The most important thing I learned in Psych 101 is that phobia are not just fears. Fear, worry and other forms of discomfort are natural feelings that everyone has from time to time. A phobia is a condition where something specific triggers a fear so crippling it prevents someone’s daily routine. A fear of heights means you get nervous crossing a bridge. A phobia of heights is when you choose to drive a hour out of your way to avoid taking a bridge.
I feel the same way about mental illness. I often hear people flippantly refer to mild OCD and slight autism. It’s common to think less severe versions of symptoms translate to lesser versions of that disease. Psychiatric problems aren’t that simple. A compulsive need to do something does not an obsession make. Not communicating well in social situations does not equal partial autism. That is like saying dizziness from low blood sugar makes you temporarily diabetic.
The way most people picture for psychiatric problems is similar to our concept of color. Most of it is made up of things most people will never see. Visible light (aka, color) is only a tiny part of the overall light spectrum. It gets the most attention because that’s what we can see and understand. In reality, there is light bouncing all over the place that our brains don’t register because we can’t visualize an x-ray. That doesn’t mean the x-ray doesn’t exist. Much like that, society focuses on the behaviors resulting from mental disorders – the part they can see.
I believe the spectrum for different perspectives and comprehension is much broader than that. It can’t be communicated in a way we understand yet but the desire to make a connection is still there. With time and patience, I believe we can bridge that gap. First, people need to stop trying to identify with what makes the mentally ill more like them by saying – “Yeah, I kinda feel like that sometimes.” Instead, assume you have no idea what it’s like. Try to find out from someone who does before asserting your own personal place on the spectrum.