This is a pretty popular opinion now I feel like. Mental illnesses are almost a meme now, and its a shame.

Moreso a shame that so many people, as you say, proudly take ownership of this as though its something that is a permanent feature of their being rather than a current state of their emotion, ie. "but MY anxiety, MY depression" etc.

It's called a mental illness because it is an illness, not a feature. Sure I'm sure there are cases where some people have severe chronic anxiety but they also likely have a legitimate neurological problem and not just an occasional fear, which is completely normal.

I swear its like every time someone feels nervous or afraid or excited its "muh anxiety". Nah, thats just normal human emotion.