Redefining mental illness
We have a lot of progress to make in terms of the stigmas surrounding mental illness. But we can’t change the conversation about mental illness without first changing our vocabularies.
I’m so depressed. Stop acting bipolar. I’m really OCD about that. That test made me want to kill myself.
Too often, we hear these statements slip casually through people’s lips. Too often, we ourselves utter these phrases.
We ignore the possibility that someone sitting beside us is battling actual depression.
We forget that bipolar disorder is a crippling mental disease and not merely a simple shift in moods.
Everyone feels sad sometimes. Everyone’s moods change. Everyone is particular about different aspects of his or her life.
But when we slap the titles of mental illnesses onto these feelings, we don’t realize how belittling and hurtful we are being to people who actually have these mental illnesses.
“You don’t always know who is struggling with what, so saying something like ‘that’s so bipolar’ could really hurt someone who’s struggling,” said Plymouth freshman Zach Hose, who has witnessed comments like these offend his friends who struggle with mental illnesses.
Not only can comments like these offend people, but they also can resurface bad memories.
“When people say ‘this is depressing,’ something in the back of my head always says, ‘oh, that was me,’ and that’s not a fun place to be,” said Howell freshman Austin Lowe. “When people hear something like that, they’re going to have some sort of trigger, and that’s never fun to deal with.”
Lowe said that comments like these originate from people’s lack of awareness of mental illness.
“Everyone experiences ups and downs. That’s part of life; you’re going to be down,” said Lowe. “But with depression, it’s a consistent issue. It’s not a one day, one week, one month thing.”
Though we may not intend to offend or hurt people, we need to be more careful about what we say.
“There are people who will do horrible things to themselves because they believe they don’t belong in the world, and it’s sad to think about because it’s affected me and affected my friends, and to hear something (that reminds me of that) just hurts me,” said Lowe.
We need to stop making excuses. If someone confronts us about something offensive we said, we shouldn’t tell them to stop being so sensitive. We don’t fully understand others’ experiences and therefore, we are in no place to tell them what should or should not offend them.
Words are powerful. We need to use that power to improve the world, not to hurt people.
