‘Disorder’

i really wish we could find another word to replace this within the mh world. Having a disorder must be very disheartening- there you go : anything with ‘dis’ at the beginning is really not so great. There are plenty of debates on the topic of labelling. Some are relieved to have a diagnosis, to be able to name the distress, to know , at least some of what is going on. For others it is stigmatising, a source of shame and embarrassment: best kept under wraps. Distressed is the opposite of Eustress( the OK healthy kind of stress)- so worth knowing which you have in order to make some changes or get some help. So maybe some ‘Dis’ can be useful?

When a client/patient says ‘ I have personality disorder’ almost always the personality bit doesn’t bother them, after all our personalities are multi- faceted, but the ‘disorder’ bit does . ‘ I have a disorder of the mind!’ Who can blame them. Rather like the word ‘disease’ and all the Victorian horror this conjures in our minds. A physical disorder seems less stigmatising than a disorder of the mind/ personality somehow. Controversial,but if it can be seen it can be understood somewhat

So ,yet again, we need a review of mh language. Not out of political correctness , but out of kindness.