"I swear she's so bipolar". "Why do you have to be so ADD?" As a student, I think I've heard almost all of these carless comments on mental illness. And the sad thing is that not a lot of people understand that there is a difference between joking around with friends and laughing at someone else's expense. There is a difference between a discussion on mental illness and jokes that continue to prolong stereotypes and stigma.
I once saw a link titled “100 Jokes to Make About People Who Are OCD” trending on my newsfeed. I also saw a PlayBuzz quiz titled “How OCD Are You?" It really is sad to see that quizzes and articles like these downgrade the experience of OCD to nothing more than an idiosyncrasy, a quirk and something that validates laughter. Sadly, these quizzes and articles that belittle this condition are all admired and loved by people like you and me. People with OCD are often a caricature for tenacious perfectionists, the center of the joke on several tv shows and an over-used punch-line for stand-up comedy. And I honestly don’t think I have gone a week without hearing the phrase “You’re so OCD” used in a conversation to explain behaviors that are merely perfectionistic.
I’ve heard the phrase “someone forgot to take their pills this morning." Many say this when they’re trying to find out a reason as to why someone may be freaking out. If someone with a mental health condition didn’t take their medication, they wouldn’t start freaking out, or acting “weird." It could actually be very serious. In some cases, it could be life or death. No one jokes about someone missing their heart medication or insulin, and for those who have to take medicine for mental illness, it is the same thing. No matter whether or not someone has a mental illness, making a comment like this to anyone is demeaning the 18.2 percent of Americans who suffer from a mental illness.
I’ve also heard:
“Ugh, she is so schizo”.
"[celebrity] is psychotic”
“*He definitely has a disorder”.
“Oh my God. You’re so bipolar”
“She is so ADD”
And the list goes on. mental health conditions aren’t words you can throw around to describe people. If your friendship with someone was up and down, that doesn’t mean your friend has a bipolar disorder. Someone acting carelessly doesn’t mean they have ADD. The politician whose ideas you don’t like is not psychotic. And when people make careless comments like that, it becomes clear that they do not know that one can be accomplished, of sound mind and also struggle with a mental illness. Your friend who appears to be very relaxed could have severe anxiety. Your doctor ,who is very successful, could have a bipolar disorder. There are so many people who are prospering with mental health conditions because they have obtained treatment and worked extremely hard to get where they are today. So calling people who act negatively mentally ill would be degrading to all the effort some have put in to control their mental health condition. Don’t get me wrong, I think humor is very therapeutical. But there is a difference between raising awareness for mental illness and further perpetuating stereotypes and stigma.
So learn and educate yourself before you make a joke and think about who you could be insulting or hurting. I say it's time for us to stop joking around and laughing at the expense of people with mental health conditions, and it's time we start fighting against the stigma, educate people and raise awareness.
