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Sharing Memes is a Quick, Easy Way to Help Boost the Moods of Depressed People
I feel validated.
Lately, I’ve been on a meme-sharing rampage. All my socials have caught on and are flooding me with memes. They connect with what I’m experiencing individually, but also with what we are all experiencing on a national, even global scale: the pandemic, the isolation, the social unrest, Bernie’s amazing gloves.
This is something that is happening for many. And, as it is becoming more acceptable to talk about mental health in public places, we are seeing an increase in the sharing of memes containing depression-related content.
And it’s good for us.
But why? Why do we make and share them? What does that do for us?
Depression memes are everywhere
In the last year, several studies have attempted to look into this phenomenon.
In one such study, researchers showed a selection of memes to two groups, one was people identified as being depressed; the other was a control group who were not depressed (Akram, 2020).
Some memes shown dealt with depressive subjects. For this study, “depressive memes” refers to “memes about death, suicide, isolation, or hopelessness.”
Afterward, the subjects complete a survey asking them to rate each meme for “humour, relatability, shareability, and mood-improving potential.”
The researchers found:
- The people with depression preferred to view depressive memes, rather than memes with neutral content.
- People with depression rated the depressive memes as funnier than did people who were not.
- People with depression thought the depressive memes would help others with depression, while the other group did not.
Let’s look closer.
