Romantiziranje psihičkih poremećaja u medijima

Abstract

In the last few years, there has been a growing effort in raising awareness about mental health problems and knowledge about psychological disorders. By raising awareness, psychological disorders and people suffering from them are more accepted and other people have a better understanding of them. However, one of the negative consequences is the romanticization and glorification of these disorders. There is a growing perception, coming through social media and other channels, that psychological disorders make individuals unique and special, and their sorrows become poetic. Also, the media often misinterpret disorders and their symptoms. This trend of romanticization is not something new and it has been present since the nineteenth century, when there was suicide contagion among young people who read “The Sorrows of  Young Werther“. The goal of this paper is to find how depression, anxiety, anorexia nervosa, and suicide are romanticized in the media and what effect they have on individuals. There are many researchers who examined how the media and popular culture influence the development of mental disorders. For example, a correlation was found between how suicide was reported in the media and its incidence, and how beauty standards affect the development of anorexia nervosa.