The truth is: you aren’t depressed because you cry when Rue dies in The Hunger Games. You don’t have Generalized Anxiety Disorder because you get nervous for your final calculus exam. Skipping a meal doesn’t make you anorexic, and being organized doesn’t mean you have OCD."

  This quote is useful in showing the mentality of teens who think mental illness is cool. It can help show the dangers of self-diagnosis done by people who think that depression is a new trend, and how this can prevent from getting help if you need it. If every kid is crying wolf, then you cant notice the ones who are crying for help.
-Simon

 One of the best portrayals of mental illness in media is Bojack Horseman. The writers did a wonderful job of showing how depression can affect someone. In the show, you see how chaotic and rude and entirely human each and every character is. Bojack, the main character, battles with depression and alcoholism, and instead of the show giving into its comedic nature, it takes the topic very seriously. It is one of the best shows I've seen that portrays mental illness on such a broad scale, it shows depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome, love, hate, and multi-dimensional characters.
   Media can be a wonderful tool to help remove the stigma against the mentally ill. It can show that not every person who's atypical is someone who's one step away from a murderous rampage and needs to be locked up in a padded cell with a straight jacket. Sadly, some people still think crazy and mentally ill are synonymous, and that's the kind of harmful thinking that specific shows can push if they aren't careful.
 Many people could benefit from going to therapy, mentally ill or not, but most are afraid to go because media can depict therapists and those who go to them as nuts. Media can depict therapists as these useless people who can't fix anything, because after seeing therapists like Dr. Phil, who specializes in quick fixes and blanket statements, people end up thinking that therapists who are slowly rebuilding the person up are actually ineffective and pointless.
-Simon