Mental Health as Adjectives

"Aw man, I'm out of breath, I feel so lung cancer today."

 

"I need sugar to wake me up, my diabetes is so bad."

 

"Look at that bruise, it's like you have leukemia."

 

"I can't remember, my Alzheimer's is flaring up today."

 

"Ugh, I'm so nauseous, it's like I'm on chemo."

 

Okay, hold up. Who in their right mind would say these sort of things if they don't personally suffer from the illness themselves? No one would use serious illnesses as adjectives, right? Wrong. It's something we've all done, and it's commonplace in our society. But it's not about diabetes or cancer. For some reason it's okay to use serious, debilitating illnesses as adjectives as long as they're mental illnesses. Let's see it again:

 

"I need to have the volume on an even number, I'm so OCD."

 

"Ugh, my mom keeps yelling at me, she is SO bipolar."

 

"Man, I failed that civics quiz. I feel so depressed."

 

"Wow, you scared me, I almost had a panic attack!"

 

"What the hell, you're psychotic!"

 

And that's only a few, there are so many more. I hear these every single day, and it frustrates me so much.

 

"I couldn't fall asleep until 2am last night. My insomnia is so bad."

 

"Gosh, that's so retarded!"

 

"That dress makes you look so anorexic!"

"Man, I need to clean my room, my OCD is getting really bad."

 

I think we get the point. It's very likely that we've all done this throughout our lifetime. Before I started treatment for mental health issues, I was a contender for this as well. I remember talking to a teammate about one of my coaches a few years ago, and I was complaining that she was "so bipolar." And these types of statements are completely accepted by society, while careless statements about physical illnesses, like cancer, are labeled as out of line.

 

There are a few reasons why this phenomenon bothers me. First is the stigma. Mental illnesses are more serious and important than most people know, and yet there is so much stigma around it. The stigma surrounding mental health prevents so many people from reaching out and getting help, which contributes to the amount of people who commit suicide every year. Using mental illnesses as adjectives trivializes them. If they're used as emotions that people experience on a daily basis, no one will realize how serious mental illnesses actually are. Stigma is hard enough to defeat anyway, and these types of phrases do not help.

 

Another thing that sucks about these statements is when someone with a mental illness overhears them. For example, the OCD references. I have met a lot of people with obsessive compulsive disorder throughout treatment, and it is a hellish, awful condition to deal with. It can be debilitating, it controls a person's every action, and it can make a person's life absolutely miserable. So when they hear someone talking about how they're "so ocd," can you imagine how trivializing that is? To hear something that you struggle with daily compressed into something as small as wanting a picture frame straight or your books in alphabetical order is so frustrating. This goes for other illnesses as well. When I hear people mentioning panic attacks or self harm behaviors in a casual or joking way, it makes me cringe. I know how horrible and debilitating these things are - I suffer from them myself. Hearing people talk about them as if they're nothing is really frustrating. How are we supposed to inform others on mental illness if people's only perception of mental health is either trivialized or completely misunderstood?

 

I hope that, as time goes on and people become more educated, these phrases will start to dissolve from our vocabulary. But only time will tell.