Braindead Rants (Shank Me Up)

The Mental Illness Romanticisation Rant

Oh look, a Wattpad related rant lol... familiar territory innit.

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Okay so i've definitely had some questionable phases in my life including... a lovely Wattpad phase.

Done laughing? ok so something i've realised after finishing that phase of my life is that a lot of the books i read has been majorly criticised. Alot of the books were definitely about,,, sex and mental illness (relatable content for a horny and sad 15yearold). Alot of them were just love stories where one of them happened to suffer severely from a mental illness. Whether it be depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar, anything.

But what were they criticised for? Romanticising mental illness. ...Where...? Yeah sure, certain books will be romanticising mental illness, but believe it or not kids, a book revolving around mental illness can be well-written. I remember a certain very long story i read that was especially criticised and i never saw why. It was about a man with a mental illness and his love life. Simple plot, well-written, good story. There was no romanticisation, it just involved a touchy subject along with love.

What's more common, though, is a situation where a mental illness is represented badly and is then classified as romanticisation. Criticise it for being misleading. Don't claim it does something it doesn't.

People are getting so quick to call things out, it's like they barely look up what the word romanticisation means. It almost says so in the word itself - it's to romanticise something, to make something look like the beautiful TV version of itself. Mental illness is barely ever showed in a way like this in the books i read and i felt terrible for anyone with these mental illnesses after reading. it's cool people are starting to call shitty behaviour out, but it sucks that some people overdo it like this.

The idea that a character in a love story having mental illness is romanticisation kind of touches on the idea that people with mental illness can't, realistically, find love too.

PS: these days a lot of disorders are faked around the internet, which leads to misinformation in the name of 'awareness' which is harmful in so many ways, and I do not doubt it has also influenced how a mentally ill person is written in some stories. In this situation I put more blame on the people who spread misinformation than the author, though I don't think the author is innocent. Obviously if you write about this you must do research since it's so sensitive, but God do I respect if it's properly written. But yeah, if it's based off of misinformation I will not defend it.