If there's one thing that all of my friends know about me, it's that I am a big fan of many shows. I'm also a very passionate fan, to the point where when I watch TV, everyone in the room must be quiet so that we can all hear what's going on. However, on the last episode of a show called, "My Diet is Better Than Yours," I heard something pretty disturbing.
On the aforementioned show, five Americans who are clinically obese are paired up with the diet expert of their choosing in order to lose a significant amount of weight so they can change their lives for the better and potentially win $50,000. However, one woman on the show was going through some tough life experiences (i.e., she was getting a divorce) and did not seem to be getting along with her trainer/expert. All of this stress built up to the point where she was shutting herself off emotionally and refused to cooperate with her trainer/expert. When the host of the show asked the woman's trainer about her behavior, the trainer said that her trainee was lashing out on her emotionally because of the stresses of the competition and life, and should probably seek some professional help (like going to a therapist). The contestant then responded, "Did she just call me crazy?"
I sat up in my chair as the words escaped the woman's mouth. "Did she just call me crazy?" Why is it that if you go to a therapist, you are crazy?Although her trainer did call her out on a national platform, what she said was unforgivable in my eyes. The thing that also scares me is that there are people who think that going to therapy or having a mental illness means that you are, indeed, crazy. No one who goes to therapy or has a mental disorder deserves to be called crazy. And here's why.
First of all, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the United States. Approximately one in four adult Americans live with a mental disorder. I wonder how a quarter of the audience of this show felt as they watched someone call them "crazy".
Second, as a future psychologist and future advocate for those who are living with mental disorders, it is extremely unfair to call those who are living with a mental disorder (and in some cases multiple mental disorders) crazy. People with mental disorders have the potential to be just as functional as those without mental disorders. There are people out there who fight with depression or anxiety or other mental illnesses and still go to work, raise a family and try to live normal lives. There are people with mental disorders who attend therapy, take medication and attempt to regulate their emotions. These people do not deserve to be called crazy.
Lastly, it is thought by many psychologists and psychology students that mental disorders are dimensional rather than categorical. In the dimensional model of mental illness, everyone falls under the spectrum, or bell curve, of mental illness. Whether you fall on the end of the bell curve where the disorder is negligible or nonexistent, or you fall under the end of the bell curve where the disorder is severe, we all fall underneath this bell curve. So to say that someone should go to therapy because they are experiencing distress in their life should not be taken as an insult, but rather a possible option to conquer one's problems.
The stigma against people who see a therapist or people who live with mental illness needs to end. Just because you may need a little extra help solving and conquering the stressors life throws your way does not make you crazy, it makes you human. We are all wandering through this life, taking it one step at a time, trying to figure out how to deal. We all need help at some point in our lives, whether it's from a religious leader, a friend, a parent, a teacher, or even a psychologist. So let's not shame people for trying to get help to live a better life.
