Person First Language

Distributed from the Hogg Foundation, posted by WPXI.com
Mental Health: Terminology
Posted: 12:45 pm EDT March 25, 2009

It is essential to use healthy terminology when writing about mental health. For example, using the word “usual” rather than “normal,” can have a dramatically different affect on your audience. Using the proper terminology can eliminate stigma in society!

Also, keep in mind that a person suffering from a mental illness is not defined by the illness. Oftentimes people are referred to as the illness and not as a person that is struggling with the illness.

Derogatory Labels

Avoid, where possible, any slang term referring to mental illness, including crazy, lunatic, nuts, deranged, deficient, wacko, loony tune, psycho, mad, freak, weirdo, schizo, manic, handicapped, special, slow, low-functioning, retarded, disturbed, weird, strange, insane, loco, abnormal, normal, and other words with negative connotations or inherent judgments.

Also, avoid phrases such as “off his meds” when used in a judgmental or derogatory context.

Inaccurate Diagnoses

When referring to a person who is affected by a mental health related illness whether being “Manic”/ “manic depressive” / “bipolar” or “Schizophrenic” or another mental health related illnesses remember that the person has a disorder-- the disorder is not a label for who the person is.

Referring to a person as a “schizophrenic” or “bipolar” is always inappropriate (a person has schizophrenia or other mental illnesses; he or she is not “schizophrenic,” “bipolar,” etc.), and the term is often misapplied to characteristics that are not symptoms of schizophrenia.

For example, “multiple personalities” and “schizophrenia” are not the same thing, but often are used interchangeably.

Additional terminology resources can be found by Clicking Here and by Clicking Here.