Does blogging glorify mental illness?

I’ve seen a few opinions around the interwebs lately that all of this blogging and talking on social media about mental illness, mainly depression, is glorifying it.  They believe that through showing the realities in our words and pictures, that we are somehow making it seem like it’s something that people will want to have.  Like the latest must have accessory, or something.

I don’t know about anyone else here, but I don’t think there is anything remotely glamorous about having a mental illness.  I don’t think that me talking about the realities of it would make anyone feel like they just had to have it.  I’m not sure what part of depression is supposed to be the good part.

I’ve dealt with depression, BPD and self harming thoughts/behaviours for over 12 years now, and looking back there weren’t many glamorous moments in all of it.  I have spoken on the blog over the last 3 years about a lot of those moments.  That isn’t glorifying it, it’s speaking my truth.

Depression robs you of your dignity.  It kills the light behind your eyes and tries to push away the people that you are close to.  The sad truth is that some of those people don’t take much pushing, depression is a lonely illness.  Depression is ugly and raw, it strips you back until you are nothing but a blob in your bed.  Is this the glamorous part?

Maybe people believe that not being able to work due to a mental illness means that you are a person of luxury, that life is easy because you don’t have to get up and go to work everyday.  Please tell me what is so luxurious about fighting tooth and nail every single day just to lift your head off the pillow.  Please tell me what is luxurious about staring at your wardrobe every morning, unable to make the most simple of decisions.  Is is luxurious to stay in your pyjamas for a week because you can’t bare to make another decision or step foot outside your house?

Maybe it’s sitting on a therapists couch each fortnight that must be glamorous.  I mean look how the media shows the therapy relationship, it couldn’t possibly be hard at all.  It’s not glamorous to have your innermost thoughts taken out and poked and prodded.  It’s not glamorous to go through your thoughts with a fine tooth comb, looking for that one kink in the chain.

There is nothing to glorify when it comes to mental illness.  There is nothing glamorous about mental illness.  There is nothing to be envied here.

I use my experiences to reach out to people.  I don’t use it so that people will feel sorry for me, nor do I use them to glorify mental illness.  If I was, well I’m not really doing a very good job of it!

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