Mental illnesses should no longer be used as adjectives
Walking through a high school hallway one might hear the occasional crude remark or new slang word that was recently invented to replace another. However, something that is learned to be ignored can become quite disconcerting when these words are no longer just words.
When high schoolers use words such as “depressed”, “anxiety”, or “OCD” and normally it is not for medical reasons.
Many times students can be heard saying phrases such as “if I get one more assignment today I am going to kill myself” or “these grades make me want to crawl in a hole and die.”
In a normal setting, these phrases might be concerning and cause for alarm. However, in most of cases, it is meant more as a joke than as an actual suicidal statement.
When these phrases are used in a joking manner, as they most usually are, it can be harmful to the mental health of those who do have to deal with real suicidal thought everyday. Playing these serious illnesses off as a simple joke, can make those who have been diagnosed feel as though the emotions associated with them are also seen by their peers as a joke, causing them to be less than willing to open up about them.
Using a mental illness as an adjective is less than appropriate in any situation. Yes, it is true that the feeling of depression can be had by any person for any matter of time. However when the context is not being used for the physiological disease or the psychological feelings that one may have when experiencing this illness, then it is simply not appropriate in conversation.
The fact is, these words can be easily replaced by those that are not offensive. Instead of using depressed one might use glum or dismal, all have the same meaning however two do not correlate to a illness that over 16 million people suffer from.
However, people simply choose to stick to their old ways, never changing and always seeing things their way. The only way to combat ignorance is through information. Learning more about mental illness can help everyone to be more aware of it and also to be more aware of what they say and how badly it can be affecting others.