Cat Account 'Edited' an Offensive Meme to Make an Important Point About Depression

You’ve probably already seen, and maybe have even read critiques about, a popular meme that has been popping up in various iterations on Facebook — the split-screen image shows both a picture of a forest and a picture of pills. Over the forest the text reads: “This is an antidepressant.” Over the pills, it reads, “This is shit,” or even, “This is a lifetime addiction.” The meme unfairly assumes that everyone who takes antidepressants just needs to spend more time in nature (because curing depression is that easy!), or will be addicted to the pills for life.

Well Cat, a Facebook page that posts mostly about science (and cats), wouldn’t have it and did us all a favor by “fixing” the offensive meme. After crossing out the original version’s text and replacing it with what the photos actually are (“a photo of a forest” and “a photo of some pills”), they added a photo of a “very displeased cat” who explains why the meme is so wrong.

Cat posted with the new meme:

Apparently this mental illness medication shaming meme is doing the rounds again. So it’s time for displeased Cat to remind everyone that these medications save lives just like insulin or adrenaline. Don’t share memes like the original and show people with mental illness you are there for them in a less shame-y way.

Thanks for fixing it, Cat! We’ll be sure to share this meme instead.