I have mental health

[Makeitmakesensetoday]

Not a goady thread at all, genuinely do not understand the terminology but I see it on mumsnet and elsewhere a lot.

People say 'I have mental health' but to me this seems like an unfinished sentence.... should end with 'issues/problems/conditions' etc.

We'd never say 'I have physical health' we would say I have physical health conditions and then maybe discuss them if relevant.

Where did this phrase come from? I'm quite an open person so I'd probably say 'I have depression' but for those that just say 'I have mental health' why do you say it? It makes no sense. Health is something we all have - health problems or conditions we may not all have?!

YABU 'I have mental health' makes sense
YANBU you're right it makes no sense

I see it all the time, saw it this morning on Twitter in fact and it irked me then.

It's mental health challenges/issues/problems....

Or "I have bad / poor / rubbish mental health", etc. Surely?

Not necessarily... you can have poor mental health or even good mental health (which you rarely hear anyone talk about...)

That's the point though - what is it about your mental health exactly????

It's a euphemism, as 'mental illness' or 'mental health problems' are stigmatised and those phrases can cause negative reactions. MH or 'signed off due to mental health' soften this effect to the benefit of the sufferer/those around them.

Mental health struggles are some of the most challenging to deal with. I don't personally see the point of making it harder by nitpicking the way they describe it.

For those who don’t believe this happens: seen in the wild today:

I work in mental health services and hear this a lot, particularly from families/carers who will often say ‘he/she has mental health’.

I'd have to leave it hanging each time......? Mental health what sorry I don't follow?!

I agree with this, or quite likely their mental health is quite poor at the time of posting so making sense might not be their highest priority.

Someone I dealt with today said 'I have blood pressure' 🤦‍♀️

Oh wow I’ve not heard that one.

I've seen it on here. I've also heard it in real life too. Makes no sense. I agree.

I've heard it quite often, both on MN and elsewhere. It's tempting to congratulate the person concerned, given that mental health is clearly a good thing to have.

I think the misunderstanding comes from phrases where it does make sense for it to stand alone, e.g. 'how's your mental health?', 'you must look after your mental health'.

Purely grammatically, there are only two ways it can mean anything. There's the 'we all have mental health' interpretation, but there's also the 'my health is mental' grammatical interpretation. Which if you think of the word 'mental' in the slangy (and offensive) sense of 'crazy, weird', actually does make a strange kind of sense.

I've just heard someone say 'mental health sufferers' on Radio 4. That makes no sense.