Eccentric, odd, or mentally ill: why I’m not okay with a broader church of disorders

Being a bit quirky doesn’t mean anything is ‘wrong’ with you

I’m a bit strange. I’ll openly acknowledge that. I wear historical dress, I’m a wild daydreamer, I love escapism, romance, and fantasy, and I’m very talkative and a little bit obsessive over new interests. To some people, I’m sure I’m an acquired taste. I find sitting still for over a few hours deathly boring and I can’t go to sleep in silence. But I’m not “mentally ill” and I don’t have a “disorder”. I have plenty of friends, I don’t struggle with work, daily life, or relationships, my family love me and I love them, and I’ve never been exiled, restrained, sued, arrested, deported, charged, detained, made bankrupt or otherwise marked out as antisocial or dangerous.

I’m a bit camp. An eccentric. Abnormal: and that’s ok. I have no problem with not “fitting in” at 28. A lot of people wouldn’t fit into my social circles. I’m fine with that. What I’m not fine is the endless pathologising of everything under the sun to the point it’s offensive to even call a mental disorder bad.

On TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, I am inundated with “ten signs you have BPD”, or “five signs of autism” or “do you have ADHD”. Now, I wouldn’t mind if these listed…