By: Madisyn Zipper

Being a teenager in high school, I’m, unfortunately, subject to hear multiple conversations a day, whether I contribute or not. A couple of phrases, meaningless things like, “I’m really depressed today,” and “I’m so OCD about that,” have definitely caught my attention, and I’ve begun labeling them disrespectful and annoying. Why?

Annoying because the terms, that are actual serious mental illnesses, are used much too loosely. Yeah, I like to keep my room clean, but I don’t claim to have obsessive compulsive disorder. It’s almost become an excuse for being uptight and controlling. Disorders really shouldn’t be worn like a prideful badge, nor as an excuse to be negative or lazy.

Diagnosing oneself with illnesses, physical and mental, is degrading to the people that live with them on a daily basis. When it comes down to it, people that have been formally diagnosed with a certain illness are probably insecure about it enough, more so when it becomes a derogatory label or an excuse for just being a crap person.

No, wanting everyone to do what you say is not OCD.

No, not wanting to talk to someone that isn’t your friend is not social anxiety.

No, getting upset about something after it happens is not ‘having depression’. And, liking the color black doesn’t mean you’re depressed.

No, having insomnia does not make you trendy. Staying on the internet until three in the morning just makes you look like a procrastinator.

So, let’s show some respect to the millions of people that actually suffer from these common ailments by eliminating these simple phrases from our conversations. Make the world a less annoying place one sentence at a time.