In the world today the normalization of mental illness is unnecessarily popular. The internet is continuously glorifying depression, anxiety, and eating disorders as things to strive for. There are quite a few Tumblr blogs that are made exclusively to give tips to those who are trying to hide their illnesses, such as ways to hide self harm and ways to go through the day without eating. Many of these tips actively encourage people to not seek help and to deal with their issues on their own.

Suppressing a mental illness has been proven to be a very unhealthy alternative to getting help. When a mind is inhabited by a mental illness it is always on high alert to the negative things that are happening, have happened, or could possibly happen. This mind blows up every piece of negativity into a large proportion, causing a spiral of activity that could potentially be fatal to the person it inhabits. A lot of people repress their feelings, pretending they do not even exist until it is so overwhelming that they can’t possibly ignore it. Once they cannot ignore their feelings they generally try to suppress how they are feeling, hiding it from the world outside of their mind.

Suppressing a mental illness could potentially be fatal. Getting good help to deal with the mental illness can save somebody from themselves. If a person has mental illness, it’s really hard to get them to listen to any sort of intervention, but having a support system is very important and necessary. When a person is not open about their emotions, their relationships may suffer. When somebody is not open and not willing to work with the other person, the relationship will end up having issues due to the poor communication.  Learning to have good communication skills can actually help this.

Teenagers are usually pretty bad at getting help. Stereotypes in the media have made it harder for some people to show their emotions due to the expectation of strength. News flash: everyone has feelings. Emotions are not uncommon. It is extremely unfair to push these stereotypes onto people. When a somebody is mean to somebody they really do not know how that will affect that person and that’s a very dangerous slope to be on.

Suppressing is not healthy and should not even be an option. There is no “dealing vs. suppressing”, because the best option is obvious. Teenagers (or people in general) know what is best for them, but are told that getting help is weak. This is a sad fact that people in our society could help change. It is absolutely not weak to get help. Getting help actually exhibits strength. It shows that that person has enough hope in themselves to try and improve. Showing mental progress shows that oneself is strong and smart when it comes to their mental illness. They will most likely enjoy their life to a greater degree, which would have been unheard of before getting help.

Letting society tell people that they cannot show their emotions is extremely stupid and should be treated as such. This is not a trend that society should be supporting. This shouldn’t even be a trend at all.