To wish people wouldn't use the phrase "mental health problems"?

[LostInShoebiz]

Totally a TAAT but AIBU to wish people would not say things like "what if she has mental health problems"? Just like 'being ill' can cover anything from the sniffles to terminal cancer, mental health difficulties cover mild anxiety up to full blown chronic conditions requiring inpatient treatment and having serious consequences.

Stigmatising all mental health problems by lumping them in together leaves people with mild or manageable conditions in fear of 'coming out'.

You would have to name the thread, tbh.

Is it the one about the Woman who harassed the OP, first on FB?

Otherwise you are going to get people agreeing or disagreeing and they are going to be imagining different scenarios.

If someone is Mentally Ill/PD etc then it needs handling very differently than someone being a twat and after an episode, people shouldn't be judged.

I think FlakeBook has it, and also monkeywithacowface.

Oh, and I have depression and it's not currently very manageable. Meanwhile, my friend with schizophrenia is managing extremely well.

Yes, the thread about the FB contact. People are saying don't reply suggesting it might be risky due to the new GG having MH issues. She may well have MH issues that make her sad, anxious, stressed, whatever but to say MH issues effectively meaning MH issues that will make her stalk you/harm you is a bit harsh I think. No one else thinks so. I have been told to stop digging and answers are pretty much unequivocal so fair enough.

My mental health lecturer at college who is a community psychiatric nurse taught my class to say mental health problems, he said you should just say mental health problems as you should never disclose information on a person's personal diagnosis e.g. depression without their consent, if we have to tell someone for health reasons about someone's mental health problems we should only tell them as much as the individual wants you to tell as it's personal to them and we have to respect their wishes.

In your attempts to avoid stigmatising yourself you are very close to stigmatising others.

Completely agree.

I suggested phoning the Police, if it continues.

Some of the situations of winding the situation up, were very wrong, why cause someone more distress?

You read of situations every day were people snap over something stupid, which has bad outcomes, why risk being party to that?

I still stand by being kind, if you don't know the person.

It is very different if the person has any problems, than if they are just arseholes. Like it is very wrong to get impatient with someone elderly/disabled who needs to move slowly.

FlakeBook and monkeywithacowface have it spot on, and your further attempts to explain just continue to prove it.

I had a very severe mental health problem, but I wasn't a danger to anyone. It still was a mental health problem, and I have no issue with calling it that.

Frankly, you're being ridiculous.

One minute you say you have a mild condition, next you say it is very severe? Obviously it can be a serious condition that is well controlled so the impact itself is mild but that rather proves that you want to distance yourself from those whose conditions are also severe but harder to manage.

I think rather than worry about the umbrella term of "mental health difficulties" it is people's general ignorance and fear that needs addressing. There is a lot of ignorance on MN about these things same as I've seen some awful comments about children with ASD that hit a raw nerve for me as my son has ASD. The answer isn't for me to find a ASD Lite category to describe him with so as to ensure people know he's not like the "others" and is accepted.

Umbrella terms are necessary because it is inaccurate and inappropriate to attempt to diagnose somebody with a specific condition.

So you would describe someone in a wheelchair as having a disability, not confidently state that they were paraplegic. You would describe somebody using 24/7 oxygen as being unwell or having health issues, not proclaim they definitely had lung cancer.

I don't really understand your problem.

But on that thread it is good advice not to engage with the woman sending these messages. The OP knows nothing about her, she feels uncomfortable about the nature and intensity of the contact she has received. She may have mental health issues that predominantly only impact her but who is to know how she would respond to the OP making contact.

YABU. Agree that mental health problems is needed as an unbrella term to cover a wide range of symptoms and difficulties.

Sometimes it is actually helpful to be 'vague' as it stops people jumping to conclusions.

I'm sad that you don't have more sympathy for those with more severe problems - perhaps your time would be better spent educating yourself better, and then helping to educate others to try to reduce the stigma

Hugely disablist to suggest that people woth 'serious mental health problems' are automaticly going to pose a risk to others!! What an awful thing to say. Peopke with 'serious mental health problems' like those with general mental health problems pose more risk to themselves than others and are at greater risk from being a victim than of victimising others.

I am a bit surprised. If people are trying to be pejorative they have a whole suite of words to use. IME, people are trying to suggest that something more is going on than someone just being a dickhead when they use this term on here. In other words, they are trying to get people to look a bit more analytically and sympathetically at someone's behaviour.
And because they don't want to be accused of diagnosing someone over the internet, they don't get too specific

To be fair OP, you’ve used words like nutter and unhinged. Fair enough you haven’t used them to describe anyone but I find the common usage of these words far more worrying and insulting than “mental health problems”. I have had mental health problems most of my life, they are to do with my mental health and they are definitely problems, so I don’t see the issue with the phrase. What I cannot abide is the assumption that people with mental health problems are dangerous or violent, or the use of words like the ones above or other insults to describe anyone with mental health problems.

Until that becomes socially unacceptable like using the N word or the R word, things will never change.

Ok, so the OP uses genuinely pejorative words, and agrees with Mirai who suggests that people use MH problems as an 'excuse' for 'bad behaviour' (actually MH problems are sometimes a reason for 'bad' behaviour)

Ironic

I don't like it. I have OCD and I feel like 'mental health issues' makes me sound unstable, maybe dangerous. Mental illness- even more so, there's been research showing people who favour a medical model of mental illness- believing it to be a physical, heritable illness, are actually more likely to fear people with mental illness.

But I can't think of something better than 'mental health problem', unless you know the specific diagnosis.

MIND use the term mental health problems, are they stigmatising mental health? I don't think so.

Some people use the term poor mental health, mental ill health, mental health issues, non of them are specific and anyone's mental health can fluctuate so a generic term is appropriate.

d I feel like 'mental health issues' makes me sound unstable, maybe dangerous.

But in a way does that not just highlight the stigma which still surrounds mental health problems? It highlights exactly why people need to talk about mental health to try to break that stigma and remove the stereotypes which are still so prominent - sadly it seems from this thread even from people who have their own issues with regards to mental health.

Yabu. Would you rather make it mandatory for anyone with mental health problems to specifically or indeed explicitly state of which kind before we can deem them worthy?

Sirzy- yes, that absolutely does highlight the stigma. After a decade of being open about it I'm actually finding myself saying less now than ever because, actually, talking about it just invites people to doubt my stability, my judgement and my capacity. I'm done. If I can avoid a disclosure, I will. Especially now that I'm trying to get on in my career.

Sirzy I agree; people absolutely need to talk about their mental health problems to combat the stigma.

I'm very open about my past mental health problems; I've told my last two bosses at interview and got both jobs at the interview itself.

I've never had anyone doubt my judgemental or capacity; in fact, quite the opposite. They see me as a much stronger person for having had mental health problems and subsequently overcome them.

I think yabu. I am studying mental health and would always use the term "mental health issues' or perhaps 'shows signs of psychological distress' because I think the term "mental illness' has far more connotations, (and adheres to the medical model of mental health)

The point about de-stigmatising mental health by talking about it is a brilliant point.

Also, why should anyone feel compelled to give detailed medical diagnoses to a stranger? If they choose to (I’m very open, I don’t give a shit what people think, now anyway) then that’s great, but the stigma is there because it’s whispered about, rumours fly, the media latch on to anyone violent with a dx and sensationalise, and it isn’t commonly talked about sensibly and openly.

Well quite, WhatToDo. They admire you for 'overcoming' it. You got 'better'- from weakness to strength. Now, I have not 'overcome' OCD, and if I have to disclose it it is because it has fucked something up for me. People don't admire that.

I don't mind 'mental health problems' or 'mental health issues'. I think it sums it up quite nicely.

I have a serious mental health condition and know that I should probably talk about it and help destigmatise it, but at the same time I don't want to disclose it willy nilly.