For young people with depression, what they meme is what they mean

For a group of best friends at the University of Southern California, exchanging depression memes is a way to open up conversations and provide support for each other in dealing with their diagnoses. For clinically depressed young people, memes involving dark themes of mental illness and giving up don't have to be offensive. To many, they're therapeutic. More than that, they're an efficient and effective way to express negative emotions in a society that has an increasingly short attention span.

Source: Urban Dictionary

Memes have been around since the internet was created but have developed and changed in their level of cynicism. Simple-minded humor has morphed into content that deals with sensitive topics like depression, which builds comedic value for those who enjoy making light of the way the feel.

Urban Dictionary's top definition of "meme," a term that's become universally recognizable, is "the cure of depression." The more formal Merriam-Webster calls it an "amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media." With these classifications, we know that memes are supposed to be uplifting.

So, what's so uplifting about laughing over mental illness?

Sarah LaBonty is a USC junior who's involved, academically successful and is nothing short of a social butterfly. She exudes confidence and sarcasm, makes people laugh with her quick wit and always has clever commentary to add to conversations.

Although these qualities are not stereotypically affiliated with someone who struggles mentally or emotionally, she deals with depression and has for a while.

"There used to be no one in high school I could talk to about depression, or that I was on antidepressants or that I hated my body," explained LaBonty. "I couldn't talk about it, and there was a lot of stigmatization. I would deny that anything was wrong with me."

Things have changed for her since arriving at USC, though, in part due to a group of five friends she found with similar feelings and diagnoses. They have an Instagram direct messaging (DM) group titled "depression is funny," started by LaBonty almost a year ago, in which they exchange memes that make light of the feelings they encounter on a daily basis. Some members have diagnosed depression, while others do not but relate to the others' sentiments. LaBonty thinks the recent proliferation of this content can be attributed to a more transparent and accepting attitude towards mental illness.

"Once I got to college, the [depression] memes started happening," said LaBonty. "We've had memes for 10 years, but I think these past few years' [memes] have been focusing on mental health because everybody's being more honest and real about it."

For LaBonty and her friends, sharing memes is an alternative way to feel better that doesn't involve going to therapy; something she says no one in her group is a fan of.

"I've only been to a behavioral therapist and they don't really give you coping mechanisms, they just listen to you," said LaBonty. "I don't have a lot of money laying around since I'm at USC and I'm not going to a USC therapist, so I'd prefer to not go to one." She says she also uses books and meditation as ways to understand and cope with her depression.

Nick and Eli are senior roommates at USC who have asked to be identified by their first names only. Like LaBonty, the meme group is an outlet for them to communicate and become closer with their friends.

"We were all really good friends before, and then when we started the group it brought people closer together who were already friends," said Nick. "Joking about things that are actually really awful in your life is kind of like a release. We used to make the jokes to each other outside of the group." Now, they have a convenient way to make each other laugh over social media in addition to doing so in-person.

For LaBonty, Nick, Eli and the other "depression is funny" members, the meme group serves as a smaller community within a community. They take comfort in the fact that people they associate with share the same feelings and frustrations as they do.

LaBonty says "depression is funny" is certainly not the only depression-focused meme group including USC students or other social media users she affiliates with, showing how the content has become an epidemic.

"I think almost every girl in my organization at school is in a meme group chat, and half of them are very depressing or alcohol and drug focused," said LaBonty.

"There's a lot of good memes on the internet that are about depression, and I guess the best way of coping is just laughing about your mental illnesses," LaBonty said. "We are all just best friends, and I guess a lot of people benefit from other people's painful realities.

The quick exchange of this online content is something that psychologist Valerie Maxwell says suits people's shrinking attention spans. She specializes in dealing with patients diagnosed with depression, including many adolescents, and opened an ADD Diagnosis and Treatment Center in Manhattan Beach where she's located.

"It could just be a fad...memes are kind of cute and you don't have to think too deeply about them," said Maxwell. "It's cartoonish. I just think it's the mode of communication right now because the current global war is over people's attention. If my friend asks ‘hey, how was yesterday?' I can just send a meme. So it's about attention span, which is diminishing. It's impacting how people read and how people think."

With depression and suicide rates among young Americans at all time highs, it makes sense that there is far more negativity in the air, as well as a bigger push to encourage people to be open about their feelings. This paired with the convenience and humor that memes bring make the popularity of depression memes unsurprising.

memes as medicine: Why young people are sadder than ever

There are a multitude of stress factors that lead to depression in young people, and in turn lead them to find amusement from the gallows humor present in depression memes. In the past few years, depression rates have increased in teen and millennial populations to a substantially greater extent than the general US population.

Today's teens are part of Generation Z (Gen Z), a group that makes up a significant proportion of social media users, especially on Instagram. According to February 2019 Instagram statistics, about 39 percent of total users were aged 13 to 24. Seven percent were 13 to 17.

The American Psychological Association conducted a survey that came out in the beginning of 2019 detailing the mental health of Gen Z compared to other generations, as well as what stress triggers affect them the most. Three-fourths of Gen Z, who are ages 15 to 21, said that they were stressed about mass shootings, 62 percent were affected by high suicide rates and 53 percent felt upset over increasing sexual assault reports. These are all massive events in the news, which affect Generation Z more than their counterparts. Gen Z was also the least likely generation to say that they're mentally healthy.

Besides strenuous global occurrences, there are other factors affecting the well-being of young Americans. A big one is the general stress they feel around school, success and financial burdens. According to a study conducted by UC Berkeley recently that compiled data from the past few years, "students ages 18-26 are seeking help at dramatically greater rates. The percentage of students ages 18-26 who said they had been diagnosed with or treated for anxiety disorder in the last 12 months doubled, from 10 percent in 2008 to 20 percent in 2016." The data from the study found that "college students' age-old anxieties surrounding academics, money and time, and the drive to achieve, succeed and graduate, are ever more more amplified in the digital age."

LaBonty agrees that academic pressures play a big role in why more and more young people like herself are finding themselves in a dark place.

"I think it's a stressful environment we live in," she said. "You have to go to the best colleges, you have to do things for your family and you can't let your family down....[You feel like] you need to be in this major because that major is dumb. We put such an emphasis on who we want to be instead of working on ourselves at the current moment. It's more about where you see yourself and it kind of leads you toward a big depression."

Whether social media use puts people's mental health in jeopardy has been a widely debated topic since society started becoming reliant on it. Some studies, including one done by the journal "Clinical Psychological Science" earlier this year, say that there is not a direct link between social media use and depression. However, many have emerged concluding the opposite. The American Psychological Association just released a survey this past month expressing the strong correlation between depressive symptoms in people born after 1995 and their social media usage.

As a seasoned therapist, Valerie Maxwell says the tie between the two definitely exists. She says it's likely attributed to how people feel when they go on Instagram, Facebook or other platforms and see people living what young generations would call "their best lives" when they feel like it's not their reality, or wish it was.

"The number is 60 percent. People who go on social media look at how happy everyone is and they are 60 percent more miserable than when they went on," Maxwell said.

After noting some of the reasons why millennials and Gen Z-ers are statistically more miserable than before, we can see why depression memes have taken off.

Using an analytics system that tracks social media trends through words people use online, USC public relations professor Matthew Leveque found that the terms "depression" and "anxiety" have become more concentrated on social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and Tumblr over the past few years.

"Twitter has the highest numbers of these words because there's more dialogue there," explained Leveque. "Tumblr is next, then Reddit and then Instagram. The words have to be in a description or title for Instagram." This means they are inside meme captions.

Because Twitter and Reddit are more conversational, Leveque says, there are more mentions of "depression" and "anxiety" on those platforms. However, Instagram has the largest relative growth in these terms' usage from 2016 to 2018 out of all platforms mentioned. While Instagram's upward curve is steeper, all platforms mentioned have seen increases, indicating a huge mood shift in the social media atmosphere that is prime for depression memes.

Doubled-edged Destigmatization

Not all people who enjoy exchanging depression memes are depressed themselves. Out of that group of people, like some members of "depression is funny," some are aware that they have not been given a clinical diagnosis but still enjoy the memes due to the sadness they feel. Others, though, convince themselves that they're depressed because they relate to the content, even without fitting the criteria of the DSL (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) that diagnoses are based off of. Regardless, a rise in the number of diagnosed people has created an environment where people feel more comfortable making comments and jokes about depression.

"It can be de-stigmatizing and open up a conversation," said Maxwell. "But I think it can go both ways...I think [the memes] can sensationalize [depression], but I also think that for those people who are fairly non-verbal, it might pull something out of them that normally would not be pulled out. It may be an avenue for them to be able to express themselves."

In other words, the normalization of depression that's been happening is great for many, but to a fault when it makes having the illness something attractive to people who don't suffer.

"People will say 'oh, I'm so bipolar,' but they don't know what they're talking about, Maxwell said. "That's what the DSM is for; you have to meet criteria."

Maxwell also blames the popularization of psychology in the media and in culture for self-diagnoses. She thinks that because people are chatting about mental health in an open dialogue nowadays, it's easier for some to adhere to depression they don't have.

Like Maxwell, Eli attributes the free-flowing mental health dialogue we're now seeing to it being a popular cultural topic.

"The conversation is less stigmatized now, and social media and technology have made our generation value privacy [about their mental health] a lot less," said Eli.

LaBonty echoed Maxwell's observation that self-diagnosis can spring from consuming a lot of depression memes.

"The memes don't actually include the symptoms of mental illnesses, so I think a lot of people kind of pinpoint that they have depression from social media posts," said LaBonty. "I'm not denying that somebody could have [depression], but realistically, you do need to see a doctor to know that you're clinically on a different spectrum because of your brain chemistry."

Meme delivered. What next?

LaBonty and Dr. Maxwell all agree that when somebody sends a depression meme to one of their friends, it can be an opportunity to reach out to that person and make sure everything is okay. It's a new, unique way to make connections and chat about mental health.

"I guess I never thought about it until now as I say it out loud, but [the group] is kind of like a support system because when you're sending really terrible, sad memes about wanting to die, sometimes they will call you and be like 'hey what's going on?'" said LaBonty. "It shows at least someone else cares or knows how you feel."

LaBonty recalls experiences she's had with one particular group member when she has felt supported.

"One of the girls in the group chat's called me many times saying 'you've sent 15 memes in a row that are really sad, how are you?" LaBonty said.

Dr. Maxwell thinks that after receiving a depression meme from a peer, one should assess how to help them open up about what they're feeling as a next step. Memes, while sometimes meaningless and sent for no reason, can also be indicators of senders going through a tough time.

"I think the operative question is, what happens after the meme?" said Maxwell. "Is there anyone saying, 'hey, tell me more about it. What do you mean? Do you really feel that? How deeply do you feel that?' Then, they can say 'oh, I was just saying it,' or 'last night I was pretty close' [to self-harm]. That has to do with accountability in relationships. What kind of attachment do we have to someone who we're sending a meme to or receiving one from?" Following that question, Maxwell thinks that attachment should be capitalized on to help the sender.

While memes have helped LaBonty and her friends cope, she doesn't think that digital communication with subliminal cries for help should be relied on in the modern mental health conversation. While the meme community she has ameliorates things a bit, she doesn't feel it's the most effective long-term method of solving anything.

"I don't think it's the best way to deal with mental health, but I do think it is helpful because it does bring up people's awareness about what's going on," said LaBonty. "I know if I wasn't on my antidepressants, these memes would make me 400 times more sad and a lot more depressed."

Despite what the best way to talk about mental illness is, which is subjective, it's clear that memes about depression have swept through the social media realm and carved out their place in it. What makes the difference in the grand scheme of improving mental health when it comes to memes is what we do with our knowledge. If we know that people we care about are going through hard times when they send signals through memes, we should do something about it.