Incredibly freeing to hear more & more celebs (& even coaches➡️), get away from the idea that there’s this separate group of “1 in 5 messed up ppl” & instead reveal the reality that: We’re ALL a mess – thank you Jason for that line!
When we started this org some 5yrs ago, the name of it was “We’re All A Little ‘Crazy’” & the campaign was: “SameHere” – the ASL sign gesturing back & forth, you & I, we’re the same: bc we’re all humans, we all go thru challenging life events, ALL of us, & that means everyone’s MH gets impacted in a negative way at times…we’re in this together.
That was the beginning of 2018. Wish I had a $ for every academic/psycholgist/“long-tenured advocate” who told us at the time: you can’t use “Crazy” in the name of a MH org/movement…that word is “stigmatizing.”
Here’s the thing: we talk to each other in language like that. “That hat looks crazy good on you.” Or…”You’re crazy late to everything.”
We chose that name bc we use it. Most of us. And yes, we even use it to describe each other’s zany behavior (which most often developed bc OF our maladaptive coping mechanisms to emotional pain that gives us our quirkiness).
Society’s been erroneously told for so long, MH = MI, & that it applies to the “1 in 5” w MI. Really?? Something that’s subjective, based on symptoms, in a DSM5, w/o any disease found in the body or most any bio markers, we’re going to split society into the 1 in 5 ill, 4 in 5 healthy/fine/normal/ok group?
It’s why we used We’re All A Little “Crazy” as a way to show ppl this is a group – MH – that applies to ALL of us. It’s now the name of our podcast.
For a while: celebs still kept coming out w their MH journeys, & it was all abt labels. I’m ____, I suffer w (enter disorder name), you should use (enter app/product).
So happy to see these 2 public figures, & others, starting to communicate the reality: EVERY ONE of us on this planet deals w MH, just like we do physical health. It’s on a continuum…but it means we’re all in this together. Let’s do as Jason here (whose most recent character’s based on someone who just lost their wife, not solely a disorder) & talk in the collective.