"}You know, when I was a kid, I kind of assumed that \u201cmental illness\u201d meant \u201cmental illness as diagnosed by a medical professional.\u201d
Because that\u2019s what the movie Freaks and Geeks was about. It was about a group of nerdy kids dealing with the repercussions of being socially awkward in a positive way, and how that positively impacted the wider world.
And I\u2019m not trying to downplay the significance of that movie, or the damage it did. I was very young when I saw it, and the way it portrayed the world, I couldn\u2019t have been safe in it. I was too old for that stuff to be just a metaphor for life, and I was too young to be in it myself.
But now that I\u2019m an adult, I\u2019m noticing that that\u2019s not how the term \u201cmental illness\u201d is used anymore. It\u2019s not just about a professional diagnosis. It\u2019s also about \u201cfeeling like an abomination against God or nature\u201d or \u201cliving in constant fear of dying from a disease that would have been cured in your younger years.\u201d
And I don\u2019t think that\u2019s right. I think there is a real thing out there that deserves to be called \u201cmental illness,\u201d and that thing is trauma.
I don\u2019t want to downplay the extent to which real mental illnesses, real traumas, exist. I know that I have some. But I also think that trauma is a much bigger part of the human experience than I realized when I was a kid.
I remember watching Jurassic Park with my dad, and realizing that I had never seen that kind of level of fear before. I had seen it in movies and on TV, but in a show about dinosaurs, it was totally novel and frightening.
I have never seen a story with the level of trauma that exists in most superhero comics, ever.
I don\u2019t think that people who read about aliens, dragons, or superheroes should feel ashamed of themselves for not understanding how they work. I think they should, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a waste of time to learn.
People should be able to learn about the world without feeling like a bunch of freaks and creeps.
So I\u2019m for the term \u201cmental illness\u201d as much as the next person, but I think a lot of people, including some people who know me, are still using it in a way that trivializes trauma.
(And that\u2019s before we get into the whole \u201cI was abused and I\u2019m still abused\u201d thing, which is a whole other kettle of fish.)