In today's world mental health issues have become a very light-hearted topic. People often say things like "I'm so depressed" when they're upset or "I hate messes because I have such bad OCD!" People love to joke around even when the topic is very serious. Millions of people in the United States alone live with a number of different mental illnesses ranging from depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and more. People who live with these illnesses know what it's really like and it's hurtful for them to be the butt of people's jokes, even if it's not to be cruel.
People with depression know that clinical depression isn't just one bad day.
It's feeling like you can't even leave your bed for days.
People with anxiety know that it's not just being nervous before a presentation.
It's being terrified to leave the house.
People with panic disorder know that panic attacks aren't usually caused by worrying about an exam.
It's when you feel like you have no control over anything going on and you freeze.
People with severe obsessive compulsive disorder know that it's not about just liking things neat.
It's having to repeat a task over and over again until you're satisfied.
People with bipolar disorder don't just have mood swings.
It's when they have really high highs and really low lows over a period of time.
Now obviously everyone experiences these illnesses in a wide variety of different ways and that doesn't make the way they experience their illness any less valid.
If everyone could think twice about "misdiagnosing" themselves with the above listed illnesses or any illness for that matter, than people who actually do experience these will be a lot more comfortable. We should work together and help normalize mental health issues and educate each other on what it means to experience them. We shouldn't joke about them when we don't even understand them.
