When a friend or classmate of ours is
neat and arranged with his pencils, pens and notebooks, many of us often comment “Ang O.C. mo
naman!” When we get a bad score in an important exam we students call ourselves 'depressed' when we are in fact simply sad or disappointed. And when we realize that we have lost focus in class and suddenly got distracted by something so trivial, we sometimes joke around saying "Na-ADHD na naman ako!"
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| Frazz Comics |
Expressions like these are not new to many teenagers, especially students. And though OCD, depression and ADHD all refer to psychological conditions, we will hear them thrown around in everyday conversations. And while it can be fun to pretend you have a mental condition around your friends to defend your odd behavior, it is actually a way of promoting misunderstanding to the people with such disorders.
It is very important to remember that these terms and others such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and anorexia are used in psychology. This means that these conditions are diagnosed and classified by health professionals and they can be VERY SERIOUS mental problems. However, when we overuse such terms in common conversation, it leads to oversimplifying these problems and creating marginalizing stereotypes.
It is very important to remember that these terms and others such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and anorexia are used in psychology. This means that these conditions are diagnosed and classified by health professionals and they can be VERY SERIOUS mental problems. However, when we overuse such terms in common conversation, it leads to oversimplifying these problems and creating marginalizing stereotypes.
For example: while we use 'OC(D)' to refer to people who are orderly with their things, it has far more implications than being better-than-you-in-arranging-things.
The NIMH or National Institute of Mental Health of the United States writes that people with OCD "feel the need to check things repeatedly, or have certain thoughts or perform routines and rituals over and over. The thoughts and rituals associated with OCD cause distress and get in the way of daily life.
"The frequent upsetting thoughts are called obsessions. To try to control them, a person will feel an overwhelming urge to repeat certain rituals or behaviors called compulsions. People with OCD can't control these obsessions and compulsions. Most of the time, the rituals end up controlling them."
It is clear here that the real meaning of OCD is far from what common tongue has lead us to believe. This is the danger in using psychological terms loosely in conversation. We often create an image based on but is far from the real disorder and this leads us to misunderstand and misrepresent mental disorder in our society.
A good example of this is how Schizophrenia stereotypes are used in television and movies. More often than not, characters with psychological problems are depicted as violent and angry.
According to a study for Time to Change by Dr. Peter Byrne, “Mental health stereotypes have not changed over a century of cinema. If anything, the comedy is crueler and the deranged psycho killer even more demonic."
The study claims that 49% of respondents have witnessed violent portrayals of mental health illnesses and 44% of them believe that in real life, a person with a mental illness will act violently. Although it may be possible for schizophrenics to act this way, not all of them are vile, ill-tempered, and incurable.
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| According to Dr. Byrne, unlike The Dark Knight's Joker, Russell Crowe's performance in 'A Beautiful Mind' was a realistic portrayal of schizophrenia. |
Although not all illnesses receive the same negative stigma, it is still important to understand that we create stereotypes and misunderstanding when we overuse other psychological terms. OCD is simplified to 'being neat and arranged', (Clinical) Depression is turned into 'OA', and Anorexia is now a synonym for 'slim'. This all misguides us and reinforces the wrong idea when it comes to mental health. And because of this, according to Time-To-Change, 9 out of 10 people with mental problems experience discrimination in society, mainly because the people they live with have the wrong idea when in comes to mental health.
To help end this, we must simply be more careful when using these terms. Think twice when you use terms like this in public. Correct people if you have to. Be informed about what OCD, Schizophrenia and Anorexia really is. And most important of all, understand that people with mental illnesses are still people.
To help end this, we must simply be more careful when using these terms. Think twice when you use terms like this in public. Correct people if you have to. Be informed about what OCD, Schizophrenia and Anorexia really is. And most important of all, understand that people with mental illnesses are still people.
- http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/news/mental-health-stereotypes-movies-crueler-ever-new-report-claims
- http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/index.shtml
Blog post by David Raphael Daza
STS THW
Group 6
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