Is it just me, or does it feel like everybody is a psychologist these days?
Why is every negative emotion or unpleasant experience now being tagged as a mental health disorder?
I mean, were you truly traumatized, or did you go through an extremely uncomfortable situation that shook you?
Are you really depressed, or are you currently just sad and demoralized?
Do you really have OCD, or do you just like cleanliness and order?
Are you easily distracted, or do you truly have ADHD?
The list goes on and on.
These days, terms such as narcissist, borderline, psychotic, bipolar, and sociopath have become mainstream insults.
Every ex-lover, partner, or tough manager is suddenly either toxic or a narcissist.
It’s as though we have forgotten that negative emotions and suffering are still part of the normal human experience.
Often, the danger with this trend is that it trivializes serious mental illness.
Mental health disorders are not just unpleasant emotions or difficult seasons of life. They are serious conditions, and those who live with them often struggle through most days of their lives.
When we casually apply these labels to normal human experiences, we minimize the gravity of what people with genuine mental illness endure.
The important thing to keep in mind before a diagnosis is made is severity, duration, and impairment. In other words: how intense is the problem, how long has it lasted, and how much is it disrupting your activities of daily living?
As a mental health clinician who goes to work every day to help people struggling with real mental health disorders, I believe we need to focus less on labels, and more on stories.
Thank you for paying attention to this matter