, or promoting harmful misconceptions, by masking mental illness in a sea of stories and fancies?

At the end of the day, any discourse on mental illness should focus on real experiences. Let us look at mental illness factually, acknowledging the disorders for what they actually are, and showing dignity and respect to those living with it.

Only by doing so can we as a society work towards creating edifying and truthful perceptions of mental illness. – May 13, 2017.

* Lim Su Lin is a Policy Analyst with Penang Institute in Kuala Lumpur. She graduated in 2013 with a degree in History from Cambridge University. Her research interests lie primarily in psychosocial health and wellbeing. She explores these in the context of making recommendations to improve social and development policies. The long-term goals of her work are to advocate for more equitable outcomes and reduced inequalities in society.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.