The Adversity in the Mindless Usage of Mental Health Terms: Impact and Consequences

-Dubori Nayantora

Intern, Mind Splatters, May-July 2024

As we scroll through our feeds and stories on social media, we come across people sharing moments of their lives. Through such engagement, we must have noticed the usage of terms such as depression, trauma, OCD, ADHD, and Schizophrenia to describe someone’s fleeting state of mind or a brief part of their day. For instance, an influencer stating that they are so depressed because they could not get the dress on sale, or it's so traumatic to have a bad hair day, has become a huge ongoing trend amongst the users without understanding their contribution to the stigma that is already highly prevalent towards such sensitive mental health issues. When we use mental health terms mindlessly, we pave the way towards the desensitization of how severe the conditions are in reality for the people who are battling with it every single day and trivialize the efforts of mental health workers who are doing their best to spread mental health awareness. When one uses their platform in a neglectful manner concerning life and death issues, we encourage the dehumanizing of people’s mental and emotional journey. 

The dangers of using mental health terms loosely

1. When the stigma associated with mental health issues is decreased, it encourages people to reach out for help. Still, when we engage in such trending language, we disrobe the security and urgency of the individual’s mental health crisis, thus demotivating the person to seek help.

2. People do not realize that their words have weight and can cause unimaginable consequences, such as, “I am such a psycho as I need to keep things clean and organized, I am so OCD coded” or can cause harm to someone who is privately struggling and impact their idea of who they are after receiving a diagnosis for OCD, which leads to negative labeling. Such trends are being encouraged due to the deep-rooted stigma surrounding mental health terms and lack of awareness.

3. When such terms are used to describe a momentary emotion, the individual who is struggling with the issue finds it difficult to express the complexity of their disorder. They are sometimes shunned and their symptoms are taken quite lightly because of the unconscious and negligent consumption of the words.  

4. There is a direct association between the disorders to negative behavior through such trending usage, thus making the individual inclined to approach it shamefully instead of just understanding that it is a clinical diagnosis and it does not make them worth less as a human being. 
   

What can we do?

1. Educate the person who is engaging in such trends and make them understand their responsibility towards reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues.

2. Emphasize how their words hold power, and that they are accountable for diminishing the severity of the battles emerging from such mental health issues. 

3. Stop associating mental health terms with dehumanizing words such as “crazy’’ and “psycho”, as it only leads to the encouragement of not seeking help. 

4. Don’t trivialize experiences and struggles, embrace acceptance and awareness of mental health issues!