I bought some Lovehearts the other day, two of them said “crazy” on them. I ate the offending confectionary whilst I mulled over the use of language and mental health.
It occurred to me that the manufacturers of Lovehearts would never print “myeloid leukaemia” or “heart disease” on a sweetie, so why write crazy?
Mental illness is often referred to as a taboo subject, the truth is we all talk about it everyday. “I was stuck in traffic, going mental”, “I was watching the football but it was too depressing”, “look at the dog, running round like a lunatic”.
Modern music contains many references- my own personal favourite of the moment being the great philosopher Dizee Rascal “some people think I’m bonkers, but I just think I’m free”. Patsy Cline was "Crazy", The rolling Stones sang about someones "19th Nervous Breakdown". As I mulled this over my initial (political) reaction was that this needs to change but then I thought about the alternative, clinical terms-
Manic
Psychotic
Delusional
Obsessive
Paranoid
All correct, but no less evocative or negative than the everyday parlance. I came to the conclusion that as a society we are just negative about mental illness, whatever the context.
The portrayal of mental illness in popular culture- films, soaps, art, poetry and music is always extreme. Better to portray an episode of an illness than all the boring bits that happen in between, it’s much more enjoyable to read about someone in the depths of despair than it is to read about the days in between where they did grocery shopping or went to work, paid some bills and cooked the dinner.
Manic episodes make great TV and eating disorders swing in and out of fashion but often show up in the back stories of Casualty characters or thin teen soap characters. Suicide is often the best, cleanest way to get rid of a character whose actor doesn’t want or isn’t getting his contract renewed.
TV shows often get praised by the mainstream press for demystifying disability and homosexuality though sensitive portrayal but with mental illness it’s all about impact and extremes.
I’ve discovered the truth is always scarier than the fiction.
Many mental illnesses are lifelong, enduring conditions that are often not obvious, except in their extremes. A lot of us walk around with a pocket full of labels, dished out by various health professionals along the way. Some labels are like T-Shirt slogans and can’t be hidden but most of them stay unseen. Perhaps this is why I continue to insist “I’m not ill”.
The WHO defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". I am ill. I am also many of the things listed above, but you’d never guess which ones just by looking.
I don’t want the world to start being careful what they say, but I’m going to and I will never take my son back to our local soft play (Bonkers Playbarn)...........
............and I’m not buying Lovehearts again either.