Mental Health v Poor Mental Health

[Zaphodsotherhead]

Is it me? So many posts lately saying things like 'my DP suffers from mental health' or similar. Surely you don't suffer from mental health, mental health of varying degrees is what everybody has? You can suffer from poor mental health, or your mental health can be poor or good, but you can't have 'mental health'.

Am I just being pedantic because I don't have enough to worry about, or is this starting to become a 'thing'?

No you're not being pedantic, everyone has mental health, not everyone has a mental health disorder.

Yes people are using the terms incorrectly.
You wouldn't say "my husband suffers from physical health" if he has cancer. Seems to be a buzz phrase.

Yes it drives me absolutely nuts, I almost made a thread on it it the other day. It’s not new either, I’ve noticed it for years. As someone who has suffered mental illness to varying degrees for decades I am perhaps heightened to it.

You don’t suffer from health, you’re either well or you suffer from illness.
How about saying ‘they have mental illness’ or even ‘they have depression/Bipolar disorder/anxiety’ whatever. Why not name it?

THANK YOU!!!! My God this drives me crazy. I have mental health. Well I'd certainly fucking hope so! Arghhhh! It's my biggest irritant lately along with a lovely friend whose posts I cant read because she frequently says "due to the fact of that I xyz" or "when worst comes to works" and I give myself ulcers from biting my tongue. It doesn't even make sense!

and breathe

It's a bit pedantic. Yes, you're strictly correct, but there's hardly any room for misinterpretation.

It's like saying you're 'on a diet' - yes, strictly speaking, this is meaningless, as your diet is just the word for what you eat, and you should really say 'low-calorie diet' or similar. But everyone knows what you mean.

I feel your rage, it bugs the hell out of me too. Then again I am very pedantic so all errors bother me.
I find it equally annoying when people say "my son is ASD." No, your son HAS ASD, he is autistic but no-one can be ASD.
Does it bother anyone else when people say "my SEN child?" I find it very reductive and a little dehumanizing. Not to mention the fact most people say SEN when they mean SN. They aren't the same thing people 😡 There was a thread recently with "my SEN child" in the thread title, in their first post it clarified their child had autism. So why not just say autistic child instead of the unhelpfully vague SEN child? Ah, ranting about such pedantry is very cathartic.

Not pedantic at all. It’s inaccurate and irritating.

Yes you may say poor mental health, good mental health or mental health probs. But Mental health in itself is meaningless.

Yanbu. It winds me up.
Good mental health or poor mental health. Even that sound a bit vague now I've typed it.

Couldn't agree more, so irritating!

Yanbu! I thought it was only me who gets irritated by that phrase!

I know this is chat, but YANBU OP!
It drives me crazy when people say they suffer from mental health. Mental health is a good thing! Just like physical health - we should strive for both.
Mental ill health or disorders are the worry.
I wish people would take more care of their wording & start talking about mental health as a good thing. It would have more positive connotations and less stigma if people used it correctly.

Thank you! I thought I was the only one that gets irrationally irritated when someone uses this phrase YANB pedantic.

YANBU!!!
I think it's a way of avoiding the phrase 'mental illness' because mental health awareness has made the terminology more palatable. I always feel a bit sceptical when people use the phraseology wrong, which I know makes me ridiculous, I just think "No medical professional said that to you."

If you can understand the post, I don’t see the problem. Mumsnet have a specific topic for people like you though, they’ll love you over there. 😬

I'm glad people agree with me.

And I do object to people who say 'as long as you can understand what they mean...' I mean, I can make myself understood in German, but only at a very rudimentary level, it doesn't mean I shouldn't want to improve my use of the German language, does it?

I agree - everyone has mental & physical health

My ex used to say it. Bless his heart, he was a bit dim. Clearly he was suffering from “intelligence health” [sic].