Fashion-Depression: Understanding Users’ Motivations for and the Effects of Depressive Social Media Posts

Abstract

Depression has become a major global health issue, and its prevalence is rapidly increasing. At the same time, use of social media has grown, offering a platform of emotional expression and social interaction. In this environment, a new phenomenon called Fashion-Depression has emerged, where users repeatedly post depressive content online to seek sympathy, attention, or validation through self-disclosure. This paper analyzes the psychological motives of Fashion-Depression and its social effects on both posters and viewers. By reviewing existing literature, this paper concludes that individuals post Fashion-Depression content to seek social support, reduce loneliness, or create online identity. While such posts might generate positive empathy and virtual social support, they may also lead to oversharing, psychological dependency, and vulnerability to cyberbullying. For the audience, seeing repeated depressive content can provoke skepticism and reduce trust towards such posters. This paper concludes that although Fashion-Depression can be an emotional coping strategy, it also elicits negative social attitudes toward mental illness. Future research and education must aim to promote digital empathy users toward healthier forms of expression in the online community.