Are we drowning in mental health labels or ignoring the silent sufferers? The truth is messier than either extreme.
Scroll through social media, and it feels like everyone suddenly has ADHD, anxiety, or “high functioning depression.” Memes, TikToks, and hashtags have turned psychiatric terms into pop culture slang. Diagnosis has never been trendier. But while some roll their eyes at “therapy speak,” behind the noise lies a darker reality: millions still go undiagnosed, untreated, unseen.
Research shows that while self diagnosis is skyrocketing online, mental illness remains chronically underdiagnosed in real life. The WHO estimates that 70% of people in low income countries receive no mental health treatment at all. Even in wealthy nations, marginalized communities; people of color, LGBTQ+ creatives, and students drowning in pressure, slip through the cracks. Why? Stigma, lack of access, and healthcare systems that treat mental health like an optional add on rather than a survival need.
So we live in a paradox: overexposed but underserved. Some people slap a diagnosis on every mood swing, while others suffer in silence until it’s too late. Neither extreme helps. Over diagnosis risks trivializing real suffering, while under diagnosis destroys lives through neglect.
For creatives, this double bind hits especially hard. The myth of the “tortured artist” has long romanticized mental illness, making some reluctant to seek help while others wear labels like fashion accessories. But let’s be real… Burnout, depression, or mania/hypomania are not muses. They are illnesses. And illnesses deserve care, not clout.
The bottom line? Mental health is not black or white. We need better education, accessible diagnoses from professionals (not hashtags), and systems that treat mental health like physical health: urgent, valid, necessary.
Naming your pain is powerful but only if it leads to healing. Not hashtags. Not denial. Healing. Because whether over diagnosed or under diagnosed, what we really are is under supported.
