Inappropriate Use of Common Mental Health Terms

   “She is so bipolar”, to describe a friend who has an outburst. “He is terribly OCD about things”, to describe a coworker who will not budge on the format of a project. “What are you, anorexic?”, when a family member declines a pastry that someone has made. These are all real statements I have overheard in my everyday life from people who are not mental health professionals. These statements used mental health diagnoses and terms to describe the actions of others. Those that made the statements assessed that the action taken by the other person was negative. After that, they associated that negative action with a common generalization or misconception about a specific mental health diagnosis.

    Using mental health diagnoses and terms to describe negative characteristics and unwanted behavior in others in everyday conversation is extremely damaging for various reasons. It is hurtful to those that live with these real diagnoses every day of their lives. Using these mental health terms like common adjectives minimizes the severity of these mental health diagnoses. Bipolar Disorder is not akin to a mood swing. OCD is not comparable to a coworker being stubborn about format. Anorexia is a universe beyond declining a single pastry.

  When those that are not mental health professionals use these terms in everyday conversation, it promotes the spread of misinformation. I would love to see the statistics on how many people believe that narcissists love themselves. This is a common misconception. A narcissist’s patterns and behaviors are not born out of the love they have for themselves, rather they are the result of self-hate. However, with many people using the term, “narcissist”, to describe an ex that never had any time for them, information about the disorder that circulates in the public becomes skewed.

  It is fantastic how much our awareness about mental health as a society has increased. I applaud that. However, these diagnoses and terms carry weight. They are not to be used freely. They are meant to be used by mental health professionals within professional settings.  

If you would like to speak to a professional counselor or psychologist about this and are in the Chicago area, please feel free to contact Olive Branch Counseling Associates, Inc. at 708-633-8000. We are located at 6819 West 167^th Street in Tinley Park, Illinois 60477.

Hillary R.,

Masters Level Intern, 2024