{"id":208450,"date":"2025-10-12T22:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T22:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/208450\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T22:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T22:42:14","slug":"we-use-mental-health-for-social-media-likes-but-mental-illness-still-terrifies-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/208450\/","title":{"rendered":"We use mental health for social media likes \u2013 but mental illness still terrifies us"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leigh had started to lose her footing long before her diagnosis. Long stretches of exhausting low mood<\/a> had signalled something unnamed shifting just below her ribs; it was there that despair crept in furtively, and sat rock-like in her stomach. For months, she barely moved from the safety of her bed. Then, almost overnight, there came a flood of energy and a sense of invincibility that turned into sleeplessness, paranoia, and eventually an inpatient stay.<\/p>\n

A diagnosis of bipolar disorder<\/a> type II followed weeks later. The news, though jarring, brought clarity to the chaos. Leigh\u2019s confusing inner world was for the first time given shape, and with that came help \u2013 medication<\/a>, psychotherapy, and community. She thought it would also bring understanding<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In some ways, she was right. Having a language and a clinical reason for behaviour that, throughout her twenties and early thirties, had brought with it disruption and shame prompted a more sympathetic rewriting of her history, and shed new light on the years to come. But it wasn\u2019t simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the beginning, I was open about my diagnosis,\u201d Leigh, now 36, explains. \u201cBut I quickly learnt that people around me didn\u2019t seem to know how to make sense of it. I didn\u2019t blame them \u2013 I\u2019d struggled<\/a>, too. But I wasn\u2019t prepared for just how much stigma I\u2019d need to navigate outside of my own preconceptions and difficulty accepting it all.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Bipolar<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Bipolar disorder affects 1.3 million people in the UK (Getty)<\/p>\n

Many, she says, chose disbelief; family members insisted there had been a misdiagnosis, or said that bipolar disorder \u2013 which presents as extreme moods that last for extended periods, and affects 1.3 million people in the UK \u2013 \u201cwasn\u2019t something \u2018someone like me\u2019 could have\u201d, explains Leigh.<\/p>\n

Her boss began to favour other colleagues when allocating new responsibilities, fearing that they would add to Leigh\u2019s stress, and promotions soon became scarce. \u201cThe sense was that I was newly incapable,\u201d she continues. \u201cOne person condescendingly congratulated me on holding down a job<\/a> at all. When I was ambitious or enthusiastic, friends \u2013 though well-meaning \u2013 were cautious or suspicious: was it a healthy drive to pursue my career, or the beginnings of another manic episode?\u201d <\/p>\n

In short order, those attitudes became internalised: Leigh began to self-monitor, every feeling suddenly a potential symptom. \u201cI began to second-guess myself constantly, and worry that I was exhibiting symptoms that I couldn\u2019t see but others could. It was a nightmare,\u201d she says. The more relatable symptoms she experienced, she says, like panic attacks or insomnia, were easily addressed \u2013 but less palatable ones, such as hypersexuality, suicidal ideation and psychosis, she quickly learned to bury. \u201cMy confidence was shot. I started to keep my diagnosis a secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leigh\u2019s experience is far from unusual. And yet it sits in stark contrast to the current cultural moment, where mental ill health has, at least on the surface, become a more visible and acceptable subject. Particularly on social media, the narrative is that stigma is lessening and that it is safe \u2013 and encouraged \u2013 to speak up about mental illness.<\/p>\n

\"Public-facing<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Public-facing \u2018mental health advocacy\u2019 tends to trade in digestible narratives that, by their very nature, contradict the messy reality of complex, chronic mental illness (Getty)<\/p>\n

Online, where pain, recovery and redemption have become a neat package ripe for likes, shares and sponsorship, trauma has become a kind of currency. In this ecosystem, though, only certain versions of suffering are deemed acceptable. It\u2019s only when it is filtered through privilege, beauty or relatability, or when it can be sold back to us in the form of self-care merchandise, that it is able to meet the threshold.<\/p>\n

What \u201cthe discourse\u201d often ignores is that the so-called mental health conversation is not actually a conversation at all, but a series of monologues \u2013 and they rarely include the full spectrum of mental illness. Issues such as burnout, anxiety, maybe depression, are the acceptable face of it. But in the real world, conditions like bipolar, schizophrenia and personality disorders remain misunderstood, and often feared. <\/p>\n

This means that people like Leigh find themselves stuck between the unspoken demand to be vulnerable online \u2013 to embrace the performative ease of \u201ctalking about it\u201d \u2013 and the very real consequences of disclosure. Public-facing \u201cmental health advocacy\u201d tends to trade in digestible narratives \u2013 tidy, linear, optimistic \u2013 which, though important in their own right, by their very nature contradict the messy reality of complex, chronic mental illness. <\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

In 2025, fewer people believe that someone with a mental health condition can recover (Getty)<\/p>\n

Interestingly, it\u2019s not just those in the community who have felt this stigma deepen. Recent research from King\u2019s College London<\/a> suggests that public attitudes towards mental illness have declined for the first time in a decade. In 2025, fewer people believe that someone with a mental health condition can recover, or that individuals diagnosed with a mental illness should live in a community setting. According to a 2023 survey by Rethink Mental Illness<\/a>, three in five people in the UK with a mental health condition have avoided seeking help because they fear how they\u2019ll be perceived. The steady work of normalisation is being slowly unravelled. <\/p>\n

Astoundingly, around a third of adults admitted they would reconsider becoming someone\u2019s friend, or remaining someone\u2019s friend, if they had a diagnosis of severe mental illness<\/p>\n

James Harris, director of communications and campaigns at Rethink Mental Illness<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran a campaign last year called Let\u2019s Rethink,\u201d James Harris, director of communications and campaigns at Rethink Mental Illness<\/a>, tells me. \u201cThe results were quite something. We found that around a third of adults wouldn\u2019t feel comfortable sharing a diagnosis of severe mental illness with a friend; that one in three adults wouldn\u2019t want to live next door to someone who is severely affected by mental illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cAstoundingly, around a third of adults admitted they would reconsider becoming someone\u2019s friend, or remaining someone\u2019s friend, if they had a diagnosis of severe mental illness.\u201d <\/p>\n

Political rhetoric over the last few years has played a corrosive role in shaping these public perceptions, says Harris \u2013 \u201cparticularly around the benefits system\u201d, he adds. Decades of austerity have gutted NHS mental health services, while simultaneously amplifying social narratives that position sufferers as a burden on society or a public liability.<\/p>\n

\"Popular<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Popular culture still often depicts severe mental illness in an extreme way, or dressed up in tropes that fuel the public imagination (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Antiquated attitudes attributing mental ill health to weakness have also been steadily growing; mental illness is regularly used as an explanation for everything from mass shootings to rising crime rates in British cities. In this world, \u201cmental illness\u201d is a catch-all explanation for social disorder, and for more complex issues, such as inequality and systemic neglect, which can be a root cause.<\/p>\n

Leigh has rarely seen someone like herself \u2013 working, managing, failing, rebuilding \u2013 in the media, because the everyday reality of her life doesn\u2019t make for dramatic content. Online, it\u2019s the traumatic stories that the algorithm rewards most, particularly from more privileged demographics. The kind of visibility that could begin to shift perceptions isn\u2019t non-existent, but it\u2019s rare. <\/p>\n

In this climate, disclosure becomes a risk. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just how people are treated on the street, or generally,\u201d says Harris. \u201cIt\u2019s about how that stigma intersects with the systems they use to live \u2013 the healthcare system, what it\u2019s like to be at work, their own sense of self.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leigh says some of her friends who also suffer with complex disorders, like bipolar, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia, have similar stories to hers: they talk about being seen by doctors who assess their physical symptoms through the lens of their psychiatric history; having dates hesitate or disappear entirely; finding that family members treat them as less capable than before. Stigma, they agree, isn\u2019t just a simple matter of language or a bit of discomfort. It\u2019s structural, systemic, and creeps into all corners of life.<\/p>\n

Still, she and others retain some optimism. \u201cThere is better awareness, better vocabulary, more public discussion,\u201d Leigh admits. Three years on from her diagnosis, she is now well on the way to accepting her condition \u2013 and crucially, understands much more clearly how it affects her life, which allows her to manage it more successfully. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve realised,\u201d says Leigh, \u201cis that awareness and understanding aren\u2019t the same thing.\u201d For her, that has meant finding connection not through confessing her struggles online, but through community.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now part of a peer group where people with complex diagnoses swap stories, medication tips and dark humour in equal measure \u2013 a space that resists both pity and performance. \u201cIt\u2019s honest,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich in itself is a relief.\u201d Perhaps that\u2019s the truest version of progress: when it\u2019s built not on awareness campaigns or algorithms, but on quiet, consistent support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh had started to lose her footing long before her diagnosis. Long stretches of exhausting low mood had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-208450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}