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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

It’s not mental HEALTH!!! Grrr

199 replies

BarbaraVineFan · 17/07/2026 00:33

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.

OP posts:
ImogenBrocklehurst · 17/07/2026 08:24

If someone tells me they have “mental health” I want to respond, “well that’s excellent! Being mentally healthy is wonderful!”

Poor mental health, or mental health issued is what you mean.

bafta16 · 17/07/2026 08:27

It's just a handy short hand really. People may not wish to go into detail.

CaptainMyCaptain · 17/07/2026 08:30

I'm 100% with you @BarbaraVineFan it annoys the hell out of me. You wouldn't say 'I've got physical health' if you were describing a problem.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 17/07/2026 08:30

Feeling low or anxious after a bereavement/divorce/loss of job/illness/injury or anything like that is not necessary a mental illness or poor mental health. It's perfectly natural and doesn't need to be tagged with something that suggests something is wrong with them - but that doesn't mean that they won't benefit from support, counselling or therapy.

At the same time, somebody who has a mental health condition (using the phrase 'has a mental illness' sounds unpleasant to me, in part because it can be used to discriminate or denigrate people) can also need support not around the specific diagnosis for similar reasons. There are also personality disorders, challenges around neurodiversity, physical illnesses such as autoimmune disease that intrinsically affect mood without actual poor mental health as a result of uncontrolled inflammation (eg, somebody in an RA flare might have the first sign of it being feeling low and only wake up with their hands like balloons six months later, one steroid injection later and they're fine by the time they get home from the clinic, having been in tears over a hole in a sock that morning), tinnitus/hearing loss (as it can be draining to never, ever have a moment of silence, but they're not depressed, don't need medication, but need some acknowledgement or support).

Sometimes it's about wellbeing, sometimes it's perfectly ordinary mental health but there's a particular thing that needs support to prevent it becoming worse, sometimes it's targeted, sometimes it's poor mental health, sometimes it's something else entirely - getting irritated about an attempt to convey that it's not just for specific conditions without a massive list of circumstances, diagnoses, non-diagnoses and the like seems pretty unhelpful.

5128gap · 17/07/2026 08:30

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 17/07/2026 08:15

I get that but if someone says that something isn’t good for their mental health that doesn’t mean they are currently having mental health problems, just that they have recognised this could cause issues and is something they should avoid too much of. Same as they might say a piece of cake is bad for their health.

I think saying something isn't good for their mental health isn't what the OP is thinking of though? I think she means when people say "I've been off work with mental health" rather than mental illness.

MrsEndeavourMorse · 17/07/2026 08:32

bafta16 · 17/07/2026 08:27

It's just a handy short hand really. People may not wish to go into detail.

It's not shorthand though. It's an incomplete statement.

Justwatching1 · 17/07/2026 08:33

i have CPTSD and major depressive disorder and severe gad (generalised anxiety disorder)i take medications and i have been in therapy for many years if i talk about my conditions i say have dignosed mental health illness\disorders

Bikergran · 17/07/2026 08:34

NoCommentingFromNowOn · 17/07/2026 00:34

I used to work with someone who always said things like ‘she has mental health’.

We all do, love. We all do.

One woman I knew told me she'd been diagnosed with platelets. Didn't have the heart to tell her everyone has platelets.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 17/07/2026 08:34

5128gap · 17/07/2026 08:30

I think saying something isn't good for their mental health isn't what the OP is thinking of though? I think she means when people say "I've been off work with mental health" rather than mental illness.

I know that, I was giving an example of a correct phase that no longer makes sense if people use the term mental health the way that the op is complaining about. I fully agree with the op here.

Bikergran · 17/07/2026 08:35

bafta16 · 17/07/2026 08:27

It's just a handy short hand really. People may not wish to go into detail.

Then the shorthand phrase should be "mental ill-health".

ChirpaChirpaCheepCheepChirp · 17/07/2026 08:36

I agree.

I have mental health. It’s generally quite good.

And don’t get me started on the “Equalities” Act - it’s the fucking EQUALITY Act!

Tamtim · 17/07/2026 08:38

Also it’s not ‘mental health’, it’s ‘mental health issues’. Drives me nuts.

Edit - oops, I didn’t read any of the responses. Yep, drives me nuts too.

TheRemainsOfTheDayCream · 17/07/2026 08:43

Yes, this annoys me too! It's wrong, but so many people are now misusing the term that it's becoming normalised. (See also 'could of').

TheThirteenthFairy · 17/07/2026 08:45

BarbaraVineFan · 17/07/2026 00:37

They surely don’t?! They may put something like ‘ she is experiencing difficulties with her mental health’, which is of course fine and absolutely correct. I am talking about people saying or writing ‘he/she has mental health’ without adding the word ‘issues’ or ‘ difficulties’.

It'd be like saying 'she has blood pressure' or 'he has a temperature'.

crowsfeet57 · 17/07/2026 08:45

Customers tell me every day that they should get priority as they have 'mennel elf!'

Crucible · 17/07/2026 08:46

I'm absolutely fine with the distinction being made obvious. That insurance company wouldn't cover an actual serious mental illness. That kind of illness is left to the NHS to treat, usually badly with very poor resources.
Carers of the mentally ill are left to get on with it. I am one - Bupa etc ain't involved believe me.

ScrambledEggs12 · 17/07/2026 08:47

crowsfeet57 · 17/07/2026 08:45

Customers tell me every day that they should get priority as they have 'mennel elf!'

I think these must be the same people who used to come into the shop where I worked to buy 'electric' for their electricity keys.

Jacopo · 17/07/2026 08:51

I entirely agree and I find it very annoying. I think it has come about because people started trying to avoid the descriptions that used to be used, and which are recognised now as unacceptable. Does anyone remember when Frank Bruno was suffering from depression and The Sun had a headline "Bonkers Bruno" or similar, which rightly cause outrage. From there it's understandable that people are careful around phrases like "he's mentally ill" - I haven't heard that being used for a long time actually. So the use of "mental health issues" and similar has become more popular. But the abbreviation to "he's got mental health" is just nonsense.

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 17/07/2026 08:52

TheThirteenthFairy · 17/07/2026 08:45

It'd be like saying 'she has blood pressure' or 'he has a temperature'.

'He has a temperature' is definitely well used where I'm from. I've probably said it too as it's so commonplace I've never really thought it through before.

ChirpaChirpaCheepCheepChirp · 17/07/2026 08:53

“Mental health” is now so broad that it covers everything from serious mental illness to feeling a bit sad.

Thepeopleversuswork · 17/07/2026 08:54

I think quite often its a lazy shorthand used to describe suffering from poor mental health where there's no clinical diagnosis as opposed to a person who has a diagnosed, recognisable mental condition such as psychosis or schizophrenia.

I agree it's incredibly annoying and unfortunately it doesn't support people who suffer from poor mental health as vague and stupid-sounding phrases add to the general suspicion people have of "mental health" as a get-out-of-jail-free card.

LagerLady · 17/07/2026 08:55

Its mental elf

ForDreamyMintHare · 17/07/2026 08:56

Negroany · 17/07/2026 00:34

Well, Doctors put it on sick notes, so it must be an illness!

GP here. I'd be embarrassed to put 'mental health' on a fit note. I'd put depression, or anxiety, or whatever the diagnosis was.

ScrambledEggs12 · 17/07/2026 08:56

ChirpaChirpaCheepCheepChirp · 17/07/2026 08:53

“Mental health” is now so broad that it covers everything from serious mental illness to feeling a bit sad.

Mental health has always been broad, covering all of these. The same as physical health.

Nos4r2 · 17/07/2026 08:57

If I say I have Mental Health then that means Im mentally healthy, but if I add issues on the end that means I. Not mentally healthy.