It’s not mental HEALTH!!! Grrr

[BarbaraVineFan]

AIBU to get so irritated with people using ‘ mental health’ to mean ‘ mental illness’? I saw it in an advert for health insurance or something today, a whole list of complaints including joint pain, Parkinson’s, diabetes etc and then MENTAL HEALTH. Mental health is not an illness!! The clue is in the name! Why do people do it? It’s so odd and only seems to have started in the last couple of years.

Agre totally, @BarbaraVineFan but I think if you said/wrote mental illness each time - correctly - people would be self-conscious about being explicit about having a mental illness.

It might also cause others to ask about the specifics. So people couldn't get away with the vague "oh I suffer with my mental health" sort of waffly excuses for being snowflakes. When I fill out a note re taking sick leave at work, if it's a physical illness, I have to indicate what sort of illness. Not so with "mental health." And that's a problem with the UK at the moment.

Totally agree OP. I am similarly annoyed by those who say they have "blood pressure". Unless they're dead, everyone has blood pressure. It is only a problem if said blood pressure is too high or too low.

But as it relates to the advert of insurance you mention, mental health is what’s covered, Many policies include assessments for mental illness which is a part of mental health, you don’t need to have mental illness to obtain those assessments. Also, you don’t need mental illness to obtain support such as counselling. In fact, many people benefit from counselling to support their mental health and prevent mental illness. So when the insurer is looking to advertise their product, mental illness would be the wrong term.

I have definitely seem people write on here. I can't do x because "I've got mental health".

I work with someone who constantly tries to get out of doing aspects of her job she doesn’t like by bleating “I’ve got mental health”. I actually do believe her that she has issues based on her general behaviour, but those 4 words together… make me and everyone else we work with want to scream.

maybe if we’re being pedantic,

Well of course she is, that’s why she’s started the thread.

But you know what it means and it means life isn’t easy for them so could you not just go about your day and not get so irritated?

I think people use it because they don't want to be specific and there is too much stigma associated with being mentally ill. However, it is so meaningless that it does make people sound like they are making it up.

It drives me mental.

‘I’ve got mental health’ yes mate. Sounds positive. You mean you have mental health ISSUES. It’s laziness but it’s become standard.

Things like this normally bug the crap out of me, but for some reason this doesn't. Picky bits on the other hand...

I agree with you @BarbaraVineFan .

”I’ve got mental health” really bugs me.

I think you are confusing some incorrect use in informal communication with the correct use of "mental health" to group a number of conditions together in an advert.

But you understood exactly what they meant. If this was pedants corner I’d let you off. But it’s not so 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Maybe they should just say the correct thing in the first place.

Stupid people say it because they don't have a clue what they're saying.

Issues with mental health would make complete sense, just as you’d say issues with physical health or has physical health conditions. It doesn’t make grammatical sense to say a person “has mental health”.

It's just the way things are used now. Same as women's health. Used to mean all the ways women's bodies go wrong.

It’s become a ‘catch all’ phrase. Irritating, I agree and meaningless. You’d not say someone suffers from ‘physical health’ 🥴

It’s probably because you are meant to read/understand « she needs time off for reasons of her mental health »

Its short hand, basically.

It has led to people thinking they can say things like « I’m suffering from mental health »

Yes, it’s irritating! I also loathe ‘mental health issues’ ugh! I don’t have ‘issues’ I have an illness.

It drives me mental.

Yeah, I've been in HR over thirty years and I see it fairly regularly.

Fit note just says "mental health". I've also had people declare "mental health" as a disability.

I don't spend that much time reading fit notes though, there's not much to read, is there!

" Mental Helf "

😅

Everyone has mental health. It just depends on the state of it.
My dad had bipolar disorder and the professionals he dealt with would never have said "he has mental health" it was always "he has bipolar disorder"

Yes, they need to say mental health issues.

I’d say mentally ill (say schizophrenia) is a bit different from some mild anxiety for example.Its wide ranging from someone who has mild anxiety which they may seek some counselling or therapy for to someone needing to be sectioned.