Mental health can be hard to talk about for people in their everyday lives, so it’s not surprising that reporting on the issue comes with its own challenges. Until relatively recently, in many circles, discussion of mental health issues was considered taboo, and terms that refer to clinical diagnoses were often used in flippant ways to describe perceptions of traits rather than actual medical conditions. Though we’ve come a long way, there’s plenty of evidence that stereotypes and myths related to mental health issues have stubbornly clung to the public consciousness.
This section of the Language, Please style guidance helps journalists recognize and avoid those stereotypes and other common pitfalls in reporting and to understand key mental health subjects in a nuanced way.
This resource was informed by questions and discussions from our own newsrooms. It is a living document that will update and expand over time. It is not meant to be comprehensive or the definitive arbiter of language “rules” but instead aims to give context and inform thoughtful decision-making. Have a suggestion for an update, change, or addition? Please get in touch.
How to use: Browse the whole section or search for the term you need guidance on; click into any term for in-depth context, additional resources, and related terms.
Additional resources:
intimate partner violence
Abuse that takes place between people who are romantically involved. When reporting on intimate partner violence as a phenomenon, gender-neutral language reinforces that it’s a form of harm that affects people of all genders.
Me Too / #MeToo
Me Too/#MeToo is used to describe the social movement against sexual violence. The term is generally used with the hashtag when referring to relevant social media activities and without it when referring to the larger movement or specific allegations. While it can be commonplace in everyday conversation for people to use the term as a verb or in passive voice (e.g. “Person X was MeToo’ed,” “Person Y Shelly MeToo’ed Mr./Mrs. Person X”), this kind of phrasing leaves out context and specifics. The passive construction can also be read as positioning the abuser as the victim.
medical child abuse
Medical child abuse refers to a guardian subjecting a minor to unnecessary or even adverse care. Research has shown that accusations of child abuse and Child Protective Services investigations are disproportionately directed at Black, Indigenous, and multiracial parents. If covering suspected medical child abuse, it’s important to be specific about the allegations and symptoms, and to keep in mind how you’re weighting the words of sources. As with any allegations, it’s a best practice to give the target of the allegations an opportunity to respond. Keep in mind that there is generally a higher bar for publishing identifying details about minor children.
mental health disorder
Mental health disorder refers to a collection of symptoms that cause a disturbance in one’s mental functioning, including cognition, behavior, and emotional regulation. Some prefer terms like “psychiatric condition” or “mental health issue” instead, as “disorder” can have stigmatizing implications.
mental illness
Mental illness is a phrase used in mental health research to measure prevalence and seriousness of disorders that interfere with daily functioning. The frame of illness can be helpful in reinforcing that clinical mental health conditions are health issues and not personal failings. But the term can also carry negative connotations, so context matters when deciding when and how to use it. “Mental health condition” is a more expansive term.
neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)
A collection of drug withdrawal symptoms that occur after a child is born. It is caused by exposure to drugs in the womb. When researching or writing about NAS, keep an eye out for ableist rhetoric and racial biases.
neurodivergent
Neurodivergent is an umbrella term to refer to neurological minorities, including people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, Tourette’s syndrome, and tics. The opposite term is “neurotypical.” Equating neurotypicality to being “normal” or having a “healthy” brain can reinforce misleading assumptions and stigma about neurodivergence.
neurodiversity
Neurodiversity refers to the presence of many different types of minds throughout the human race, all of which have valuable characteristics. The term aims to categorize autism, ADHD, and other developmental conditions as naturally occurring traits in the human population rather than pathologies to be “cured.” A group or population can be neurodiverse, but a single person cannot, and the term generally isn’t used in a person-first way (e.g., “a person with neurodiversity”). An individual could be referred to as a neurominority or neurologically marginalized, or described with their diagnosis; some also call themselves “neurodivergent.”
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by persistent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive rituals to “neutralize” said thoughts (compulsions). Using OCD as a casual shorthand outside of the context of the actual disorder and its diagnosis can increase stigma around the condition, trivialize the experiences of people living with OCD, and discourage people from getting help.
opioids, opioid epidemic
Opioids are a broad class of drugs that include natural opioids like morphine; semi-synthetic opioids such as heroin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone; and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanil. The opioid epidemic began in the 1990s when pharmaceutical companies started aggressively marketing highly addictive opioids. It is now the biggest drug epidemic in US history. Much media coverage of the opioid epidemic has focused on its effects on rural, white communities, but in 2020, fatal drug overdoses of Black Americans surpassed those of white Americans for the first time since 1999. Racism within health care settings continues to pose major barriers — white Americans have better access to opioid use disorder treatment. Careful coverage of opioids and the epidemic will stay away from stigmatizing drug use or pain management techniques, avoid stereotypes of who is at risk of an opioid use disorder or how it might manifest, account for the role of industry and deceptive marketing practices in creating conditions for addiction, and treat addiction like any other disease rather than blaming the individual. It’s important to note that over-focusing on negative outcomes like addiction and death, without offering greater context and ideas for solutions, can contribute to harmful stereotypes and preclude hope.
Featured term: neurodiversity
Neurodiversity refers to the presence of many different types of minds throughout the human race, all of which have valuable characteristics. The term aims to categorize autism, ADHD, and other developmental conditions as naturally occurring traits in the human population rather than pathologies to be “cured.” A group or population can be neurodiverse, but a single person cannot, and the term generally isn’t used in a person-first way (e.g., “a person with neurodiversity”). An individual could be referred to as a neurominority or neurologically marginalized, or described with their diagnosis; some also call themselves “neurodivergent.”
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