"A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder."

- DSM V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

     Psychiatric disorders are a constellation of traits that impact a person's interaction with their environment. A formal diagnosis is based on a constellation of symptoms as well as an assessment of how functional the person is in their daily life. These disorders are outside the control of the individual, and they are pervasive in a way that interferes with daily life. We all have traits that could fit with a psychiatric diagnosis, but that doesn’t permit us to use the diagnosis as an adjective.

     We've all heard someone call themselves ADD because they're occasionally distracted or forgetful. People might call themselves or someone else OCD if they like a neat tidy environment. Bipolar is frequently used to describe (or insult) emotional people. What's the problem with using ADD as an explanation for occasional absent-mindedness, or calling someone bipolar because they are moody? Equating the presence of a trait of a disorder with an actual diagnosis minimizes the real struggle that many people experience every day.

     This is similar to using the words “retard/ retarded” or “gay” to mean something is stupid or weird. In 2009, the Spread the Word: Inclusion campaign was created to eliminate the use of the “R-word”. In 2010, Rosa’s Law relabeled “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability”. The words “imbecile”, “idiot” and “moron” have also been relabeled as profound, severe, or moderate intellectual disability.

     The Stonewall Education Guides: Tackling Homophobic Language, which was published nearly 10 years ago (no date identified, but the document quoted literature published in 2012 describing “the previous 5 years”). They listed “that’s so gay” and “you’re so gay” as the two most commonly used homophobic phrases. They report that these phrases “are most often used to mean that something is bad or rubbish, with no conscious link to sexual orientation at all…a pupil might say ‘those trainers are so gay’ (to mean rubbish or uncool) or ‘stop being so gay’ (to mean stop being so annoying). 

Check out these PSAs discouraging people from using the phrase “that’s so gay”.

     "That's So Gay" Commercials Win Top Ad Council Award (starts at 1:16)

     Wanda Sykes Talks to Boys in a Diner

     Just like gay and retarded have been used out of their appropriate context to mean something is bad or stupid, here are some of the common traits that people mislabel as a "disorder"

-  OCD: excessive cleanliness, being overly tidy, “Type A” personality

-  ADHD: a tendency to make careless mistakes, forgetfulness, short attention span, easily distractable, tendency to interrupt conversations.

-  Depression: sadness, pessimistic, being an introvert

-  PTSD: bad memories associated with something trivial (the sound of a pager going off), bad dreams, fear of a particular event

-  Insomnia: occasional trouble initiating or maintaining sleep

-  Bipolar: moodiness, decreased need for sleep.

-  Anxiety: normal levels of anxious feelings

     It might not seem like a big deal- but try to imagine if you had a disorder that made normal interaction with your environment a struggle? Now imagine someone who can function normally but has a couple of “quirks” were to equate their experience with yours? You might feel that they are minimizing your disorder, invalidating your struggles- this might leave you feeling misunderstood and alone. Please think before you speak. Your words matter.