Calling someone "mentally ill" isn't the insult you think it is

[nerdybutlazy]

If you use "this is a sign of mental illness' or "you sound mentally ill," this one is for you, and I know there are a few of y'all on here.

Before we start, I would recommend watching this short video about the misconceptions of mental illnesses.

Hello everyone :D Welcome back, and now I'mma bug the crap out of y'all. Let's get one thing clear, to legally and medically tell someone they are mentally ill. You have to be a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. Yes, your therapists can't legally give you a diagnosis.

They can give you... opinions and treat you, but they can't say, "yah homie, you're depressed as fuck". As they can't give you medicine, they only can give you therapy, thus the name therapist. That being said, the time it takes to be a legal psychologist is about 8-10 years of school and about 2 years of exams and interviews for your licences, so unless you have all that you calling someone mentally ill is one of the dumbest things you could say seeing the odds are you're understanding of the term is from tv and mass media.

Now you're probably about to say, "OHH well, of CoUrSe, I KnOw It's nOt really real it's just an insult"... it's again the dumbest insult ever. Why well, becuase statically speaking, the odds are you probably have a mental disorder. In the world, for every four people, about one of them has some form of mental disorder. That being said, the odds you actually are the one "ill" is pretty decent, especially if you actively bug people on the internet.

Here's the thing I have no idea where people got the modern thought to keep using this as an insult, especially when there are tons of successful people with mental disorders, and the fact that there exist is proven and valid but science. Speaking of science, in psychology, we don't use the term "mental illness" anymore. The term illness is broad. It doesn't address any real information about the person, not to mention for the past 100 years, anything that didn't meet society's norms was a mental illness (I can't roll my eyes hard enough).

Regardless of all that, another problem is that using the term affects people with mental disorders in medicine. It's only a disorder if it affects the patients daily living, making it harder for a person to function at social norms; that being said, people who don't argue with you on politics ay aren't mentally ill, so calm the hell down.

All that begin said, if you're gonna try and insult someone's mental health, especially in a year like this, is nothing short of embarrassing for you, with the chance that you or someone you know was a mental disorder, it really wouldn't kill you to treat that person with respect.

[Iwasthinkingif]

I agree and also, this is just very disrepctful towards people who are actually mentally ill because that is something that they have no control over and they have to fight it every day. That is very degrading to them and not so much to the person you insult by using such terms as insults.
Moral of the story: if you are one of those people, you should educate yourself and grow up

[nerdybutlazy]

Period!! it's so dumb people honestly dont understand the power of words

[msc545]

I'm a licensed Clinical Psychologist, and your mytake is very interesting - thanks!!

[Ozanne]

Thank you for this MyTake. It's to the point and honest. My husband has a mental illness, and I am constantly exercising my patience. I do it because I love him, not because I have to. For some people looking in on my marriage, they think I should have gotten rid of him a long time ago, but I have a unique relationship with him and choose to stay in it because -- I don't know how else to say it -- it keeps me on my toes to learn to be a better person. If I didn't have him, I may drop very quickly into the "I-don't-care-what's-wrong-with-you" type of thinking.

I do have a problem with undiagnosed mental illnesses, or untreated mental illnesses whereby the sufferer is troubling others to the extreme. I just went through an episode of someone right here on GaG, behaving very poorly to others, but then cites he has a mental illness. To me, that's not fair, and not good enough. Saying "I have a mental illness" is NOT fair when someone says it or uses it to put insurance on their bad behaviour. A more fair thing to say is, "I admit, I said something awful and I'm sorry.. I tend to do that because of my [insert mental illness here]." Then at least there is some accountability and acknowledgement.

I have had terrible experiences with people who are mentally unstable, most times are people who have all the tell-tale signs but will not go to a doctor to have it assessed or treated. Until that time, yes, it's terrible infliction on others and sometimes extremely hard to put down the hurt feelings to say, "I feel like you didn't mean to say what you did." The fact of the matter is that they did, and it's others who have to learn how they're going to deal with it. Will they be kind, or will they ignore and move on to save from worse things being said or done? It's on all of us -- the mental illness sufferers and their loved ones and friends to work together. Unless it's an extreme case of an intellectual disability laced in with it, it is not fair for just one person to deal with it on their own.

[bamesjond0069]

Many people suffer abuse at the hands of those with mental disorders and they hide behind their mental issues. Ie im sorry i didn't no call no show to our plans im depressed and so you can't expect me to always show up. Well guess what? That person is sick in the head and a total fuck tard piece of shit. No ifs and or buts. Depression is not an excuse to act like a piece of shit.

Also most of these mental issues can be solved on your own. I used to make shitty life choices and was depressed. Then i made better ones and suddenly i wasn't depressed. Its really that fucking simple 99% of the time.

[Daniela1982]

This site is not necessarily good for your mental health. I'm not sure which forums like GaG's are. Unfortunately some people do not realize they have mental health issues, so if a bunch of people are telling you that you are whacked, you might want to go in for an analysis with your Psychologist. The longer you wait the crazier you may get.

[RingOfFire]

From my perspective around 90% of the people your age ARE mentally ill.

I will grant you it's our fault. We raised you wrong. We thought liberal morals and ethics were liberating so we taught them to you. Later in life we learned that they lead to a society that is just the opposite of liberating. But it was too late to teach you that lesson.

We created a couple of monster generations of Americans and it threatens all of civilization since however America goes, the world goes.

[Ozanne]

Yikes! I'm sure the generation before yours thought the same though. :) Your generation, in your youth were growing out your hair and smoking weed in parks, driving across the country following rock bands. I'm quite sure your parents' generation were thinking, "Oh my god, these kids are nuts!!" :)

I'm a generation behind you, but even if I thought it was cool, it was reckless - I couldn't have ever done it myself. But to be that nutty and daring at the time must have had older people wondering, "How did these kids end up this way!"

I do think you're right in one regard.. I think each generation becomes a bit more soft than the one before it, and now that I'm older, it doesn't seem like it's for the better. 😑

[supercutebutt]

Are we still allowed to use the term "mentally Trumptarded"?

[zagor]

Be that as it may, I'm glad the mentally ill resident of the White House will soon be vacating that location.

[Ozanne]

A true testament of why it's important to be diagnosed properly. And by that, I do mean properly, as in - don't pay a doctor to say you're mentally golden. Get checked out by someone with reliable credentials who won't be swayed by a blank cheque. Trump is one person in a very dangerous position where he has taken his Number 1 mental disorder of having extreme narcissism and not having it assessed properly or having it treated with therapy. When people see their leader flying under the radar like this, those who also have mental disorders think it's normal and may not feel their own need to get help. So yes, good thing he's going so that the US can get back on track and help people rather than knock them down.

[coolhandroo]

I'll just go back to saying retarded. No way an i reading past the first paragraph of that spew

[nerdybutlazy]

whatever

[Aniya06]

Nice Mytake

[nerdybutlazy]

Thank you!!!

[Aniya06]

Np!!!