Please stop fetishizing mental illnesses.
The word ‘pyscho’ is not an adjective. It is a shortened version of the word ‘psychopath’. Psychopathy is “a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behaviour, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.” So no, you’re not about to go ‘psycho’ or ‘psych the F*** out’.
Recently, I’ve been seeing an annoying amount of women joking on social media about how they’re ‘psycho girlfriends’, but unfortunately, like many internet jokes, the actual implication is disregarded and with it, the struggle and pain endured by those actually burdened by such a condition. By claiming to be ‘psycho’, you are glamourizing an illness. Why is it that no one claims to be a ‘cancer girlfriend’ or ‘diabetes girlfriend’? This blatant disparity clearly illustrates the lack of recognition given to mental conditions in today’s society.
It’s just frustrating how there is so much stigma attached to mental illness, especially within the black community, but that’s a whole other story. Being a ‘psycho’ girlfriend has been romanticized into something almost fashionable, a trend even.
Not to mention the fact that from a feminist angle, it is most degrading as it implies that the only time a woman can have any remnant of control or influence within a relationship is when she’s ‘psycho’, i.e. invasive, over the top, and just paranoid. This in turn suggests that a woman being equal with her partner is abnormal or can only be achieved by erratic or passive aggressive behaviour and that’s just wrong. Feminism promotes the equality of the sexes and being equal with your partner means just that – being equal. Women have fought for years against the idea that we are possessions of men, what sense does it make now to treat men as possessions and police their every move? It’s ridiculous. The whole concept of being a ‘psycho’ girlfriend is a farce.
Mental illnesses are genuine medical afflictions – they’re not just a fancy term for attention-seeking, which so called ‘psycho’ girlfriends – a phrase I wince at using – may well be. Please stop comparing people who literally struggle to form relationships to your (lack of) behaviour in your poorly formed relationship.
To be frank, if you cannot trust your partner without going through their belongings or believe them capable of infidelity, you simply shouldn’t be together. It’s not by force to be in a relationship and a relationship shouldn’t be maintained using force. Being ‘psycho’ shouldn’t even be a thing – there shouldn’t be a need for this article.
