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Stop using mental illnesses as adjectives
- Thread starter Realeza
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I definitely think it's never intended as malicious. It's more that using the words so often and casually makes it harder for people with the actual mental illnesses to express what they're going through clearly in a way that can resonate with the listener. When people use the words "OCD," "ADD," or even "bipolar" often and casually to describe kind of quirky personality traits that are maybe even a little cute and funny about each other, fully comprehending how difficult the actual disorders make people's lives becomes harder. They just don't sound all that bad anymore.
It's also possible that people who know you and hear the casual use of that language who do have a mental illness wouldn't feel comfortable telling you because they're not sure they'd be taken seriously. Not that they would necessarily assume the worst of you, but that people with mental illnesses already feel pretty vulnerable about it. Most people with these kinds of disorders that actively interfere with the things they want to do and achieve don't like bringing it up because they already feel like people will think they're making excuses or that it's not that big a deal. The casual use of the words reinforces that culturally. Everyone's a little bit ADD, so what's your problem?
Again, it's definitely clear it's not intended as malicious, but the cultural baggage that still comes with diagnosable mental illness means discussions about it will continue to resonate even in ways that aren't intended.
Someone using it as one is how you can tell they're using the word wrong. "I'm so OCD sometimes" as compared to "I have OCD." You don't often hear the second one casually from people who aren't diagnosed, but the first one happens often.
OCD is often diagnosed alongside autism, but it's not the same thing. Everyone has obsessions and compulsions. It's not diagnosed as a disorder until it interferes with your quality of life and makes your day harder to get through. The obsessions are a completely normal human brain function. A lower level of serotonin to release the building stress is what creates a need for compulsion. When you must repeat actions constantly because the relief never actually comes, then you have a disorder. Otherwise you're just a dude.
Sure, people should stop doing that. Now that i typed that sentence i will continue to do said things or crack jokes in private without the effected party. Cause ultimately, people don't really care all that much about others problems in abstract manners and asking them for continuous empathy is not even healthy for the human mind.
Abso-fucking-lutely. You don't get to decide whether one illness is more or less severe than the other. Especially when it comes to mental illness, where the severity wildly varies.
(As someone with ADD and a bunch of other issues this post make my blood boil).
I agree that if there's one thing the world seemingly not catching up to and beginning to understand, it's mental illness. It's disheartening.
Waking up every day with the feeling of that you're never going to amount to anything and you're spending your whole life closed in an apartment, while the rest of the world goes on, sucks. It sucks especially since i absolutely love learning new things and would die for to go to college and study, get a proper degree and work in whatever field i've chosen... I just can't because of these disabilities. I suffer from severe agoraphobia so.. yeah.
I'm just so tired...
EDIT:
At least there's drinking.
opticalmace
Member
Re: the bolded, 100% agree. What I deal with is pretty mild compared to others, but I would definitely think twice about talking about it if the person I was with was using them as casual adjectives in the way you described.
Trickster
Member
*sigh* fine. I googled it, I will concede that in the strictest defitinion, me using OCD to describe something much less serious, but similar to what OCD is related to, could be considered belitling.
Of course that requires you to ignore context and intent of how the word/term is used.
Winterblink
Member
The thing is, while there's a lot of people who will argue that there are plenty of legitimate uses of the word "retard" as a way to justify their use of it, deep down they know full well that when someone calls another person a retard they are doing so in a way which equates them as someone with diminished mental capacity. They're not suddenly referring to chemical or engineering degradation of properties, or equating them to engine brakes, they're equating them to someone with a serious mental condition.
I fully admit that I have to stop myself from using this sometimes because I grew up at a time when this was a common insult to fling around. It sucks, and I imagine everyone's going to have to go through that at some point in their life.
You're not belittling it though. OCD isn't always severe and even the most severe OCD isn't the same as having fucking polio or some shit. People are too damn sensitive. It's a fucking disease. As someone that is severely crippled by OCD, your normalization of it makes me feel more comfortable about having crippling OCD because you recognize it as a real thing. Belittling OCD is telling someone to get over it and it's all in their head, quit being a baby.
weremichael
Member
OCD and autism spectrum disorder can exist in comorbidity, but are not the same.
They aren't recognizing it as a real thing, though. They had to google it because they didn't actually know what the disorder is. Most people don't actually know what the disorder is. They know the fake, culturally made up thing where OCD means "I really like to collect things" or "I don't like my apartment to look like a mess" and not "it occurred to me today that maybe my best friend hates me and as many times as I logically told myself that wasn't true, the thought never went away, so I washed my hands six times in a row because god damn it even if everyone hates me my hands are going to be clean, that I can still control, and now they're bleeding; so if they didn't hate me before they probably do now, because that's fucking weird" and various other incarnations.
People with mental illness understand that it isn't intended maliciously but that it does, as you admit, suggest a lack of empathy, concern, or understanding for their problems. This is only really a bad thing if someone you say it around has a disorder, because that will likely be their take away as well. (The trouble with a lot of mental illness is that it's invisible and encouraged to stay that way, so it's hard to know if you are accidentally hurting someone close to you.)
The problem is, English is a living language.
Maybe we can win back OCD, or ADD, or Retarded, or Bipolar, in fact I think we've made as much progress on ending the casual use of Retarded in society as we did with calling things Gay (it's not a total win, but this are getting better).
But, you are never gonna get Crazy, Mad, Manic, Insane, Hysterical, Schizo/Schizophrenic, etc, etc. back from their current usage. There are so many terms that are so far gone.
This is in no way me arguing for the continued stigmatisation of people with mental illness through thoughtlessly or intentionally harmful uses of language, but I fear any attempt to prevent it will do as much good as trying to command the tide.
Maybe we can win back OCD, or ADD, or Retarded, or Bipolar, in fact I think we've made as much progress on ending the casual use of Retarded in society as we did with calling things Gay (it's not a total win, but this are getting better).
But, you are never gonna get Crazy, Mad, Manic, Insane, Hysterical, Schizo/Schizophrenic, etc, etc. back from their current usage. There are so many terms that are so far gone.
This is in no way me arguing for the continued stigmatisation of people with mental illness through thoughtlessly or intentionally harmful uses of language, but I fear any attempt to prevent it will do as much good as trying to command the tide.
Always-honest
Banned
We're not all the same.
But i agree it's embarrassing to see perfectly *normal* people saying stuff like "i'm so autistic sometimes".
They probably recognize certain aspects in their own behaviour or something.
But i agree it's embarrassing to see perfectly *normal* people saying stuff like "i'm so autistic sometimes".
They probably recognize certain aspects in their own behaviour or something.
Trickster
Member
I was googling the word and definition of "belittle". I damn well know what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is, and no, didn't google that just now.
I get the argument that youre not trying to belittle anything but you gotta understand people used to try and make the same argument about the word faggot or gay, that they weren't referring to sexual orientation at all, and people seriously want to be allowed to say nigga/er because they say they mean something else too. Or rape jokes. Its just not your thing to argue for, because there are people who have experienced these things that you cannot take away from them and do not understand until you've been in that position.
Not trying to be a dick, dude. I thought you were googling OCD because you responded directly to the use of belittle -- so I assumed you already knew that one -- and most people just don't actually know what it is even though they've heard and used the word plenty of times. They think it means handwashing, cleaning, and having a collection you keep in boxes, right, being really anal. That's not what it actually is.
TheOfficeMut
Unconfirmed Member
Not sure what's so difficult about using the symptoms or adjectives that describe a mental illness to describe yourself, rather than using the mental illness itself.
So basically you say that you agree that you are selfish and dont care about the feelings of other people
Simply saying you're obsessive instead of adding the "compulsive disorder" part would suffice I would think.
I mean, OCD has varying levels, and I'm pretty sure it can be clinically diagnosed if it interferes with your daily life. It does't mean you have to harm yourself, but of course the more serious cases might.
If someone bites their nails, is that a bad habit or OCD? I would argue OCD. It's not even a matter of biting the nails per se, it's having an imperfection in the nail that they can't cope with, and they have to keep biting them down until they are satisfied that the imperfection is gone, even if it means they may have gone too far, and the fingers are susceptible to bleeding, infection, etc.
This is perhaps not an example of a crippling, life altering type of OCD but I think it qualifies. So while someone may use the term ODC in a careless, yet harmless way to describe something dumb that they do, they very well could have other traits that do match up with the definition- maybe without even knowing it.
Edit- I know that's not really the argument here- I just had a thought and ran with it.
Trickster
Member
Yeah I know, I overreacted, sorry. (I knew I wasn't belittling people suffering from OCD, didn't know if it was possible to belittle the disorder itself, which it apparently was, so I admitted that )
I do understand the fact that many people might not properly understand the effect and impact of something like OCD, even though they might use the term.
However I think that as long as things are not used as a way to offend or anger, then it is better to let words/terms/names be used, even if not used entirely correctly. Because I think that will ultimate lead to people being more knowledgeable, and subjects being less taboo.
Difficulty focusing on this in front of me. My brain moving on to different things as soon as it sees one thing without time to process. Things like that.
Dai Kaiju
Member
You said you probably don't have ADD though. What's your diagnosis?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Ok, seriously now?
Apparently some people are offended by "stupid" as well.... I agree it's a little too much.
I mean I totally agree with not using words like "gay" as an insult, and other malicious terminology, but let's not forget that "dumb" used to mean "mute", yet in modern language it's not an insult to mute people.
Language usage evolves and some words are just too far gone. I think it's only a problem when people do start conflating serious diseases with minor personality quirks, but even so, you need to be powerfully ignorant to not tell the difference between being "depressed" and being clinically depressed. If I hear someone tell me they're depressed, I assume they are feeling down and need cheering up, if they tell me they have depression, I understand they are suffering from a serious illness and need professional care. It's not exactly difficult.
Oh you
Really? This offends you that much?
"Antisocial" is colloquially accepted (it's even in the dictionary FFS) to mean "not wanting to be around people" in casual speech. Most people understand the difference between that and the clinical diagnosis. Getting worked up over that, when there's nothing malicious in intent nor is there any attempt at trivializing the actual clinical disorder, seems like a waste of time.
Diseases used as metaphor or rhetorical devices, rather than their literal meaning, is common and ancient. I lost a mother to cancer and my dad is currently battling one, but I don't get offended if someone says "microtransactions are a cancer of the gaming industry".
Thank you.
Right. Agreed.
Dreams-Visions
Member
We could say the same of "retard" and "autistic". People just don't seem to give a shit. If it isn't negatively affecting their lives, it might get appropriated.
MetaCircular
Member
There seems to be a difference in the formal semantics (as discussed in linguistics) of physical ailments like being a paraplegic or an amputee, and mental illnesses like OCD or clinical depression.
The physical ailments come in logically binary, observable states (either you have an arm or you don't). There is no way for it to be felicitous to say you are an amputee if you obviously have an arm.
By contrast, mental illness is graded and non-binary. Being diagnosed does not change that (even the same doctor will arbitrarily draw the decision line for a diagnosis at a slightly different point on the gradient scale of symptoms on any given day). Thus, it CAN be felicitous to say you have OCD even if you haven't been diagnosed. The interpretation being that you are somewhere on the asymptotic tail of the symptom scale.
Basically, there is a linguistic reason why most physical ailments are not used the same way as mental ones, not just a social one. Incidentally, this would also explain why deafness and blindness CAN be used in this context. They are easy to interpret in a gradient way (hearing/sight loss is often partial).
The Incarnation
Member
CrocMother
Banned
Kind of surprised nobody has responded to you. If you've never run into anybody you cared about that felt bad about you using these words, consider yourself lucky I guess. But it's going to happen eventually. People have real feelings about words, whether you care or not.
So you say you get why someone using "gay" to mean stupid or as an insult is bad but can't see why someone who uses a mental illness as an adjective affects people who actually suffer from that illness and don't appreciate it being used improperly?
Do you see the disconnect in what you say? I'm sure there are gay people out there that don't care if someone uses "gay" to mean stupid or an insult, but just because some might not care, doesn't mean I would use it that way because there are people that do feel it is wrong to be used that way.
Antisocial as a colloquial way to say not wanting to be around people is incorrect to begin with because the term people want is asocial. using terms incorrectly is a sign of stupidity in people in that they get their knowledge from pop culture and then use terms like this flippantly with disregard. It's the OP's complaint derives from. The issue is how your words affect people that actually suffer from issues and you deeming them as being "too sensitive" is a slap in the face. No one here is an idiot, we get context, the issue is that doesn't matter more than how it effects people.
What a bunch of bull shit.
The OP gives two examples, the bipolar one which I have never heard once in my life.
And then OCD, which is super common, and exists at lower levels then scrubbing your hands bloody.
There are levels to mental illness, and people should be able to discuss them. You do not have to be at the extreme to joke or refer to your "minor" OCD.
If you get high levels of anxiety because everything is not at perfect right angles in your house, or any visible garbage in your home exists..... or maybe you have a weird fear of cotton balls like I do.
Without ridicule and humor concernig such tendencies, how are you going to get better? You need to remove the kid gloves. Unless they are made of cotton.
The OP gives two examples, the bipolar one which I have never heard once in my life.
And then OCD, which is super common, and exists at lower levels then scrubbing your hands bloody.
There are levels to mental illness, and people should be able to discuss them. You do not have to be at the extreme to joke or refer to your "minor" OCD.
If you get high levels of anxiety because everything is not at perfect right angles in your house, or any visible garbage in your home exists..... or maybe you have a weird fear of cotton balls like I do.
Without ridicule and humor concernig such tendencies, how are you going to get better? You need to remove the kid gloves. Unless they are made of cotton.
innervision961
Member
Mild cases of mental illness are just what we call normal.
* To elaborate, its highly unlikely there is anyone with real OCD who enjoys the affliction. Trust me when I tell you this as I battle it myself. And no, I don't wash my hands until they bleed, mine manifests as unwanted, negative or disturbing thoughts and phobias. People who like a clean and orderly works space, or home aren't mentally ill, people who MUST have a clean or tidy workspace otherwise they will be responsible for the gruesome death of a loved one, those are people who have OCD, and its unlikely they'll have a laugh about it, because if they could it wouldn't be an issue for them.
lvl99 Pixel
Member
what? who on earth would ever suggest that ridiculing illness is a necessary part of recovery?
innervision961
Member
Its not much different from getting an answer to a question wrong and saying "I'm so retarded" its just insensitive and not everyone deals with things the same way. Someone might not be bothered by people using terms like that, while someone else may be bothered tremendously by it. We have better tools in our language and we have them for a reason.
Some words are just too far gone at this point. If I lost my shit every time someone used the word idiot I'd never really be able to do anything else with my life. Life's too short, you know?
Not to say there aren't words that are definitely harmful and usage should definitely be relaxed, but some fights just aren't worth the effort.
While on the subject, I think the fight over "Retarded" is a lost cause. It's done away a lot with casual usage of the word itself, but when you look into the history of why the word was chosen in the first place and that all of its replacements are starting to be used in common language in insulting situations (eg "are you retarded?" has been replaced with "you're a little slow aren't you?"), I think the battle is just going to be a continually running treadmill till the end of days. More power to the people fighting the battle as I think it's a noble cause and all, but at the end of the day people are always going to belittle the mental capacity of others around them. Low hanging fruit, you know?
Not to say there aren't words that are definitely harmful and usage should definitely be relaxed, but some fights just aren't worth the effort.
While on the subject, I think the fight over "Retarded" is a lost cause. It's done away a lot with casual usage of the word itself, but when you look into the history of why the word was chosen in the first place and that all of its replacements are starting to be used in common language in insulting situations (eg "are you retarded?" has been replaced with "you're a little slow aren't you?"), I think the battle is just going to be a continually running treadmill till the end of days. More power to the people fighting the battle as I think it's a noble cause and all, but at the end of the day people are always going to belittle the mental capacity of others around them. Low hanging fruit, you know?
VaultBoy101
Member
There's a comedian who covered this topic a while back and made some points that caused me to stop and consider my feelings on this issue as it pertains to the use of language and its evolution. I'm not even sure to what degree I agree with this, to be honest. (Warning: some might find this offensive.)
Wag
Member
You can say you're compulsive without saying you have OCD.
May we all burn at the point we become this Nutz
Coincidently I just found a satirical Daily Mash article on this very matter:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...making-vague-claims-to-have-ocd-2015012394723
OCD is an anxiety disorder.
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...making-vague-claims-to-have-ocd-2015012394723
This is wrong.
OCD is an anxiety disorder.
I've used OCD in this forum already, so I feel I need to justify it...
My sister suffers from a really strong OCD, an uncommon one, enough for her example to be quoted in scientific studies (strong anxiety of causing harm to others... she feared she might be responsible for the tsunami a dozen years ago, to give you an example). Thanksfully, she's getting better.
I'll never downplay how hard it can be, after having seen her put alarm clocks in the middle if he night to check whether she still can see the difference between good and evil.
I still think the op is half-wrong. A large majority of people actually suffers from mild forms of OCD. It's usually mild enough to be of no consequence, at most an unease quickly forgotten. Having to check twice if you door is well locked, for example.
Yes, I feel bad when I get a scratch on something I own. Enough to feel sick for some time. That's definitively OCD, and I've had my sister's therapist confirming it a couple times when we discussed. Avoiding playing games because you're annoyed at not having a 100% in trophies list is, too.
If you feel uneasy for anything that shouldn't matter (or that other people don't bother with), that probably qualifies.
Yes, there's a huge world between those small issues most people have with some menial things and people who really suffer of a strong versions, having to take drugs just to be able to have some shadow of a normal life.
But when people joke about having OCD, they're actually probably right in most cases. Not an OCD requiring medical help if they can easily live with it, but still.
My sister suffers from a really strong OCD, an uncommon one, enough for her example to be quoted in scientific studies (strong anxiety of causing harm to others... she feared she might be responsible for the tsunami a dozen years ago, to give you an example). Thanksfully, she's getting better.
I'll never downplay how hard it can be, after having seen her put alarm clocks in the middle if he night to check whether she still can see the difference between good and evil.
I still think the op is half-wrong. A large majority of people actually suffers from mild forms of OCD. It's usually mild enough to be of no consequence, at most an unease quickly forgotten. Having to check twice if you door is well locked, for example.
Yes, I feel bad when I get a scratch on something I own. Enough to feel sick for some time. That's definitively OCD, and I've had my sister's therapist confirming it a couple times when we discussed. Avoiding playing games because you're annoyed at not having a 100% in trophies list is, too.
If you feel uneasy for anything that shouldn't matter (or that other people don't bother with), that probably qualifies.
Yes, there's a huge world between those small issues most people have with some menial things and people who really suffer of a strong versions, having to take drugs just to be able to have some shadow of a normal life.
But when people joke about having OCD, they're actually probably right in most cases. Not an OCD requiring medical help if they can easily live with it, but still.
I agree.
MrToughPants
Brian Burke punched my mom
Lmao, what?
clearacell
Member
yup, I have general anxiety disorder and as a product of that, I have certain levels of OCD, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and somewhat regularly get sleep paralysis.
None of this stuff is fun, but I also don't get too offended when someone uses them lightly considering anxiety has become just so common in our society and especially in large cities.
there are also levels. I mean, my OCD happens when I bump one side of my body, I feel compelled to harm the other side of my body so that it is "even". If someone changes things around me while I'm asleep, I will absolutely know and I will get furiously angry, like yelling and blood pressure going like 200/160 (yes, I check). I remember one time my dad put a letter from the mail near my head while I took a nap and I got up and I couldn't stop being angry the rest of the day (I assume the fight or flight response was fight). these may seem mild to most, but I consider them OCD.
A Link to the Past
Banned
1. The existence of people with minor forms of OCD does not constitute a lack of justification for this criticism, especially given that OP is not targeting people with minor afflictions, but rather people who have none at all. It's certainly not as though OP linked to people who did it, so implying a witch hunt is not appropriate.
2. I've heard people use bipolar in a similar fashion.
3. On the exact same coin, someone w/ minor OCD telling people with major OCD to remove the kid gloves is absurd and kinda gross.
Yes, they're called normal human reactions and emotions. That's why "disorder" is appended to the Obsessive-Compulsive. Lots of people are either obsessive and/or compulsive to one degree or another. It's when it starts hitting certain criteria of negatively affecting your life that it's diagnosed as a disorder.
So you can be obsessive and/or compulsive without having OCD. By definition, disorders cause major problems in your life. If they don't, they're not disorders.
Anxiety is a good example. Everyone has anxiety. Everyone suffers from occasional negative outcomes due to anxiety. But not everyone has an anxiety disorder, where the anxiety is so frequent and/or extreme that they can't live a normal life with some sort of remediation.
Most people have some anxiety, some depression, etc. It's when the frequency and strength of those emotions starts ruining your life that we classify them as disorders. So plenty of people are sub-clinically obsessive and/or compulsive, but they don't have OCD. Lots of people have occasional depressed episodes, but they're short enough and infrequent enough that they aren't considered to have MDD. Lots of people have occasional unstable moods, but they don't have bipolar disorder.
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