To be irritated by the use of 'mental health' instead of 'mental health issues'

[pannikin]

Probably very pedantic of me, but I cannot stand 'he's got mental health' or 'I suffer from mental health'. I keep seeing this all over in general at the minute, predominantly on the MN chat forums and it's irritating me.

Mental health is something everyone has, you need to suffix the phrase with another word such as 'issues' or 'condition', surely?!

You wouldn't say 'I've got physical health' when talking about a health condition. AIBU to say it's not 'mental health' unless you're talking about the thing that everyone has, whether it's in a good or bad condition...

YANBU.

Just a result of it being a mega trendy topic right now. Half the time people don't even know what they mean when they say it. They just say it for something to say, in the absence of anything meaningful.

Yep, I hear ya sister - drives me daft too

YANBU

I use mental health condition or mental health disability dependent on the diagnosis. But I work professionally with those who have mental health conditions. Not all mental health conditions are an issue.

My personal hate is saying 'autistic people/children'. My son has autism, he also has a sense of humour and a sense of justice added to his flair and work ethic. You don't say 'cancer people' or 'broken leg people'. My sons autism is not all of who he is.

Mitch - not saying that all MH conditions are an issue. I have an anxiety disorder, it's controlled well on medication, so it's not really an issue in my current life. I still wouldn't say that I have 'mental health' - everyone does!
Agree with you on the autism thing, as a parent of 2 DC with autism myself. It's not the only thing about children with autism, although some people like to think so.

I am autistic, and like many other autistic people prefer identity first language.

I am a woman, not a person with womanness.
I am intelligent, not a person with intelligence.

They are integral parts of who I am, like my autism.

Conversely, I have Crohn's disease. It's something I gained, not part of my personality.

And can you see how adding the thing on the end makes it sound like a negative?

By describing myself as autistic, I'm not trying to imply that's the only thing about me, just like saying I am a woman doesn't mean that's the only thing. I don't introduce myself with 'hi, I'm Crohnically and I'm autistic' but when it's relevant that's the language I prefer.

Oh, and im not trying to say you have to start referring to your children as autistic, but that you respect my decision and not make it your 'personal hate'.

Yep infuriating. Everyone has mental health. It may be on any scale from excellent to poor, but we all have it.

I personally don't like the term "issue". If your mental health isn't ok, such as with GAD (which I also have), you have a mental illness, not a mental issue.

Mind you, English isn't my first language so maybe it is just me, but saying "issues" seems to minimise mental illness, and it is already too minimised.

I am SO with you on the 'got mental health' thing. It's nonsensical! Really we should say mental ill-health or mental illness, but that would be unfashionable.

The next thing on my list is people saying 'issues around'. It's as if the issues cluster around things in a kind of sheepy way. Why can't people be more direct?

Yanbu, it's a stupid phrase. Everyone has mental health, just as everyone has physical health. The state of your health then varies. Any issues with those are mental health issues or illness (or whatever word you choose).

Saying "I've got mental health" when talking about anxiety etc just makes someone sound thick imo.

Whenever anyone says it, I imagine the voice of Zak Dingle, who uses an exaggerated form of the Yorkshire accent. I find Yorkshire and Geordie ways of putting things, calming. Irish, also.

That's completely irrelevant but I find Zak very comforting, so nothing said the way he would say it, bothers me.

My personal hate is saying 'autistic people/children'. My son has autism, he also has a sense of humour and a sense of justice added to his flair and work ethic. You don't say 'cancer people' or 'broken leg people'. My sons autism is not all of who he is.

That's your view of it though, as we see up thread there are many people who self describe as autistic people.

I have a friend who explained it to me once as if they were gay, they wouldn't say they were a person with gayness/ homosexuality, they'd say they were a gay person. Similarly they like to use the words autistic person. There's no one correct way.

Yanbu.
My mother (who actually worked For the NHS in a mental health unit until retirement) refers to ‘mental health’ as in:
‘Oh yeah, she has mental health.’

She does do it with physical issues too (bizarrely). My stepfather has high blood pressure, so you know, he has ‘blood pressure’.

It irritates me a lot, even though she’s always done it. I often want to say ‘you do know we all have blood pressure? Because otherwise we’d be dead.’ But it feels mean and petty, so I don’t.

Yes OP! I complained to DH about this the other day. Drives me mad 😡.

It's a very personal thing. I have hay fever; I am not a hay feverish person as it doesn't define me and I wouldn't want to be labelled with it any more than I'd want to be labelled as an asthmatic when I am a woman with asthma.

If somebody else with asthma wants to be defined as an asthmatic person then that's their choice but it'd annoy me if somebody labelled me like that as I choose my own label. If people want to label me then I've got a name for that.

I agree it's irritating about people saying they have got mental health. We've all got mental health, just in some it's better than others.

I hate it too.
Also hate midwives etc saying "baby" instead of your baby and "how is Mum?"

Yes god as a Social worker I hear this a lot and it really grates. We all have mental health!!

It a the meaning of mental I think that gets misused.

Ive never heard it

Ive heard people say poor mental health or mental health issues

But never mental health as thats just stupid

No wonder it winds you up pannikin

Maybe they have *poor mental health. Some people seem to want to avoid saying they have a mental illness as it can be more of a lifelong condition and illness suggests recovery is possible. Could we use mental unhealth^ and start a new trend?

(btw my son is an autistic child, it does define him as it impacts every second of his day)

It’s just poor grammar. I also hear people saying they are raising money “for cancer” - no, it’s for cancer awareness or research!

See also - “she’s so entitled” - that means the opposite of what you intended to say.

The phrase gets used a lot on ‘Can’t Pay We’ll Take it Away’

Yep it really annoys me too! I have had depression in the past and still have problems with anxiety. I'd say mental health issues or problems. I'd actually in most situations I'd try to say the actual diagnosis or issue as I think we need to talk more about these things. It's poor grammar and doesn't make sense. If someone had a heart problem you wouldn't say they've got physical health!

It is probably down to the overuse of the word issue and the piss take with “ishooooos”.