“Oh my gosh I’m gonna have a panic attack if they don't have this sweater in my size” complained the girl next to me in Forever 21. Now, I understand her frustration because who wants to miss out on a good deal? What I don’t get is her exaggerated response. Is she really going to have a panic attack? Does she truly know what experiencing a panic attack is like? A common misconception many people make today is that they use terms such as “panic attack” or “depressed” to describe their everyday problems. People do not realize that the mental illnesses they are using as adjectives are actual experiences many people struggle with daily.
To have depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, eating disorders or any other mental illnesses is not an exaggeration. It is understandable that people who do not suffer from said disorders don’t truly realize what it is like for people who do, but that is no excuse to use such terms so loosely. If the girl in Forever 21 had ever experienced a legitimate panic attack, I don’t think she would be comparing it to such a minuscule problem. People dismissing the significance of their words to those who truly suffer from said disorders are contributing to the societal problem of ignorance regarding the issue. A girl wishing she had ADHD, so she could qualify for medication and extra time on tests, is an example of how society misconceives mental disorders. Those who do not have first hand experience may never truly relate to the issue it creates, but it does not mean they must contribute.
Imagine if you had to take a medication to control the way you think. That alone puts enough weight on one person, let alone having to deal with strangers making fun at the issues they face regularly. Overcoming mental disorders takes a lot of courage and patience. We as a society should be supportive and understanding of those who struggle with such problems. For example, many criminals or drug users are people who struggle with mental illnesses, yet people hesitate to have compassion for them because they committed a crime. We forget to consider what goes on in people’s heads and what they may struggle with because we get so consumed by our main priority- ourselves.
By no means am I saying that we should dismiss all crimes committed by someone with a mental illness; I mean that we should consider reaching out to those who struggle before they turn to destructive habits. Some people are scared to open up about their problems because they’ve had people tell them their struggles are not legitimate. A common misconception is that a disorder such as anxiety is just an “over exaggeration used for attention.” We need to stop dismissing such things because they do not directly affect us.
Since the field of psychology has been making significant advancements in terms of understanding mental disorders in the past years, awareness is also steadily increasing. If we want to overcome the misconceptions and begin to support people that face the challenge of overcoming a mental illness, then we should begin by stopping the overuse and exaggeration of these terms.
