I have mental health

This phrase makes my teeth itch with rage, and needs to be on the post a few days ago about words/phrases that make you feel crazy 🤪

I've seen it phrased like this on social media a few times. Like someone else said, we ALL have mental health. Could be good mental health, problematic mental health issues, a mental illness...so it's like an unfinished sentence. It's pretty clear what the person is trying to state though, it's just a misunderstanding like a spelling mistake.

It's more the media than on here. But you are right op, it's like saying I have a head and expecting people to work out you've a fractured skull.

But that's just it. Anyone with a genuine mental health disorder/condition/illness will know to say it the correct way. Not 'I have mental health'. This alone would make me question how genuine this person's illness is...

You're right OP. I hear this all the time and it really irks me. It should be 'I have mental heath issues' or 'I have a mental illness', not 'I have mental health'. It makes ZERO sense.

This.

I can't find the thread now but I asked years ago, under a different user name, what the term mental health meant to people because I was realising that people were using it as a whole thing rather than saying there was an issue with their mental health.

To me mental is an indicator of where or what the health problem is, like physical would be.

Oh actually this does remind me, a friend once sent me a screenshot of a man's tinder profile in which he wrote some absurd and very offensive list of criteria, things like "no lip filler, no gold diggers, no sluts" and right at the end "no mental health". It made us smile, as you would indeed have to have no mental health to swipe on someone like that.

I have had enduring and at times severe mental illness since I was 14 with first signs starting much earlier than that.

I hear the term a lot in reference to wellbeing and mental health awareness. I generally find the term very othering as it doesn't reflect a mental health experience that matches mine. It's often associated with statements like "mental health doesn't mean you can't work or can't look after your children or pets or pot plants" well actually my experience of mental health absolutely does at times me I can't work and rely on my partner to look after both me and our child.

I also find people that use the term to often suggest diet, supplements and exercise as an appropriate treatment for my mental illness and well I tried that and I got acutely unwell without appropriate medication I could have lost my life.

For me it can be used by people who are seeking solidarity about their cold from someone with COPD and not realising that there day to day and month to month experiences differ significantly

I find the phrase extremely irritating.

Surely the correct phrase is to say 'I am mentally ill'.

Saying 'I have mental health' enables some people to equate the normal range of human emotion to being ill.

If someone said to me they had "mental health" or "physical health" I would assume they meant "good" mental or physical health unless they explained further!

I have only seen that very few times, from people with poor literacy in general. The complete sentence is "I have poor mental health" or "I have mental health problems". I think people use it as an incomplete sentence missing the last thing.

"My mental health is through the roof" quoted upthread is interesting because there is nothing literally wrong with that, it's just that metaphors in our culture tend to be up = good / lots, down = bad / not much. So "my mental health is on the floor", "my mental health is at rock bottom" make sense metaphorically in this context.

I think the people who say this are probably the very last group of people who need a thread made pointing out their error. If someone has poor mental health or mental health issues (whichever you prefer) you should give them a bloody break.

I'm a therapist and that phrase bugs me too. I have heard so many people say they've "got mental health"!
Agree it is an incomplete sentence and useless information on its own.

i agree. You can say you’ve got bad mental health or mental health issues, but not just ‘mental health’

I agree, I hear this all the time. It has entered the lexicon, like 'myself' and 'yourself' instead of me and you.

YANBU. Everyone has mental health. Some people have good mental health. Some people may have mental health illness / conditions. But we all have mental health. Like we all have physical health it just might be good or poor.

No need for the snarky emoji.

I've seen it in multiple threads. Probably because it annoys me so much so I notice it every time. The same way I notice when a poster puts should of, would of etc. We notice the things that irritate us.

I think you're right but I've only ever heard this from people with poor literacy or learning difficulties so I think it's worth being understanding on the internet when you don't know a person's background.

Entirely agree it’s nonsense; also my youngest DD20 is housebound and pretty much nonfunctional due to mental illness - let’s call it what it is - a neuro-psychiatric disorder. Yet it’s all lumped in under this “mental health” that people appear to have! It’s grammatically incorrect, clinically incorrect and serves to mislead and minimise. Anyway, good thread OP.

Even worse is they’ve got ‘the mental health.’ Agree with you OP.

I've never seen nor heard it used like that, thank goodness!

Same!

Omg yes!!! I say this all the time to my partner, it just makes no sense. Everyone has mental health… but are you trying to say good/bad MH? Grinds my gears

I see/hear it all the time, not necessarily on Mumsnet but definitely social media/IRL. It's really annoying.

I've seen this

Such a stupid sentence