To hate the "Mental Health" brigade.

[IAKnowyou]

It is becoming increasingly clear that many people do not know how to articulate a sentence. Especially on social media.
I am seeing - more and more, people claiming they "suffer from mental health".
Of course you bloody do. Everybody has "mental health"!! What you mean is that you have BAD mental health! That you are struggling WITH your mental health.
Some of the common phrases I DESPISE are as follows :
"I have/ I've got mental health"
"If you suffer from mental health..."
"He/She/They have got mental health"
"Mental Health can happen to anyone"
"I have severe mental health"
Just add a little something to the end such as "issues, problems, struggles" and you'll be good. But PLEASE for the love of god, learn to speak properly !!

This topic has been raised before and it really does show the level of stigma towards mental illness unfortunately.

People with mental illness already face stigma, for having a mental illness to start with. Judged and dismissed for it. Recently we're now facing the attitude that you're just jumping on a bandwagon and attributing normal feelings to mental illness. Judged and dismissed for it. Now if someone with mental illness doesn't describe it the way that is seen as 'correct', well we're being judged and dismissed for that too as well.

Why can't people just be honest and admit they're a bit disgusted by mental illness? Or would that mean maybe they have to face that they're not the nice, tolerant, kind person they think themselves be and project themselves as?

I used to find 'overweight' jarring too, it didn't make sense to me but I now know that's the term given to the condition, so you both are overweight and have overweight.
However, saying someone is overweight has probably fallen out of favour, just as is the case with ASD, diabetes, etc. Someone has a condition, they aren't defined by it.

Then you must know the expression OP: That way madness lies.

@Maverickess "Why can't people just be honest and admit they're a bit disgusted by mental illness?"

Because I don't think they are.

IMO many people (like me) are fed up with it being used as an excuse for all sorts of negative behaviour ranging from claiming they are unable to work to knife attacks.

Years ago many badly behaved children were given a diagnosis of ADHD when much of it was down to poor parenting.

Mental health seems to be "flavour of the month" at the moment. There are thousands of people who reckon they can't work because of it, and blame it on Covid Lockdowns.

Some of us may be able to remember the popularity of "Glue Ear" in children. One can only speculate how many poor kids got grommets fitted when they didn't need them.🙄

I think my concern is that there is a growing number of people who feel that it is a permanent diagnosis and cannot be managed. And it can. And even when we are struggling with anxiety, we can get reprieve from it (unlike a physical illness).

I agree. It's as if a diagnosis becomes the definition of tat person's identity. Anxiety is normal for humans - it's sometimes essential! We need to be aware of risk and harm, and anticipate it and plan for it.

But what needs to gotten over - via therapy, learning, or medication - is "I have anxiety" which stops people doing ordinary, everyday things. People can mostly learn, small step by small step, to reintegrate into the ordinary world.

And I should think most people would want to.

If they didn't have blood pressure, they'd be in a dead faint.

I am a mental health nurse and i completely agree and find it equally frustrating.

Just one example of somewhat garbled descriptions of health conditions. 'I've got a temperature' (well, if you didn't, you'd be dead!) or 'I've got a gastric stomach' (so do we all!)

The only one that really irritates me is 'I'm a bit fluey'. People are not fluey; they have the flu; and, if they truly do, there's usually no 'a bit' about it!

So many senior citizens have a "touch of arthritis".

You either have arthritis or you don't.

It's like saying that someone is "a little bit pregnant" ! 😃

I disagree. Most people who talk about 'anxiety' don't mean a mental health condition; they just mean they're worried. It's unfortunate that the disorder has a similar name to the emotion; the same with depression. This has the unfortunate effect that people with actual (diagnosed) disorders may be dismissed as spoilt weaklings who are just trading on being a bit worried at times.

Some people do misuse the names of disorders to refer to much more trivial problems: 'I'm a bit OCD' to mean they like things to be tidy, etc. It's annoying because it trivializes serious disorders; but it doesn't usually mean that they really think they have a disorder.

But some people really are unable to work, or more often unable to work without adaptations, due to mental health conditions. (I think that financial incentives to employers to make adaptations might enable far more people to work and save a fair bit in the end in sickness benefits; but that is getting off topic)

Yes, some people pretend to have such conditions as an excuse, but the same is true of physical illnesses.

I agree that illnesses, physical or mental, do nor excuse knife crime and the like!

As a mh professional I don't care how people say it , i am just glad they are talking about it

Quite disappointed to read this from another rmn. Surely you should be glad people are talking and reducing the stigma even if they maybe aren't articulating as well

I can't help myself, I always have to clarify what people actually mean when they say “mental health” or “blood pressure”.
Otherwise, I'm not sure what to say:
“Great! You've got mental health! Or “Oh, sorry to hear that”
and “high or low?”

Also, I agree about the use of the term “brigade”. It is always used in a certain way, signifying disagreement or disdain, and it makes me giggle, for some reason.

It's beyond infuriating.

The term mental illness is too loaded with stigma for many to use, or indicates specific more severe problems rather than things like anxiety, OCD etc.

Regardless, what a shit thread. The poster who criticised the phrasing of the friend whose dad committed suicide...

I’ve got physical health.

I also sometimes get annoyed when people use language in an imprecise way, im a scientist and precision of language is crazy important in expressing ideas clearly. Of course terms need to be used correctly in articles, news reports, health reports, educational material, etc

however… isn’t there an inherent judgment/snobbery when we police language used by people in “real life” to try and engage in discussion?

if someone told me “ I have mental health” im pretty sure I could look beyond the misuse of language to see what they were trying to say, and make a human connection

why?
to be clear-i hate when people (who call selves proffesionals ),gang up,abuse their power and get away with shit like @yourmaw has "mental health"which is then documented,on record with utter horrific results and consequences.
Please-look at that before you hate anyone start sentance with "i have/suffer from"
keep it real

Unfortunately for some of us it is incredibly hard to overcome. Mine is chronic and I can’t go to work because of it.
I struggle hugely . Anxiety for me is crippling.

Also, 'I have a temperature'. Of course you do, we all have a temperature. A raised temperature maybe, a high temperature, a temperature above normal.

But everyone knows 'I have a temperature' means they have a raised temperature. Nobody would use that term if they were chilly 🙄

Shitty thread.

It is so tiresome how every mental and emotional wobble is now used as an excuse to put out the begging paw & fail to pull one's own weight.

I really am not interested in anyone's "MH issues." We all have them. Get on with it.

You need to chill @IAKnowyou .