The facts are harrowing—one of every four human beings will be diagnosed with a mental disorder in their lifetime. Half of these people will be younger than the age of 25 and 75 percent of these people will have a associate's degree or higher.
The newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) states that "a mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological or developmental processes underlying mental functioning."
However, for modern society, the topic of mental illness is somewhat of a scapegoat, just as much now as it was in the past. When I say in the past I mean many things. For example, homeless people would be placed in asylums in the early, modernized, days of America because it was mentally unstable to "choose" to live in poverty; a culture in Asia will throw people into an asylum for believing in any spiritual being. These people are ostracized because they deter from the societies cultural norms.
Yet today, people are pushed under the umbrella topic of mental disorders if they strike someone as different. If you decide to try something that is not culturally normal then you could be ostracized. Someone could say that you have a problem, clinically, when it comes to your mind. This is seen when someone who wears a lot of black clothing is said to be depressed simply because of their style, when in all reality they only like the color black.
People who sleep a lot during the day also are coined as depressed. Staying up late at night studying, watching a movie or TV, or even just staying awake does not mean that you have a psychological mood disorder.
Still, the words psychopath, delusional and insane get thrown around without any precaution; they get pinned on people who do not have a problem clinically just because they are deviating from the norms of the cultural society. They are ostracized by words.
Also, there are people who seem to believe that mental disorders do not actually exist. The fact of the matter is that psychological illnesses are just as real and just as prominent as physiological illnesses. People with schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, manic depression, Down's syndrome, autism and/or antisocial personality disorder are living proof that mental disorders exist and that they require the same, if not more, amount of care and treatment as physiological disorders. Each new revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is not for nothing -- it is there to help psychiatrists and psychologists diagnose and treat the mental illnesses that are so prominent today, just as there are medical journals and textbooks revised and edited every year to help doctors and surgeons diagnose and treat the physiological illnesses that are also so prominent.
What I am trying to say is that one should not "diagnose" someone with mental illnesses just because they come across as different. Do not use words like psychopath, sociopath, retarded (which is a word that I hate with a passion), delusional or schizo without taking time to learn about what those words mean and understanding that, everyday, there are people who suffer with the repercussions of these words. These illnesses are real and the people who suffer with them everyday are real.
So, before you use words to ostracize someone from your society, think about those words, think about the person who you are talking about, and think about the weight of those words. First of all, leave the person alone who seems different, let them live their life. Second, buy a dictionary and learn new words other than the aforementioned ones. Take some time to educate yourself on the backgrounds of these illnesses and what the words mean.
Learn kindness, then teach it.
