They're Just Words, Right?

     Crazy. Psycho. Insane. Nuts. Mental. We've all heard these words used to describe someone, and we've all probably used them to describe someone as well. All those words (and plenty more I didn't list) are often used to describe a person that behaves in some way that doesn't fall in line with our particular standard of socially acceptable behavior. I know I've thought of myself, in the past, as crazy because of my OCD because I no longer fit into the box I'd given myself of socially acceptable behavior.
     They're just words, right? Remember the old saying: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me? Well, I disagree. Words do hurt, even if we pretend they don't. Words like the ones I mentioned in the previous paragraph can be especially damaging to someone who may not be meeting your socially acceptable standard of behavior because of some mental health condition or disability.
    Before I decided to seek help for my mental health condition, I would hear people calling someone they knew names as they related some story. Someone was crazy because they had gone to inpatient care at a hospital for a few days. Someone was psycho because they said (and believed) that God had spoken to them and told them to do something in particular. Someone else was mental because they attempted suicide or had a panic attack in public. I would hear these stories or read them, and I would just become more certain that no one could know what I was going through. I mean, if they thought all those other people were crazy (or whatever term they used), imagine what they would think of me if they ever had a glimpse into my mind.
     So...no, those aren't just harmless words. Those words are yet another layer of the mental health stigma that pervades our society. I knew they were derogatory terms applied to people that behaved in a way that wasn't socially acceptable or maybe they just had ideas that someone didn't like, so they were crazy. Words like that are just another way that our society shames people for failing to meet society's standards.
     A great number of people that deal with a mental health condition are ashamed of that condition. I know I was ashamed for years. I was so ashamed of the weird stuff going on in my mind that I thought I didn't deserve love from anyone, including myself. I don't need someone else shaming me and making me feel even guiltier than my OCD makes me feel regularly. My opinion of myself was already negative, and hearing someone call someone else psycho or crazy for something that wasn't nearly as bad as the intrusive thoughts rolling around my mind only sunk my opinion of myself even lower.
     I'll end with this: Calling someone a name like psycho or crazy or mental because they live with a mental health condition that you don't understand is basically the adult (or not-so-adult) equivalent of shaming the poor kid on the playground during recess because their clothes aren't as nice as your clothes. Contrary to what the old saying wanted us to think, words do hurt people, and it's the kind of hurt that can stay around, in our minds, for the rest of our lives. It's the reason that so many people refuse to seek help, because they've basically been bullied and shamed for needing the help by someone that wasn't very careful in choosing their words.