“I swear, every test in this class gives me a panic attack.”
“I’ve been so depressed today.”
“Sorry, I’m just so OCD!”
Chances are, you or one of your friends (even myself) are guilty of saying one of these sentences, or something along the lines of these, at least once. It’s natural not to completely think every word you’re saying through as you speak; nobody plans out every word in their head as they have a casual conversation with friends. This being said, using mental illnesses as adjectives is a severe faux pas that has to start being addressed for one main reason: it leads people to believe romanticizing mental illness is okay, and that these mental illnesses aren’t serious.
The romanticization of mental illness is a huge problem among teenagers today. Go through a tumblr or Twitter feed, and it’s easy to find quotes, pictures and videos about depression, self-harm, alcoholism, anxiety, eating disorders or any other mental illness you can find in the DSM-V. The most troubling part about these posts? They depict beautifully thin girls gently clutching their stomachs, holding razors, holding liquor bottles, almost advertising themselves as the “face” of mental illness: tall, beautiful, thin, ideal. There are posts about finding love through a mental illness, suggesting that adoration from someone who is equally troubled is not only the best way of overcoming mental illness but the only way. Healthy alternatives like seeking a professional opinion or help from a trusted adult, therapy, or medicine are not presented as an option in any way, shape, or form, causing teenagers to self-diagnose. Suddenly, every bout of nerves before a test is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Every naturally thin person must be suffering from anorexia or bulimia. Mood swings? Must be safe to assume it’s bipolar disorder. This cycle of self-diagnosing leads to not only a lack of respect for those who truly suffer from mental illness, but to a comparison of who has the worst problems.
Anyone who is truly affected by or studies mental illness can agree that most mental illnesses, although showing similar symptoms, manifest themselves in a variety of ways. For example, someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder may have an obsession with germs leading to a compulsion to clean, but another individual with the same diagnoses may suffer from an obsession with the number seven, leading to a compulsion to group all their actions into sets of seven. Despite this knowledge being widespread in the mental illness community, most people assume OCD equals an obsession with cleanliness due to the image put out by the media and social networking sites. This stereotype can cause many people to discredit those who actually suffer from OCD that simply shows itself in a different form; it is highly humiliating, confusing and frustrating to those who deal with this disorder every day that they don't “really have OCD.”
Mental illness is not a trend as it is shown on various television shows, social media posts and commercials. Depression is not a beautiful girl crying and being comforted by loving friends, family and an equally beautiful boy; it is lonely, exhausting and life-threatening. A panic attack is not feeling your stomach drop when your teacher announces a pop quiz; it is gasping for breath, throwing up, sobbing about a fear that may not even be a real threat. Eating disorders are not skipping dinner; they are teaching yourself how to quietly vomit on command, being forced to eat and knowing you have to punish yourself later, and crying in pain from stomach cramps. Bipolar disorder is not simple mood swings; it is intense depression and mania. Schizophrenia is not talking to yourself as you clean your room; it can be a terrifying mirage of voices coming from nowhere and even visions, threatening you and the ones you love. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is not organizing your closet by color; it is washing your hands until they bleed, being late for work because you haven’t finished your daily rituals in exactly the right fashion or going into a panic when you’re in a situation where you cannot perform your compulsion. Diagnosing yourself and advertising yourself as the “face” of these illnesses when you are not truly affected by them is not only offensive and humiliating to those who live with these illnesses every day, but disrespectful to those who have lost their lives due to these illnesses. Instead of making yourself the center of attention through a false diagnosis or trivializing these illnesses through jokes and using them as slang, lift up those who live with these debilitating symptoms.
If you truly believe you may suffer from a mental illness, please reach out to a family member, friend or a trusted adult. Until then, stop self-diagnosing, romanticizing and trivializing diseases that have taken too many lives as it is.
