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Why Words Matter The Language We Use When Discussing Mental Health

Leo Migdal
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why words matter the language we use when discussing mental health

From the four humours and lobotomies to where we are now, our understanding of psychology has evolved dramatically over time, and with the network of the human brain being comparable to that of the... We are learning new ways to understand each other, share spaces with one another, and it is important that the language we use when speaking about mental health shares that same view of progress. For us to recognise the importance of linguistic evolution, we must acknowledge where we first started. In the past, people with mental illnesses were treated as subhuman, their entire being overlooked in light of their condition. The word “crazy” was used in the 1570s to describe someone as “diseased, sickly”, and in the 1580s to describe something as “broken, impaired, full of cracks or flaws” (etymonline, n.d.). “Insane” comes from the Latin insanus meaning “mentally damaged”, and “Maniac” comes from the Greek maniacus, meaning “affected with mania, raving with madness” (etymonline, n.d.).

The language used around mental health was initially intended to belittle, dehumanise and distance sufferers, excluding them from society and discounting their experiences, and despite our scientific progress since then, these words often seep... When we use the same language, regardless of whether the context or intention surrounding the words have changed, this effect of marginalisation remains the same. Person-First means using language to recognize a person’s experience with mental health as only part of them as a person, and not the whole. “Person living with schizophrenia.”“My brother living with OCD.”“She is a person recovering from addiction.” “A schizophrenic.”“My OCD brother.”“She is an addict.” Practice normalizing what someone is going through and not minimizing, downplaying, or judging their experience with mental health.

When we normalize these experiences, we can help people open up more. “It’s understandable to be feeling down with everything going on.”“What you’re going through is challenging.“ This content mentions suicide or suicidal thoughts, depression, eating disorders and personality disorders. Please read with care. There are details of where to find help at the bottom of this page. Perhaps it is not surprising that an area of health that has been systematically stigmatised for so many decades has historically settled for a discriminatory lexicon.

Generations of people have grown up in societies that found terms like “psycho”, “schizo”, “loonie”, and “crazy” perfectly acceptable. Stigma is not only an element of mental health, of course, but the extent to which it has permeated our language, compared to any other area of ill-health, is astonishing. Many would argue that it is practice and not language that matters. But words are a barrier to help-seeking and a motivator for making discrimination acceptable. It can be a provider of a context for many people, which further entraps them in a vicious cycle of thinking that they’re suffering from “something” that they really shouldn’t be – or worse,... Several general terms used to describe mental disorders are understood by most people to have similar meanings, according to a new study published in BMC Psychiatry.

However, with specific mental disorder concepts and terms, the study found some differences between public perceptions and the descriptions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuu56a5l of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is the handbook published by APA and used by healthcare professionals in the U.S. and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. The latest edition is the DSM, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5TR), published in 2022. See more on the DSM. Concepts and classification of mental disorders have been the focus of significant attention, but how the concepts and terms are understood by laypeople, the study authors note, has received much less attention.

Researchers Jesse S. Y. Tse and Nick Haslam, Ph.D., with the University of Melbourne, examined public perceptions about various general labels for mental disorders and found that “mental disorder,” “mental illness,” and “mental health problem” were viewed with... “Psychological issue” was viewed as encompassing a broader range of conditions. The study involved a nationally representative sample of 600 adults in the U.S. Subsets of participants were asked to review and make judgments about vignettes describing people with mental disorders.

The vignettes covered 37 DSM-5 disorders and 24 non-DSM phenomena. Examples of non-DSM conditions examined in the study include character flaws (such as recurrent cheating and jealousy); bad habits (such as procrastination and social media disorder); and medical/neurological conditions (such as migraine headaches and... DSM-5 conditions included disorders from each of the 19 broad categories (such as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, bipolar and related disorders). Each vignette was two to five sentences long describing an unnamed fictitious person who might or might not have a mental disorder. Demographic information was only included when necessary as part of the diagnostic criteria. When looking at perceptions of disorders in relation to definitions in the DSM-5, Tse and Haslam found “some significant points of disagreement between professional and public understandings of disorder, while also establishing that laypeople’s...

The way we communicate about mental health and wellbeing, mental health concerns, suicide, and alcohol and other drugs (AOD) can have either a positive or negative impact on a person’s life. The words we choose to use can make all the difference. Our words matter: Guidelines for language use is a practical, research-informed, and user-friendly resource that is designed for media, researchers, service providers and other communicators. It seeks to inform, support and empower people to select and use words in ways that minimise stigma and harm and maximise diversity of representation. Incorporating these guidelines into practice will help to educate the public, break down misinformation and promote help-seeking, and help-offering behaviour. This new resource was funded by the National Mental Health Commission and developed in consultation with a diverse range of stakeholders in Australia.

Sharing stories of people with a lived or living experience can be powerful. We want people to talk about mental health often. The more awareness about mental health, the more chance there is of helping people who are experiencing challenges associated with mental illnesses. If you feel unsure about what language to use when talking about mental health, you are not alone. We are here to help you navigate these important—and potentially life-saving—conversations. While there are specific terms and phrases to avoid when speaking about mental illness, there are some general rules that can help you choose your words more carefully.

Avoid: Choosing our words carefully is about more than avoiding stigmatizing terms. The language we use can also have a positive, empowering effect, which makes choosing the right words just as important as avoiding harmful ones. If a person has the flu, we don’t say they are “flued,” do we? So why do people say a person is schizophrenic when they have a mental illness called schizophrenia? Such a way of speaking has contributed immensely to the stigma associated with mental health problems.

A mental health language guide is a valuable tool for society to improve its attitude toward dealing with mental health issues. Words matter, and with this guide, you'll be able to hold stigma-free mental health conversations. People respond to words without realizing it long before we open our mouths to reply. This is because the brain has a way of processing and connecting ideas, and words are the most powerful way of transmitting these ideas. One word can trigger an avalanche of memories and emotions. Maria Richter and her associates observed in research that negative words had the power to release anxiety-related hormones2.

In her book Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain, Lisa F. Barrett explains that words can physically change a person's nervous system. That's because the parts of our brain that control language also control major body organs and systems. Many more scientific studies show that words can have positive or negative impacts psychologically and physically. It can affect how we live, as we have seen people make life choices based on their feelings. We know that words cross geographical and chronological boundaries, bringing with them ideas, emotions, and perspectives.

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