"Oh my god I can't find my phone, I'm gonna have a panic attack."

"I'm so OCD, my room is always organized."

"This music is making me feel so depressed."

"I can't decide what to wear, the weather has been so bipolar lately."

We've all heard phrases similar to these used on a regular basis; people will apologize for not paying attention and say they are "so ADD" or say that someone looks "so anorexic" because they are on the thinner side. Mental illnesses are conditions that should be taken just as seriously as cancer or any other physical illness; by throwing them around as commonly as we do, we are taking away from their seriousness.

Panic attacks are terrifying episodes of intense and often debilitating fear in which the person experiencing it feels completely out of control of their own mind and body. So, when people claim to be experiencing a panic attack after realizing that their phone is not in the place they thought it was it takes away the legitimacy of the term. In implying that it is a way someone chooses to act in only certain situations, we are diluting the very real experiences of people who suffer from a mental illness.

OCD is so much more than just "being organized." It is unwanted, repetitive thoughts that and behaviors that drive a person to do something over and over again. It is complex and not a choice; while many people have "obsessive tendencies," Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is not the result of being a neat person, nor is it something to claim you have when you do not. Just because you color code your pens doesn't mean you have a very real mental illness.

Depression is not just feeling a bit sad. It is laying in bed unable to move because your body feels too heavy and you don't see the point of getting up. It is being upset for weeks without an obvious reason, constant exhaustion from fighting your own mind just to keep going everyday. It is a feeling of hopelessness that appears to have no end in sight and sometimes it is feeling like your only option is to end it all. Feeling sad can be uncomfortable, and yes maybe a song made you emotional, but music does not instantaneously make you depressed and by claiming that it does you are taking away from the very real mental health issues of those who deal with depression.

Bipolar is not a word that can be used to characterize the weather; the weather does not have manic episodes followed by depressive episodes that appear to be never ending. The weather cannot feel all the emotions that a human person can, and even if it could describing it as bipolar is inaccurate beyond belief. Bipolar is not simply changing your mind constantly, it is a mental illness that causes severe mood shifts that can sometimes be debilitating to the person diagnosed with it. People with bipolar disorder are not simply choosing to act differently; there is no decision made to have bipolar or to "act bipolar."

As a college student, it is rare to go a full day without hearing someone misuse the name of a mental illness. It is all too common to hear people claim that they're going to kill themselves if they don't do well on their exam or that they are going to go anorexic in order to fit into their formal dress. What people don't realize is that if all of us are using these phrases, then the person who is actually considering doing something like dying by suicide or starving themselves gets drowned out. While mental illnesses and mental health concepts should be normalized and the stigma should be taken away from them, they should not be so commonplace that they lose their meaning.

Mental illnesses are very real and the people who deal with them are the strongest people you will ever meet. Not only do those people have to deal with the emotional and physical symptoms of their illness, but they also have to deal with hearing many people around them using their illness as a thrown around word. You wouldn't say "oh my god, I'm going to get cancer if I do badly on this test," so why would you say "oh my god, I'm going to kill myself if I do badly on this test"? Mental illnesses are not phrases to be thrown around lightly; to the people they impact they are very real--don't take away the legitimacy of their struggles.