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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be sick to death of people using the word 'Schizophrenic' wrongly?

34 replies

AndyWarholsOrange · 02/01/2015 10:03

If it was in 'The Sun', I'd just think it was par for the course but 3 times in the last 2 weeks, I've read/heard the term Schizophrenic used as meaning having a split personality or being torn/undecided about something eg 'I feel a bit schizophrenic about it' in The Times, The Guardian and on Radio 4.
Schizophrenia is a horrible debilitating mental illness Not having a Jekll/Hyde personality or being in two minds about something. I'm sure everyone here knows this, I just can't believe that people who should know better are still using it in this way.

OP posts:
echt · 02/01/2015 10:31

On a par with depressed when a bit pissed off, or bi-polar when a moody knob end.

Or, and this gets on my tits royally, "a bit hormonal".

On the whole, I'd pass by the metaphorical use of schizophrenic.

whathaveiforgottentoday · 02/01/2015 10:34

I agree with you that a journalist should know better than use a term like this incorrectly. However, it wouldn't offend if a member of general public used as it would be down to ignorance, but if I knew them well enough I would correct them. More education is needed in understanding mental illness in general.

whathaveiforgottentoday · 02/01/2015 10:35

My personal favourite is 'a bit OCD'

IamGrimalkin · 02/01/2015 10:39

You are definitely NOT being unreasonable.

I came on to say what whathaveiforgottentoday said about OCD. That really annoys me.

RonaldMcDonald · 02/01/2015 10:42

Schizophrenia is not a horrible debilitating mental illness but it can be if undiagnosed unaided or incorrectly medicated

Ludways · 02/01/2015 10:47

YANBU.

The OCD thing gets my goat. My BIL is diagnosed OCD and it is far from being over particular about cleaning the house, which is when I hear it most.

AlpacaYourThings · 02/01/2015 10:48

YADNBU.

Shinyshoes2 · 02/01/2015 10:53

I totally agree.
My mother was diagnosed as bipolar ( manic depression ) in 1984 she has been hospitalised 3 times
The 4th times she was sectioned, she was diagnosed as schizophrenic
Untreated its a horrible horrible illness and I'll never get my real mum back, not the mum I knew before the illness took hold
She's medicating now ( fingers crossed she doesn't come off the meds again)

Original poster
AndyWarholsOrange · 02/01/2015 11:35

I think this is a particular issue for me because I work in mental health with people with psychosis. some of whom end up with a schizophrenia diagnosis. The last statistics I saw said that only 13% of people with schizophrenia work. Yes, it can be treated but not always 100% successfully and a lot of people have side effects from the medication like sedation and weight gain. Also, many people have negative symptoms eg extreme lack of motivation which don't respond particularly well to medication.
Then there's the media portrayal where practically the only time you read about schizophrenia is in relation to violence. It's definitely the most stigmatising diagnosis to have - I can't think of a single celebrity who has schizophrenia whereas it's almost become a bit trendy for artistes to be 'a bit Bi-Polar'.
I just think the media should know better.

OP posts:
SunnyBaudelaire · 02/01/2015 11:39

I totally agree my bro was diagnosed with this and I get really annoyed when some writers and journos use it flippantly and wrongly.
YANBU

IneedAwittierNickname · 02/01/2015 11:40

Yanbu . I work with adults with schizophrenia. I also agree re the violence thing. When people ask what I do their 2nd question is nearly always "isn't that dangerous?" Ffs :(

SunnyBaudelaire · 02/01/2015 11:42

from my small experience it would seem that people diagnosed with this are most danger to themselves.
that is another thing that pissed me off too ineedawittieretc

DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease · 02/01/2015 11:49

I get annoyed with mental health diagnoses being bandied around indiscriminately in general. YANBU

SunnyBaudelaire · 02/01/2015 11:52

just recently I have noticed a certain type of person shouting about being
'bi polar' it really fucking annoys me.
These kind of people are the same ones who were once 'oh I am crazy meeeeeee' before "bipolar" got fashionable

OriginalGreenGiant · 02/01/2015 11:53

I don't think I've ever heared it used like that before really.

IMO, by far the most misused term re mental health is 'psychopath' or psychopathic.

Anyone that does something terrible is labelled a psychopath, by people I know and in the media when in more cases than not it's not the case.

sosimple · 02/01/2015 11:54

YY YANBU. I have severe depression and I'm tired of hearing people saying they have felt it when it's clearly a case of just being a bit down.

Also, not a mental illness, but 'a bit Aspie' is another common flippant comment in relation to a very serious, debilitating condition (which my DS suffers from very badly).

iklboo · 02/01/2015 11:56

Oh yes. 'A bit bi-polar'. What - like only every other Wednesday? Or if the celeb has something to flog? Angry

Itscurtainsforyou · 02/01/2015 12:00

YADNBU - it drives me crazy when I hear either schizophrenia (or OCD, bipolar etc) used in such a flippant way.

The way schizophrenia is used to describe Jekyll & Hyde particularly winds me up because it is WRONG. J&H could be described as multiple personality disorder (which is fortunately quite rare) but certainly not schizophrenia. I end up shouting at the TV/radio/newspaper/book if I ever come across it used in this way.

SunnyBaudelaire · 02/01/2015 12:01

yes and it is used a lot like that isn't it curtains? really effing annoying

ChocLover2015 · 02/01/2015 12:10

OP I could say the same about your use of 'death'

Cantbelievethisishappening · 02/01/2015 12:17

YABU
There will always be something that someone says related to some sort of medical condition that someone else will be sensitive to/object to/find offensive (and yes I have had first hand experience of a loved one who was diagnosed with schizophrenia)

Dawndonnaagain · 02/01/2015 12:18

You could ChocLover but the point in hand is a much more valid one.

OP you are not being unreasonable.

thecatfromjapan · 02/01/2015 12:29

I'm with Choclover. Several of my friends are dead and I can absolutely assure OP that she really isn't "sick to death", and that being actually "sick to death" is quite grim.
However, I understand that she is using the phrase metaphorically, and I am a liberal, with an even temper, do I don't care.

Having said that, there was a period when a friend had been diagnosed with a serious, life-limiting illness and I really was irrationally angry. People who said things like: "I'm so ill ..." when all they had was a cold ... I wanted to kill them. Really.

I guess you must be in that kind of place at the moment. I wish you peace and comfort.

thecatfromjapan · 02/01/2015 12:31

I'm not joking about wanting to kill. I have never felt anger like it before or since.Hmm
It did pass, though.

Candycoco · 02/01/2015 12:31

I used to have a friend that would use the word 'schiz' all the time to describe when she or someone else was acting crazy i.e. She went schiz at me. It used to grate on so badly.

I think the general public are not that stupid to think that schizophrenia is a case of split personality, however the media fuel the perception that all murderers and violent criminals have schizophrenia, when it is not their diagnosis in itself that makes them kill people.

My mother is 74 and has schizophrenia since before I was born. It is truly debilitating. She was only ever able to hold down part time jobs or temporary work due to spending months at a time as an inpatient on a psychiatric ward. The longest she has gone being 'well' is 3 or 4 years, and that is with constant supervision of her and liaising with her CPN and consultant etc. It is a life long condition and regardless of medication (which has many side affects and she doesn't like taking) she has been very ill over and over again throughout her life. I actually gave up work to become her carer 2 years ago to try and prevent any further relapses. It affects the whole family not just the patient.

There isn't anything positive about schizophrenia but I wish that it wasn't only represented in programmes about prisons, crimes and documentaries like broadmoor etc. This does nothing to help public understanding of the condition.