But is making jokes and memes about mental health ethical?
Research found that people with depression actually prefer memes that relate to their experiences of mental health. This might be because people with depression actually use humor in a different way – partly because of the unique way a person with depression controls their negative emotions. Researchers found that the depressed group rated depressive memes as more relatable and funnier compared to those in the non-depressed group.
More importantly, the depressed group also thought these memes could be used to improve the mood of others with depression, while the non-depressed group didn’t. It might be that depressive memes help depressed people change the meaning of negative thoughts and feelings, allowing them to make light of bad experiences. More importantly, as depressed people are funny and enjoyable, our findings suggest they may increase positive emotions in some people with depression – even if the content isn't what most people would think of as positive.
Depression can often make socializing difficult, as key symptoms can include feeling worthless, having little interest in things that were once enjoyable, having trouble explaining their feelings or fearing they will be seen as a burden by other people.
With memes, depressed people can share their experience in a simple way – possibly even allowing depressed people to form socially supportive and emotional bonds with others. It might also help them feel less alone in their experience with depression.
But it comes with the risk of ignorance. If we can laugh about something then it becomes natural not to worry about it, to enjoy the joke and move on rather than focusing on an issue that may warrant our attention.
Psychologist Paul Thagard warns against using memes to discuss sensitive topics because they “lump cultural entities together as memes and neglect the variety and complexity of mental representations.” The continuous stream of content on social media allows all manner of memes to be grouped together.
It should be disconcerting to see jokes about death followed by “When you see 27 missed calls from your mom,” but we have become so accustomed to traumatic events being conveyed in a comedic context that we barely look twice to consider the inappropriate medium of expression.
People suffering from trauma and PTSD need the help of medical professionals. Information about how to best help those suffering with them changes rapidly and requires the interpretation of licensed subject matter experts. And the information in these memes cannot be correct in all cases.
Every situation is different; doctors and therapists are valuable in part precisely because they are responding to the specific and complex dynamic of an individual and their pain. A meme can never do that. Also if someone is talking about their mental health , joking about it won’t help instead it will do more harm. Some people make jokes and memes specially to mock people struggling with mental health while they have no idea about what they are making jokes or memes about and that is really insensitive.
So should you or should you not share such memes?
You can but you should take care about a few things first :
Consent – You need to consider who you are sharing memes with. Is the other person ok with jokes like this ? If the person is not ok with you joking or sharing memes about mental illness then don’t try to convince them to like it. Respect their decision. Similarly, if someone feels comfortable sharing such memes and jokes and you don’t then you need to not get offended and try explaining to them that you don’t like it and they must avoid sharing such memes or jokes around you.
Know before you joke – If you are going to joke or share memes about mental illness without knowing what you are talking about then you are probably going to hurt someone’s feelings. There are all sorts of memes available on the internet , you have to take notice of which one is insensitive.
It’s not a solution – If you think someone is trying to run away from their problems by using jokes as a medium then you should not encourage it instead try to convince them to take help and deal with it.
- Navnidhi Sharma
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