Depression, cutting, eating disorders. A trend?

[Grace]

I've noticed that a large number of people in my age group like to appear mentally ill. They post pictures of self harm and depressive quotations on their tumblr, facebook, twitter etc.
Some of them even dare to come to school with their fresh cuts visible for everyone to see.

I myself suffer from depression and I used to cut. I would never in my right mind be open about it. Even when I used to cut, I soon came to realize that cutting on my arm was too much of a risk and decided to go over to other body parts.
It makes me slightly angry when I see this and it got me thinking; are these people actually suffering, or is it just a trend?

[john]

No, not a trend. Some people just use cutting as a way of relief. It's a rather dumb option (my opinion) but depression is common in teens and adults.

[Dani]

I think that anyone who would go as far as to purposely hurt themselves must be suffering in some way. They might make it public to vent out their bad feelings- it could comfort them knowing that other people know how they feel. I had a friend who cut himself just to hurt me after we had a fight once, and I felt terrible. He was pretty open about self harming, and even though I knew I hadn't led him to it, his reasons made me feel terrible and now we're not friends. In the heat of the moment, you might feel better, but when you get up the next day and remember what you did, you will feel even worse- and then do it all over again. It's a very negative cycle that I think these kids are struggling to get out of.

[Mystery Girl]

Kids that "show" their cuts are crying out for attention.
If its popular kids it's probably just a tread like they might think being emo is cool or something.
But. . . . if it's someone quiet that doesn't have any friends or gets bullied they're probably trying to find someone else that has self harmed and understand them or can help.