There's No Such Thing ... Let's Talk Mental Health

Listen, friends, I never ever pretend to be the therapist to all the people.

I don't.

I tell people I work in mental health.

I tell people I'm a therapist.

But I don't heal anyone.

I don't want to *fix* anyone I'm dating.

I don't want someone who meets me to think I'm instantly going to be analyzing them in a professional manner.

But listen.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't analyze people.

So would you.

It's how we connect with each other.

How we learn about one another.

And how we determine who we want and don't want in our lives.

But.

I have to speak up.

Because you.

Are.

Not.

"A little bit OCD."

And?

Mother Nature isn't bipolar.

And you don't have a touch of ADHD.

Because there's no such thing.

Read it again, y'all.

There.

Is.

No.

Such.

Thing.

People who have been diagnosed with mental illness truly live with this every single day of their lives. There's no reprieve. No break.

And you know what? Even people who have not been diagnosed but still - KNOW?

No breaks for them, either. They just haven't yet spoken to a professional to compare their experiences with what the therapist/psychiatrist/psychologist knows to be true.

So please, friends.

Stop using these terms so loosely.

Stop throwing them around so freely.

"His ex is bipolar."

Is she? Has she truly been diagnosed? Because I have several friends who live with bipolar disorder who live their lives in ways you'd never compare to "so and so's ex" as you did just there.

Shoot - I don't even use the word crazy as often as I used to.

Because it has all the connotations that just crept into your mind when you read it.

Crazy = out there = completely unexpected = unpredictable = not mentally sound.

One of the definitions of the word crazy in Merriam-Webster actually says:

"not mentally sound"

And so, when I want to use it casually, like "That's SO crazy!" I don't. Because. No.

That's my choice.

But when you use it to describe someone, consider what else you're saying about them. What you think they are. Have. Who they truly are.

And please.

Truly.

Please.

Stop throwing around the names of numerous diagnoses.

Because to the people who actually have these illnesses?

You're making light of their situations.

Their lives.

And who they are as people.

And they need you to NOT do that.

So.

Please.

Stop.

There's no such thing.

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