Contrary to popular belief, mental health symptoms are not qualitatively different than “normal” symptoms. It is easy to assume that people with a diagnosis are inherently different when in fact, all human behaviors and experiences lie on a spectrum. If we stop and think about the underlying mechanisms of each mental health disorder, it is safe to assume that every human on the planet has experienced a more controlled or less intense version of most mental health symptoms.
Take the following as examples:
Thinking you heard someone call out your name is an auditory hallucination, just like people with schizophrenia have.
The nagging feeling you have that you didn’t lock the car forcing you to go back and check is just like the obsessions and compulsions people with OCD have.
The intense fear you feel when your safety in in danger, from an attacker or an animal chasing you is the same physiological response that you experience during a panic attack.
The anxiety that we feel when we are running late is the same bodily and mental response that someone with an anxiety disorder feels.
The physiological, emotional and cognitive experiences are almost identical in these “normal” versus “abnormal” situations. The difference is that for people with diagnosed conditions such as schizophrenia or generalized anxiety disorder is that they are unable to control the symptoms.
For example, if you were unable to return to your car, eventually that urgent need to check if you locked it will subside. For people with OCD, this is does not happen until the give into the compulsion and go back to check (sometimes numerous times).
In addition, people with diagnosable mental health issues experience these otherwise normal symptoms out of context. As an example, our bodies are meant to have a strong physiological response to danger, such as being chased by an angry dog. However, people who have had panic attacks experience that same level of fear without a trigger.
Finally, the intensity and frequency of symptoms varies between people who have no mental health conditions and those who are diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Hearing someone call out your name once in a while is not concerning. Hearing a voice every day or hearing it tell you how to behave is a much more intense and frequent experience that is common for people living with schizophrenia.
The most important distinguishing factor is whether the symptoms impair functioning. In the case of mental health disorders, the symptoms (which everyone experiences to some degree) affect their daily life. People with OCD may consistently run late because they spend much of their time giving into their compulsions whereas someone who is insecure about locking a car can prioritize being on time over checking the car locks if it came down it. Experiencing panic attacks can lead to other phobias, such as agoraphobia or the fear of being outside which can significantly impair your daily life, whereas experiencing a fearful reaction to a dangerous situation does not have such long lasting effects.
By understanding that symptoms exist on a continuum and are not discretely different from normal experiences, South Asians can begin to feel more compassionate and less judgmental toward others living with mental health issues. With this ability to be empathic, mental health stigma can be broken.
What do you think about abnormal versus normal. Please leave your comments below.