In the past few years, there have been a lot of online trends. Some of them are bland, some are entertaining and some are harmful. What might have flown beneath the radar are the subtle ways that some of these trends have damaged the social perception of those with mental illnesses.
While it is unfortunately true that most cultures haven’t had a healthy relationship with mental illness over the course of history, the social media era is a new sort of struggle. Normalization and appropriation of clinical terms for mental conditions has shifted the perception of them, and that’s just the beginning.
Say a friend in school casually mentions that they’re “so OCD.” As far as those involved are concerned, they simply mean that they’re a neat, organized person; maybe someone who hates when things are out of order.
But the reality of OCD is in the name: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Obsessions over ideas like cleanliness, unwillingly hurting someone or things going wrong in some way or another are one potential aspect. Compulsions to repeatedly complete an irrational behavior like repeating words, checking things like locks or excessive hand washing are the other.
When someone says “I’m so OCD,” they are unintentionally detracting from the meaning of the phrase and normalizing a false perception of a genuine and severe condition. In turn, this further stigmatizes the actual condition because most people expect OCD to be nothing more than extra tidy.
In social media circles, this has happened to quite a few different conditions, most recently, the trends of “delulu” and “bed-rotting.”
“Delulu” is the concept of positive thinking regardless of rationality – on a mild scale. This might mean someone being absolutely sure they aced a job interview regardless of how it actually went or maybe deciding that their crush totally likes them back because they smiled at them in the hall. As a concept, it’s not that bad.
But “delulu,” fairly obviously, is derived from the word “delusional.” Delusional disorder is one of several psychotic disorders, several of which have delusions as symptoms. Genuine delusions are false, yet unshakable beliefs. These can be “non-bizarre” or “bizarre” – possible and completely impossible, respectively. Many of the people with this condition are able to function normally, but others find their lives disrupted.
The use of “delulu” draws legitimacy away from conditions, while it may not have effects on the medical side of things, the social implications can have unintended and negative results. When people expect lighthearted “delulu” style delusions rather than genuine ones, they have bad reactions to reality and end up stigmatizing the people with serious conditions. “Bed-rotting” is another self-care focused phrase. Simply put, a participant lays in bed; not to sleep, but just to “rot.” It’s not meant to be as unpleasant as it sounds; just lounging around, spending time on their phone – all in all, passively existing as a “cure” for burn-out.
The issue arises once the turn is made from a lighthearted, fun trend to people who actually struggle with what it’s describing. Most commonly, for people suffering from depression the concept of rotting in bed suddenly becomes much more genuine and unpleasant.
Once again, the softening of genuine symptoms down to something pleasant stigmatizes serious conditions that deserve concern and understanding. This is something that the majority of mental health providers have been working to avoid for years. But if the new generation continues like this, society may very well remain stuck in the same harmful mindset as those in generations before.
To break the stigmas, action has to be taken. One of those is to choose trends with just a little more thought than the day before.
