If we are going to describe someone with mental health problems, it is high time that we do it right. Otherwise, we might add to their agony and aggravate their conditions.
According to a new study by Darcy Haag Granello and Todd A. Gibbs of the Ohio State University, there is now a compelling reason to be more mindful of our language when describing people with mental illnesses. In particular, the study cautioned against the use of "mentally ill people" to describe this population. The phrase is associated with certain degree of intolerance, which can be hurtful and harmful for the people diagnosed with these problems and their families. Instead, people are encouraged to use "people with mental illnesses" instead.
In their study, they surveyed more than 600 people on their attitudes towards people with mental illnesses. Half of them got a survey that included statements associated with "the mentally ill" while the other half got a survey that included the same statements with "people with mental illnesses instead." Their responses have important implications. Majority of those who answered a survey that used the phrase "the mentally ill" were harsher with their judgements on the population. They believed that "the mentally ill" should be isolated and separated from the "normal" people. The finding held even among the counselors who answered the survey, when it was expected that they will be the ones most understanding of this specific population. The opposite applies to those who answered a survey that used the phrase "people with mental illnesses."
Gibbs explained that the phrase "people with mental illnesses" is the more appropriate term because it does to implicate a person according to their disability. "When you say 'people with mental illness,' you are emphasizing that they aren't defined solely by their disability," Gibbs said. "But when you talk about 'the mentally ill' the disability is the entire definition of the person."
There was already a "people-first" movement back in the 1990s, but the study is the first to have evaluated how language works on one's perceptions of the population. "The important point to take away is that no one, at least in our study, was immune," Granello said in the news release. "All showed some evidence of being affected by the language used to describe people with mental illness," he added, implying to the fact that counselors themselves wanted "mentally ill people" to be isolated.
The findings are timely and important, considering the increasing number of people with mental illnesses. According to the Southern Missourian, mental health problems are becoming more commonplace, with one in every four people vulnerable to being diagnosed with one.