The modern concept of "emo" was invented by bands such as My Chemical Romance. Fans (usually teenagers and people in their early 20'
s) of their music moulded themselves to fit the
stereotype of a miserable, self-harming, depression
lover. They dress in the outfits of the bandmembers they like, usually including clothing like black skinny jeans, scribbled-on
converse all-stars, band t-shirts, black-rimmed glasses (even though most dont actually need to wear glasses) and conforming "cover-one-eye" dyed black haircuts.
Key differences between
emos and people with genuine
mood disorders (eg, clincal depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder etc) is that they enjoy being depressed, they enjoy having the status of being a self-harmer because they want to fit in with the emo group.
For example, often it is the case that
emos post images of their scars and even give other
emos advice on how to self harm. Genuine depressives do not want to be miserable; they acknowledge how their lives have been damaged and would genuinely try anything not to have depression, even if it meant covering up their mental health problem in order to have a
life.
Genuine self-harmers often cover their scars and most of the time they are only ever found out by mistake.
To
emos, being depressed is something they like being because it lets them fit in with the emo crowd.
Q1:Why did you cut yourself?
Emo:I went on this cool site and the people on it said that if you're having a bad day
cutting helps. Plus all my friends
do it anyway.
A person with a geniune mental health problem:
I have no other way of dealing with my
mh problems, I do it so I can get through them and live my life like everyone else does.