“I’m so OCD! I hang my clothes up by color!”
“I am so ADHD…sorry I didn’t text you back!”
It almost seems cool lately to throw out a mental health diagnosis when self-deprecating.
Is it cool to look like you know a couple symptoms of a disorder?
“My boyfriend is such a narcissist- we always do what he wants to do…”
With all the throwing around of actual mental disorders,it is easy to wonder whether we actually have diagnosable anxiety or depression. (BTW: why don’t people joke like “I totally have cancer - I can’t even go out in the sun without getting a burn- hahaha!” Why is it fine to throw around mental stuff that is challenging and painful, but not physical stuff that is challenging and painful?!)
When the names of mental sicknesses get thrown around, it is easy to begin to wonder, maybe I DO have something…?
And then, if I do… then what?!
Firstly, let’s note that every year, 1 in 5 of us adults in the U.S. will suffer from a mental health disorder. Not like, 20% of adults EVER. 20% of us every year. That is more of us than will have a sinus infection (which is only like 12%).
So to be clear, mental health disorders are much, much more common than we’ve probably been led to believe.
But also, all of us have symptoms of mental health disorders. Ever felt hopeless? That’s ONE symptom of Major Depressive Disorder. Irritability? Restlessness? Difficulty sleeping? All symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. But calm down, because we ALL experience these things from time to time. And if we don’t have enough symptoms for a specified period of time and if they aren’t causing problems in our lives (in your opinion or the people in your life’s opinion), then it may not be able to be actually diagnosed as a “disorder.”
1 in 5 of us adults in the U.S. will suffer from a mental health disorder.
The reason it can be helpful to even have a diagnosis though is (without going on a tangent: if you have insurance and a diagnosis, you might be able to get your insurance company to pay for a portion of your psychotherapy. For a limited time.) that you can, potentially get the help you need to feel and function better.
The main reason mental health professionals need to be able to say, “Megan has BED” (Binge Eating Disorder) or “Emily has ARFID” (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is not to stigmatize the person, but in order to know what specific methods of recovery will work best for her.
(*If you are reading this and you are struggling with your body image, that pretty much rules you out for ARFID, so you can back up off of your google research.)
It hard to have an eating disorder or body dysmorphia without also struggling with anxiety or depression. If a person’s symptoms of anxiety or depression include doing things to manage one’s appearance, to the detriment of that person, we need to make sure we are treating THAT disorder (Body Dysmorphia/Anorexia Nervosa/etc.), not just the anxiety and depression.
Action items (if you are worried about having a disorder that you haven’t been formally diagnosed with):
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