Gen Zen: 'Stressy depressy' or a just bad day? Mental health slang can be helpful but may trivialise serious conditions

SINGAPORE — Scrolling through TikTok, it is hard to miss the surge in slang mental health phrases creeping into everyday conversations.

From “stressy depressy” and “menty B” to refer to breakdowns and the mentions of people going on a “hot girl walk”, it seems like we are more aware of mental health issues than ever.

A “hot girl walk” is an outdoor mindfulness walk that started as a TikTok trend in 2020. 

Alongside these slang expressions, it seems like terms such as “trauma” and “anxiety” are now used more freely and loosely than ever on the platform. 

Just about every five-item checklist that pops up on my screen has me wondering if I’m going through a depressive episode or whether I should get checked for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Although this openness and the use of informal language has helped to normalise conversations around mental health, experts told TODAY that it might have unintentionally led to an overuse of these terms.

This could have led to over-diagnosing and even trivialising more serious mental health conditions, they added.

Ms Ooi Sze Jin, founder and psychologist of A Kind Place, a counselling practice, said: “Informal phrases like 'menty B' and 'stressy depressy' have a dual influence on public perception of mental health issues.

“On one hand, they can normalise conversations about mental health and make it feel less intimidating. People might feel more comfortable discussing their feelings when using casual language.”

On the other hand, Ms Ooi said that such terms could “trivialise mental health conditions”, making it harder for people to understand the gravity of mental health disorders.

Agreeing, Ms Priscilla Shin, principal psychotherapist of Range Counselling Services, said: “These playful terms can also minimise the seriousness of these conditions and oversimplify complex issues, and lead to miscommunication or misuse.”

Given the ubiquity of these new-fangled phrases, it can be tricky to speak about your emotions and experiences openly and authentically. 

To navigate this delicate terrain, experts who spoke to TODAY offered ways to share mental health experiences in a manner that is both validating and balanced, ensuring that we do not exaggerate or misrepresent them.

A TRENDING CONDITION 

Although the misuse of mental health slang can be harmful, the experts noted that informal terms can facilitate discussions about mental health, especially with professionals.

Dr Annabelle Chow, principal clinical psychologist at Annabelle Psychology, said: “The rise in mental health awareness and the use of psycho-therapeutic labels should not be dismissed as negative.” 

She added that learning and using these labels can aid in self-reflection, sharing therapy experiences, and destigmatising mental health discussions when speaking with a trained medical professional.

Even though slang words are easier to use, experts said that they are often accompanied by simplified explanations that lack the perspective of a trained mental health professional, which leads to overuse and over-diagnosis. 

Dr Chow said: “(Mental health slang) used together with memes, videos, and static posts… in the seconds of viewing the posts, we assume what the slang terms mean. Very often, we carry these assumptions with us without fact-checking.”

Miss Ooi said: “In the past, diagnoses were done by trained professionals and people would approach a psychologist to determine if they had any mental health disorder.

“However, people now watch a TikTok video or see an Instagram post and diagnose themselves with ‘depression’ or ‘PTSD’ (post traumatic stress disorder) just because they meet the criteria that is stated in the video.”

Ms Liew Shi Min, director and clinical psychologist of Heartscape Psychology clinic, said that in her practice, some clients in their first session fixated on a certain “trending” diagnosis or described behaviours by using pathological terms they had picked up on social media.

She said that while the use of such slang can spur more conversations about mental health, it can lead to “confirmation bias” and an “echo chamber” where individuals with similar struggles strongly believe in a diagnosis that appears to explain their experiences.

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and favour information confirming our beliefs and values. 

SELF-DIAGNOSING AND OVER-DIAGNOSING 

The use of mental health slang and the casual use of clinical terms can result in over-generalising mental health conditions and people mistakenly classifying everyday struggles as breakdowns or trauma.

“Sometimes these informal phrases can oversimplify complex mental health conditions, making others believe they understand these issues based on minimal information,” Ms Shin said.

Miss Liew said that when people self-diagnose and share their experiences online, these conditions might appear to be more common than they actually are.

“This is especially so for social media influencers with great audience reach who have not been officially diagnosed by mental health professionals but make over-generalising or inaccurate statements with diagnostic terms,” she added.

Moreover, conflating ordinary challenges with serious mental health conditions can have long-term implications on how one faces challenges.

Miss Ooi said: “If we start labelling everyday challenges as trauma, depression or breakdowns, we are not able to learn how to recover from setbacks.”

This behaviour can make us overly sensitive and less resilient. 

“We all go through basic human emotions and are all bound to experience some form of hardship in our lives. If we go through a heartbreak, we might feel sad. That sadness might be overwhelming for a while,” Ms Ooi added.

“That’s normal. We will eventually recover from it.”

The overuse of mental health labels and self-diagnosis might also lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, the experts said. 

“(This is) where they subconsciously adopt and exhibit behaviours associated with the perceived condition, reinforcing their belief,” Miss Ooi said.

Dr Chow said that this could lead to the person trying ineffective coping strategies or self-prescribing specific treatments or therapies. 

This may then lead to even more disappointment and helplessness if one has invested time and money and the difficulties remain unchanged or worsen. 

HOW CAN WE TALK ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCES?

The experts emphasised that the language used matters in describing a person's mental states, emotions and experiences. 

“I think it’s important for us to shift the language towards a more accurate and respectful direction,” Ms Shin said. 

She and the other experts recommended using descriptive language that details specific emotions and their impact to help convey the depth of a person's experience without overstating it. 

“It’s best to focus on personal feelings and their individual impact and avoid generalisations or comparisons to others’ experiences,” Miss Shin said. 

This shift encourages empathy and a more compassionate use of mental health terminology and can balance casual, accessible language with the need for accuracy and sensitivity.

Dr Chow said that the first step is self-awareness, which involves regularly monitoring and reflecting on one’s mood and emotional state. “With this as a foundation, you would be more aware of any noticeable changes.”  

This way, “we can better distinguish between temporary and persistent feelings, assess the severity, and determine whether professional help is needed,” Dr Chow added.