Nov 14 2008
Now I hope this doesn’t sound crazy…
One thing that really gets my goat is the way people make light of mental illness. I’m not talking about people who fake insanity to get out of responsibilities; they know what they’re doing is wrong. I’m talking about the people who will say, casually that they are ADHD, schizophrenic, or OCD. We all know at least one of these people.
“Oh, I’m so ADD today; I just can’t pay attention!”
“I’m such a neat freak. I’m OCD about it!”
“You sound so schizophrenic when you sing both parts of that duet.”
Oh, aren’t you funny! Can you sit through a half-hour television show? Follow two-part directions? Easily? Then your “ADD” is probably nothing more than you not paying attention. My best friend is hyperactive, and I’ve worked with many ADHD-diagnosed children. They struggle with an ailment. Do not make light of it.
The other two upset me even more. You’re OCD? That’s interesting. I didn’t notice that your hands are rubbed raw from washing them. Just how many times did you check the locks today? And I find it interesting that the way I sing makes you suddenly aware of whatever voices I may have in my head.
It doesn’t work like that. There are plenty of people in the world today who do deal with their mental problems and cannot talk about it because of the stigma we as a society have placed on the mentally ill. So don’t go around telling people that you have something you don’t. Respect the people who live with it every day, and learn to cope with your own minor problems accordingly.
I think if the US hadn’t made entire industries out of letting these people walk around with a short attention span claiming mental illness, then putting them all over cable, we’d be able to do just what you’re advocating.
As far as OCD goes, the National Institute of Health defines it as: An anxiety disorder in which a person experiences recurrent unwanted thoughts or rituals that the individual cannot control. A person who has OCD may be plagued by persistent, unwelcome thoughts or images or by the urgent need to engage in certain rituals, such as hand washing or checking. Now, that could be any ritualistic behaviours, not just locking doors and washing hands, although they are common manifestations, they are certainly not the only two.
If you are advocating respect for people that in fact do have to deal with it everyday, I would suggest understanding all of the facets of, in this case, OCD before claiming that someone’s statement isn’t valid.
I do have an understanding of OCD because I have met individuals who truly suffer from the disorder (I have also done extensive research on the difference between OCD and impulse control disorders). I was making a point about making flip remarks about OCD and using two common stereotypes as an example. Perhaps that was not the best way to illustrate what I was saying.
My goal here is not to tell people their statements are invalid; I am simply asking people to stop making light of serious ailments with flippant remarks. We are, in effect, saying the same thing here. Maybe if more people understood more facets (I won’t expect anyone but a trained mental health professional to understand ALL facets, and even that is a stretch) of disease, they would not be so quick to throw around half-joking self-diagnoses.