Discussion Mental health terms should be medically protected and not overused/misused

[TAW122]

I found an interesting thread on Reddit about the common terms people use in day to day life whenever someone is down. The post by u/swimsinsand says:

Too much people victimize themselves and call it some mental health disorder (anxiety,depression etc)

The world has become extremely sensitive, and big pharma has capitalized on people by throwing mental health drugs in there faces making them believe they have some mental health issue.

People need to pull their pants up and get over the hurdles of life.

Then also, this user, by the name of u/mr-fq states:

Agree. Anxiety and depression should be protected as medical terms.

Being anxious should not mean you have anxiety. Being depressed should not mean you have depression.

By automatically associating basic human emotions with serious mental health problems dilutes the attention and efforts to manage legitimate medically depression and anxiety.

This will make it harder to take persons needing proper diagnosis and care from getting the help they need.

I do agree with mr-fq and the OP of that Reddit post to an certain extent, such that terms like anxiety and depression are commonly used in day to day life whenever someone encounters someone who feels sad or anxious to the point that those terms lose their meaning and power. This undermines the people who are actually clinically 'depressed' as well as those who really have 'anxiety' rather than just normal human responses to the environment around them. Of course, there are people who are actually depressed but to slather the depression label around for everyone who is sad due to personal life circumstances and/or their environment, is not only dismissive of those who are actually medically depressed, but also invalidating the sad person (who isn't depressed)'s situation as it ignores the circumstances that cause the person sadness to begin with.

Instead, I think for people who are sad and really upset, should just be taken at face value, feeling upset/sad is a valid human emotion and reaction the environment around said person. The same applies to those who are anxious, they are nervous and anxious in such situations, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have 'anxiety'. Of course, when you try to broach this topic/subject IRL, it is oftenly met with hostility, ignorance, and/or gaslighting; therefore, I don't even bring such a subject up IRL.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[ZardozOmega]

Medical professionals already take this into consideration. The Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders set criteria that must be met in order to diagnose some one with something. Anxiety and depressive mood are both normal, and psychiatrists know that. It's only when these feelings become debilitating and met that set of criteria that doctors give you a diagnosis. Now, I'm not going to argue against the notion ADs and benzos have been thrown around too easily. That's true. But still, doctors and researchers are not idiots. They're aware of that these emotions are normal.

 

[TAW122]

Medical professionals already take this into consideration. The Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders set criteria that must be met in order to diagnose some one with something. Anxiety and depressive mood are both normal, and psychiatrists know that. It's only when these feelings become debilitating and met that set of criteria that doctors give you a diagnosis. Now, I'm not going to argue against the notion ADs and benzos have been thrown around too easily. That's true. But still, doctors and researchers are not idiots. They're aware of that these emotions are normal.

I see, and as far as the DSM books, I'd say IV and V are problematic, especially at V, when they start to pathologize even other natural behaviors and other negative consequences.

DSM 5 Is Guide Not Bible—Ignore Its Ten Worst Changes

New changes made to the DSM 5 could lead to people with everyday problems being mislabeled as mentally ill and inappropriately medicated as a result.

www.psychologytoday.com

As for professionals, I don't doubt that there are bad apples, but putting aside bad apples, sure there are those actually know what they are doing and when they make a diagnosis like anxiety and depression, they aren't just slapping down a label/diagnosis without looking at the whole thing. I still detest their pro-life stance (the vast majority of them) but I suppose that is the consequence of a pro-life society and government.

I believe that the Reddit who made the thread was referring mostly to common people and not solely professionals.

 

[ZardozOmega]

I see, and as far as the DSM books, I'd say IV and V are problematic, especially at V, when they start to pathologize even other natural behaviors and other negative consequences.

DSM 5 Is Guide Not Bible—Ignore Its Ten Worst Changes

New changes made to the DSM 5 could lead to people with everyday problems being mislabeled as mentally ill and inappropriately medicated as a result.

www.psychologytoday.com

As for professionals, I don't doubt that there are bad apples, but putting aside bad apples, sure there are those actually know what they are doing and when they make a diagnosis like anxiety and depression, they aren't just slapping down a label/diagnosis without looking at the whole thing. I still detest their pro-life stance (the vast majority of them) but I suppose that is the consequence of a pro-life society and government.

I believe that the Reddit who made the thread was referring mostly to common people and not solely professionals.

give an example

 

[so tired or manic]

... they do it right there. in the post.

" Being depressed should not mean you have depression. "

depressed means depression. sad is not depressed.

 

[Aap]

The article linked gives several.

 

[ZardozOmega]

The article linked gives several.

He should probably publish his findings in a psychiatry journal.