Careless use of mental health terminology

Anushree Saboo

Remedial for Quiz 10

Casual throwing of mental health terminology can cause a lot of problems. A word repeated again and again can lose its meaning. People seem to forget that words like "depressed" and "OCD" carry a lot of weight and meaning with it and are actual mental conditions which people are diagnosed with.

My favourite TV character died? "I'm depressed."
I want to eat something completely different from what I like. "You're bipolar."
The problem is that most people do not even realise that is this a problem. Here comes in ignorance. Why is mental health viewed as to be inferior to physical health? Those who have actually gone through these mental health conditions can effectively tell how struggling it would have been. People don't use words like "cancer" as a metaphor for someone being weak. Then why so with terms associated with mental disorders?

Using such terminology in a lay manner can be extremely damaging. Using such words to describe our mundane activities or our behaviour can dilute the actual meaning behind the term. Today, saying "I'm depressed" essentially means "I'm sad." So, how should a person who is diagnosed with depression describe his or her emotions? It is also majorly demeaning to the ones who have actually been diagnosed with such mental illnesses. 

Saying, "I am OCD" just because you clean your room daily or because you like your clothes to be in a certain order is a very reductionist idea of what OCD actually is and how it's symptoms manifest. While everyone is very casually throwing around these words to describe themselves or their feelings, someone is actually going through this mental issue which is in fact, largely stigmatised in society. It poses another problem. If someone says "I'm depressed" when they are feeling sad then it connotes to the fact that it's a temporary emotion and it will fade away. What if, then, when a person with depression says the same thing. People would assume their condition is also simply a phase and when it does not, it attaches a stigma to it. Depression is long-lasting. The diagnostic criterion itself states that the feelings of sadness (including other factors such as change in sleep patterns, loss of energy, anhedonia etc) must manifest for the time period of at least two weeks before it is called 'depression.' Associating such terms to negative attributes gives these terms a negative connotation. This will reinforce the stigma which is attached to mental illnesses in the society. 

Language can change and change must be brought about. It must not be taken lightly and we can educate ourselves and learn not to use these terms recklessly. Trivialising a mental health problem will make a the life of a victim of mental health unnecessarily harder and so, we must encourage each other to be careful about our words. Words have a great impact. Words have the power to change. 

Using these terms over and over again will make them meaningless and hence, it is simply unjustified to use a mental health condition as a metaphor.

Resources: 

https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/news/new-bupa-research-mental-health-terminology/