You may have heard someone claim they’re “OCD” because they like to keep their workspace tidy or that someone else is “acting bipolar” because they’re experiencing big emotions. At Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health in Leland, North Carolina, we treat people with OCD, bipolar, and other mental health disorders, and we know how hurtful–and potentially harmful–it can be when those disorders are made light of.
Why Misusing Labels Is Hurtful
When someone has a serious mental illness, their disorder often makes their life more difficult, sometimes interfering with their ability to do things other people take for granted. When a person without the condition jokes about themselves or someone else having it, it can imply that mental disorders aren’t actually that challenging. It takes a legitimate diagnosis and turns it into an insult. Here are a few examples of conditions and terms that are often misused:
- OCD – People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are unable to stop themselves from engaging in behaviors that can be embarrassing and stressful and interfere with their ability to work, go to school, or have good relationships with others. Joking that a person has OCD just because they are well-organized or they have a lot on their mind minimizes how hard it can be for people to have OCD..
- Bipolar – Bipolar disorder can cause people to experience extremely low moods and intense mania. This is sometimes accompanied by psychosis and suicidal thoughts. The things a person does during a manic episode may jeopardize their job and their relationships with other people. Saying someone is “acting bipolar” minimizes how difficult life is for people with this condition.
- ADHD – Sometimes people will claim that they have ADHD because they are distracted or have a lot of energy and cannot seem to sit still. A fleeting moment like this is not the same as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which people experience continuously and is also often accompanied by overstimulation, harsh self-judgment for being different from other people, and sometimes being disliked by other people who may perceive them as annoying or flighty.
- Suicide – Joking about killing yourself may make people around you less inclined to take comments about suicide seriously. Also, a lot of people have lost someone to suicide, and your comment about wanting to end your life might be painful for them to hear.
- Triggered – A trigger is something a person experiences that activates the symptoms of their mental health disorder. For a person with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for example, triggers can include loud noises, unexpected physical touch, seeing someone who reminds them of an abuser, or a wide variety of other things. Many mental illnesses have triggers, and they can vary from one person to the next. Joking that someone is “triggered” because you had a disagreement disregards the serious role that triggers play in mental health disorders.
- Crazy/Insane – These words have been used to describe people with mental health conditions as well as people who make bad choices or who are harmful to others. A lot of people describe their former significant others as “crazy” to express that they created a lot of problems in the relationship. Using words like “crazy” or “insane” in this way downplays real mental illness and marginalizes those who suffer from it.
In Other Words
Just as language has evolved in areas of race, sexual identity, and intellectual disability, it’s important to take responsibility for language that is unkind to people with mental illnesses. This requires becoming more mindful of the words you use. For example:
- You can say that you’re really concerned about an upcoming event, instead of saying you’re obsessing about it.
- If you are commenting on a person’s use of color coding to track information or how well their shoes and outfit match, it’s better to phrase your statement as a compliment rather than calling them OCD.
- It is better to say you’re distracted instead of claiming you have ADHD.
- If you think someone is behaving erratically, use the word “erratic” instead of saying they are “acting bipolar.”
- If you feel like your Facebook debate has left the other person upset and struggling to counter your argument, it is more appropriate to describe them in those terms than to say they are triggered.
- Instead of calling your ex “crazy,” describing their precise behavior will give your listener a better idea of why they weren’t a good partner for you. If you are actually saying that they were dangerous, unpleasant, or rude, it is better to use these words rather than potentially adding to the stigma people with mental health disorders already face.
At Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health, we believe that people with mental health conditions are capable of recovery, and we discourage behavior that might result in people with mental illnesses feeling worse about themselves and their struggles.
