Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Does anyone else mental health issues are thrown around too much?

121 replies

Justwingingit2005 · 07/03/2023 22:41

A friend of mine offered to book a table for a get together. It's this Friday and had assured us it was booked in the group chat. Tonight its come to light she didn't book it and when questioned why did she lie as someone would have booked it said 'my mental health is suffering'. I know appearances are often put on, but we've known her 20 years. When she forgets its always mental health.
Also people commenting on cleaning saying they are 'a bit ocd'.
I feel these are downgrading just how hard mental health is. Ocd can be crippling, and these terms shouldn't be thrown around.

OP posts:
Nimbostratus100 · 07/03/2023 22:42

yep, it is used as a get out clause for anything and everything

XenoBitch · 07/03/2023 22:43

It sounds like your friend is using it as an excuse after possibly just being rubbish about organising your night out.

PinkButtercups · 07/03/2023 22:45

The OCD one winds me right up because I have OCD and it isn't just about having a tidy and clean house 😡

NCSQ · 07/03/2023 22:48

Yep. Every Gen-Z employee at my office has to be treated with kids gloves due to self-diagnosed 'anxiety'.

Sorry to those that actually suffer, but these don't. More often than not it is a hangover!

XenoBitch · 07/03/2023 22:48

PinkButtercups · 07/03/2023 22:45

The OCD one winds me right up because I have OCD and it isn't just about having a tidy and clean house 😡

I had a friend who said her kitchen was clean and tidy "cos of OCD".
I know a few people with OCD, and being clean and tidy is not part of it at all!
Hoarding can be part of OCD.

zorgoid · 07/03/2023 22:51

I know appearances are often put on, but we've known her 20 years. When she forgets its always mental health.

Do you not think for the last 20 years she's been trying to tell you all is not as it seems when you meet her?

PinkButtercups · 07/03/2023 22:54

@XenoBitch 🙄 if only it was that easy.

I wish I could leave my house each morning without having to do my rigorous and mentally draining checks without the intrusive thought making me do it!

SunshineGeorgie · 07/03/2023 22:54

It's only going to get worse as it's fashionable to indulge it these days

In the workplace, who is picking up the slack for it though?

XenoBitch · 07/03/2023 22:56

PinkButtercups · 07/03/2023 22:54

@XenoBitch 🙄 if only it was that easy.

I wish I could leave my house each morning without having to do my rigorous and mentally draining checks without the intrusive thought making me do it!

Yep, exactly that! It is about the rituals and checking... both totally exhausting.

SpinningFloppa · 07/03/2023 22:58

I think people do this with other stuff as well. Someone posted on a Facebook group about her friends son sending her a really rude message and it was “maybe he has autism/ adhd” because kids can’t just be mean anymore 🤦🏻

CandleInTheStorm · 07/03/2023 23:00

My ex was like that. When it came to anyone else he had no empathy and would lecture about "drinking water/eating nutritious foods/exercising " to feel better. Yet when it came to his bone idle ass it was always "I've got mental health" and if you gave him his own advice about water, food and exercise it was shut down.

JoonT · 07/03/2023 23:01

It drives me mad when people say "I've got mental elf". You mean you've got a mental illness. If you've got mental health then you're lucky!

XenoBitch · 07/03/2023 23:04

JoonT · 07/03/2023 23:01

It drives me mad when people say "I've got mental elf". You mean you've got a mental illness. If you've got mental health then you're lucky!

There is an episode of '999: What is Your Emerency?' that featured a lady I was in therapy with. She was on there saying "I got mental elf!" too.

Everyone has mental health.

IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls · 07/03/2023 23:05

@Justwingingit2005 i am a mental health practitioner and completely agree with you re the terms OCD being thrown around.

OCD significantly affects people's functioning and quality of life and when by lay people invalidates the experience of those who really struggle.

EachandEveryone · 07/03/2023 23:17

SunshineGeorgie · 07/03/2023 22:54

It's only going to get worse as it's fashionable to indulge it these days

In the workplace, who is picking up the slack for it though?

At our work place (hospital) its those of us that are 40 plus! Having to work over time to fill in for all the last minute or long term sickness of the twenty somethings. And dont get me started on the ones that turn up for a shift and twenty minutes later go home due to “anxiety” leaving the rest of us running around like headless chickens. I dont know what on earth is going on,

MrsDoylesDoily · 07/03/2023 23:26

'Anxiety' is being thrown around too, ridiculously so.

So many people saying 'I have anxiety' or 'I suffer with anxiety', when they just mean they're anxious about something, which is a totally normal/human thing.

PriamFarrl · 07/03/2023 23:31

EachandEveryone · 07/03/2023 23:17

At our work place (hospital) its those of us that are 40 plus! Having to work over time to fill in for all the last minute or long term sickness of the twenty somethings. And dont get me started on the ones that turn up for a shift and twenty minutes later go home due to “anxiety” leaving the rest of us running around like headless chickens. I dont know what on earth is going on,

Show quote history

What’s going to happen in 20 years time when the rest of us retire? Who is going to pick up the slack then.

There are, of course, people who do have genuine mental health issues, but liking stuff a bit tidy or not liking being told what to do doesn’t count. Especially when it turns out you diagnosed yourself.

XenoBitch · 07/03/2023 23:38

MrsDoylesDoily · 07/03/2023 23:26

'Anxiety' is being thrown around too, ridiculously so.

So many people saying 'I have anxiety' or 'I suffer with anxiety', when they just mean they're anxious about something, which is a totally normal/human thing.

This.
Depressed and anxious seems to get chucked about a lot.
Anxious about an exam...? That is normal
Depressed about a break up? That is also normal

It seems that any negative feelings nowadays are bad and need MH treatment and a diagnosis.

ComtesseDeSpair · 08/03/2023 00:10

There’s a lot of money to be made from the medicalisation of ordinary emotions. Self help books, life coaches, counselling, therapy, meditation, wellbeing courses. It’s to the benefit of the people who trade in all of this to encourage more people to believe that their poor behaviours or the way they’re feeling must be because of childhood attachment problems, or hidden trauma, or emotional damage or mental illness that they need to spend years in expensive therapy or coaching for; rather than just ordinary anxiety or sadness (or laziness) that we all experience from time to time. Thus I don’t totally blame the people who’ve been taken in by it. It’s easier to convince yourself that you’re unwell or damaged than to take responsibility for yourself sometimes, especially when there are so many people motivated to help you believe it.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 08/03/2023 00:24

Absolutely 100% what Comtesse just said.

With massive great knobs on.

shattered25 · 08/03/2023 00:28

I get embarrassed with my mental health now as I assume that it will be taken as a get out clause due to people using it all the time 😭 which means no one knows until I have a meltdown and I just feel so embarrassed and it makes it worse. If I ever mention OCD people will roll their eyes, even though my hands are scabs and in my teens it led me to be suicidal do to the rigid rituals constantly keeping me up for days... deffo not just being tidy!

Northernsouloldies · 08/03/2023 00:36

Having been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and depression is hardly a laugh, wish I didn't have it. 20min late for a shift ain't anxiety, your just late.

Emptycrackedcup · 08/03/2023 00:44

I lost someone a few years ago to mental health, so think it's great people can be more open about these things. Even myself, as a new mum its good to be able to be open when you're struggling. I also think that some people do overuse it. Overall I think it's better that people speak about it more I think

Somebodiesmother · 08/03/2023 01:03

Do we have to have a rerun of this thread every three days? As a person with serious mental health issues it sure puts me in my place.

echt · 08/03/2023 01:08

Somebodiesmother · 08/03/2023 01:03

Do we have to have a rerun of this thread every three days? As a person with serious mental health issues it sure puts me in my place.

But it's not about you, it's about the casual use of mental health issues that diminish the real experience of those who suffer.

Swipe left for the next trending thread