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

[Justwingingit2005]

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.

It is not the fault of the person who is away from work on sickness absence if the manager gives too much work to remaining colleagues.

This is another reason why there are widespread MH issues in the workplace - because managers do not treat employees fairly and put undue pressure to cover absence onto them.

This could not happen historically when work was physical.

The manager has no choice but to spread the work out among remaining colleagues. Legally they cannot ‘replace’ the person signed off. What other option is there?

Of course the manager has options.

You seem intent on blaming people with MH problems for all ills. Obviously you would prefer it if people were repressed, perhaps you were brought up that way, but you just need to accept the world has moved on. It is not going back to the 1950s however much you want it to.

I have OCD that can be crippling and exhausting, similar to @ThisIsWednesday sisters husband. If my DP isn't home/working away at night then I set alarms every hour to check that the gas oven hasn't somehow turned it's own hobs on and that none of the switches have turned themselves on, because if I don't do that then the house will obviously set on fire and we'll all die.

I had a job interview last year where the employer was talking about being a "little bit OCD" about the work tasks being done how they should be, said with a little giggle, I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling to the back of my skull.

My daughter has really struggled with her mental health and has been diagnosed with social anxiety and is now on medication. At its worst, she couldn’t leave her bedroom, let alone the house, without a panic attack. She’s now on medication which is helping - she says she feels ‘normal’ and feels like she worries about ‘normal stuff now’ (her words).

I find that people just roll their eyes, it’s ‘just’ anxiety, ‘just stop worrying’ - as if we didn’t think of that and it was that easy.

She hasn’t been diagnosed with OCD, but when she’s struggling with her anxiety she does fall back on OCD-type tendencies (it is something CAMHS are currently considering).

It does frustrate me when MiL claims she’s a bit OCD because she likes a clean house. I like all the light switches to line up properly in the downstairs hall way - it doesn’t mean I’m a “bit OCD”.

My daughter also has Tourette’s and we get flippant comments all the time - someone having a big sweary rant - “oh, I have Tourette’s ha ha ha”. No you fucking don’t.

Find it’s even worse if you try to talk to people about genuine severe and enduring mental illness.

I have CPTSD and OCD and an eating disorder, and live with daily, severe anxiety, episodes of dissociation that have seen me hospitalised, self harm, suicidal ideation and am overseen by a CMHT, frequently use crisis service and am called every 2 nights by ‘response service’ who’s sole job it is, is to keep me out of hospital and functioning at a basic level. I can’t do normal things like go to Tesco or walk to the bottom of my street, or even take the bins out on a bad day.

But people don’t want to know about that! - they just want to talk about mild anxiety before an exam or feeling a bit weepy when tired!!!!

I can’t think of a single other topic that I hear about so regularly:
In work
On the radio
On TV
On every social media platform
From friends and family
I’m even bombarded with emails about mental
health from my university where I am a long distance student

Literally not a single area of respite from it unless I’m in bed.

Leave. Me. Alone 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

What do you want them to say? (Non goady question). The thing is, the tiniest comment is taken as a microaggression or ‘offensive’ now so people play it safe by not saying anything. I can’t really blame them.

It's a bit like separation anxiety isn't it? Plenty of kids would rather be at home than at school. Schools can be miserable places, I hated school and so do my dc. No I didn't have separation anxiety and nor do my kids, but schools can be hell on earth for those that don't fit the mould. I am aware that some children really do have separation anxiety which does cause very real issues, but not wanting to go to school is pretty bloody normal I think.

I don’t hear about any of those things in work, apart from the pandemic for obvious reasons. I don’t receive direct unwanted emails about them and people don’t write endless posts about them on social media. They’re ‘news’ so they’re just on radio and TV as you would expect, but I don’t feel bombarded from every angle.

Just want to say @HallucinationQ I agree with everything you're saying.

I can't for the life of me think why you would want to enter into a discussion on this thread then.

Yep and schools LOVE to say that kids are upset because of separation anxiety. Because it deflects any attention from them.

I had my first episode of depression at 12 , I wouldn't get out of bed or even speak. I would harm myself. I was admitted to a psychiatric unit for 9 months. Mine is like a genetic thing my DM has Bipolar and my DGF has schizophrenia. Thankfully I'm quite stable mostly but no I don't really share it with anyone but I work within MH and most staff are quite open about their diagnosis but most people who share have been diagnosed with something. I wouldn't talk to many people about my mental elf if I was having a bad day, I'd say it's a bad day not depression.

Yep and schools LOVE to say that kids are upset because of separation anxiety. Because it deflects any attention from them

Yes!

Although my current favourite is courtesy of DD’s college EHCP officer - “Mum seems anxious”

We’re having a bit of a ding dong over DD’s EHCP assessment and he actually wrote that into evidence he submitted to the LA.

I complained and he removed it. I just want these people to do their jobs.

The catch all term "I have anxiety" is bandied about far too much. What at least 50% of supposed sufferers mean is that sometimes they feel anxious in stressful situations. Which is a perfectly normal and healthy response without which the human race would have died out a millennia ago. I have witnessed true anxiety when the sufferer was too terrified to even get dressed and couldn't possibly have left their home. It completely incapacitated them for several months and the crisis team were involved.

Re "a little bit OCD", yes, some people will just bandy this phrase around and it means nothing, however, you don't really know whether they mean that they do have OCD, but that it is mild or controlled. I think that's the bracket that I fall in to. No one except my immediate family would have a clue.

As a child (before OCD was ever talked about), I had to perform certain rituals, otherwise I was convinced that everyone would die.

As an adult, I still do something OCD related about once a day. It ranges from checking that oven knobs are off multiple times, to not allowing myself to swallow if I am looking at something "bad" like a coffin, otherwise I have to cough the bad luck out. I cannot walk between bins and houses, I have to go in to the road to avoid that. I can't switch a light switch off if I'm thinking of a loved one, lest that extinguishes them, I can't lift my feet off the floor when I get in to bed, unless I am thinking a positive thought. Don't even get me started on how long it takes me to leave the house if we are going on holiday.

To the outside world, I look totally normal. My rituals don't bother me, they just fit in to my daily routine. I am not debilitated by any of it. And yes, I've sometimes thought to myself "I'm a bit OCD" which I think means (to me anyway), that it's there, but it's mild. I feel very sorry for those who have it more intensely, to the point it messes with your life.