During our course of talks either in personal life or corporate life, either in oral or written communication, we should not never use the words that hurt people.
Avoid Words Associated with Stigma
According to a research published in 2007 in PubMed Central (PMC), a journal brought out by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (U.S.), 250 words make the people (young students in their study) more associated with the stigma of mental illness and disturb them.
These words with “denotative and connotative meanings” have been categorized as derogatory, emotionally negative, or demonstrate cognitive disabilities, psychological disorders, or relate to violence. We should never use such derogatory words against anyone because they cause immense prejudice in the people, if they have symptoms of mental issues.
Family members, friends, and society are the first circle we live with must take care not to label against anyone that make them feel down.
These 250 words have been presented in three tables based on the frequency they have been used.
Table 1: Most frequently occurring words and terms
| Term | Frequency | Term | Frequency |
| Disturbed | 11 | Scary | 5 |
| Nuts | 11 | Div | 4 |
| Confused | 10 | Dumb | 4 |
| Psycho | 10 | Ill | 4 |
| Spastic | 10 | Loneliness | 4 |
| Crazy | 9 | Loony bin | 4 |
| Depression | 7 | Psychiatric | 4 |
| Disabled | 7 | Screw loose | 4 |
| Mad | 7 | Stress | 4 |
| Unpredictable | 7 | Violence | 4 |
| Insane | 6 | Brain dead | 3 |
| Loony | 6 | Demanding | 3 |
| Mental | 6 | Demented | 3 |
| Schizophrenia | 6 | Dinlo | 3 |
| Thicko | 6 | Distressed | 3 |
| Weird | 6 | Embarrassed | 3 |
| Depressed | 5 | Flid | 3 |
| Different | 5 | Frustrated | 3 |
| Freak | 5 | Isolated | 3 |
| Odd | 5 | Sad | 3 |
| Problem | 5 | Strait jacket | 3 |
| Retard | 5 | Wheel chairs | 3 |
Table 2: Super-ordinate categories emerging from the terms used
| Theme | 1 Popular derogatory terms | 2 Negative Emotional State | 3 Physical Illness or Learning Disability | 4 Psychiatric categories | 5 Violence | 6 Loneliness |
| Number of instances | 114 | 61 | 38 | 15 | 9 | 10 |
| Examples | Nuts | Disturbed | Disabled | Schizophrenia | Scary | Isolated |
| Psycho | Confused | Spastic | Depression | Violence | Loneliness | |
| Crazy | Depression | Dumb | Psychiatric | |||
| Loony | Ill | Demented | ||||
| Weird | Stress | Wheelchairs | ||||
| Freak | Distressed | |||||
| Screw Loose | Embarrassed |
Table 3: Terms used by 14 year old school students to refer to mental illness
| Abnormal | Frustration | Not fair | Sometimes lacking brain power |
| Abusive | Fucked | Not happy | Spakka |
| Alone | Funny | Not obvious | Spanner |
| Alzheimers | Gay | Not quite there | Spastic |
| Angry | Get lost | Not the sharpest knife in the drawer | Spaz |
| Anti-social | Gone in the head | Numscull | Split personality |
| Asylums | Goon | Nutcase | Spoone |
| Attention seekers | Green room | Nutter | Stiggy nutter |
| Autism | Halfwit | Nuts | Stigma |
| Bewildered | Hallucinating | Nutty as a fruitcake | Strait jackets |
| Bimbo | Hallucinations | OCD | Strange |
| Bonkers | Hand fed | Odd | Stress |
| Brain damage | Handicapped | Oddball | Stressed |
| Brain dead | Happy club | Off their rocker | Therapist |
| Breakdown | Hard | Out of it | Therapy |
| Childish | Hard work | Outcast | Thick |
| Cola sweat | Head banging | Padded cells | Thicko |
| Confused | Head case | Paedophile | Thicky |
| Crackers | Helpless | Panicked | Tiring |
| Crazy | Hurting yourself | Paranoid | Too much pressure |
| Cushioned walks | Idiot | Patch Adams | Touchy to talk to |
| Dangerous | Ill | People who are obsessed | Troubled |
| Deformed | Indecisive | Perfectly normal | Twisted |
| Demanding | Infixed in bad habits | Perverted | Twister |
| Demented | Insane | Physical problems | Ugly |
| Depressed | Insecure | Physically ill | Unable to make decisions |
| Depression | Intellectually challenged | Pills | Unappreciated |
| Deranged | Intimidating | Pinflump | Unapproachable |
| Difficulty learning | Irrational | Pive | Uncomfortable |
| Dildo | Isolated | Plank | Under pressure |
| Dinlo | Joe from Eastenders | Ponce | Understandable |
| Disabled | Jumpy | Pressure | Unfair |
| Disarmed | Learning difficulties | Pressurising families | Unfortunate |
| Disorientated | Lonely | Problems | Unhappy |
| Distorted | Loony | Psychiatric | Unpredictable |
| Distressed | Loony bin | Psychiatric health | Unstable |
| Distressing | Loser | Psychiatrist | Upsetting |
| Disturbed | Lost | Psycho | Veg |
| Disturbing | Lunatic | Psychopath | Vegetable |
| Disturbing images | Mad | Reject | Victim |
| Div | Made fun of | Retard | Victimised |
| Dizzy | Madness | Sad | Violence |
| Doctors | Manic depression | Sandwich/pepperoni short of a picnic | Violent |
| Dofuss | Mass murderers | Scared | Voices |
| Dopy | M.E. | Scared to talk to if they were a murderer or rapist | Voices in your head |
| Downy | Mental | Scary | Vulnerable |
| Dribbling | Mental hospital | Schizo | Wacky |
| Drugged-up | Mental illness | Schizophrenia | Wally |
| Dulally | Mental institution | Schizophrenic | War |
| Dumb | Mentally challenged | School can cause it | Wheelchair jockey |
| Embarrassed | Mentally handicapped | School pressure | Weird |
| Embarrassing | Mentally ill | Screw loose | Weirdo |
| Empty | Misunderstood | Screwed | Wheel chairs |
| Escaped from an asylum | Mong | Sees things in a different way | White coats |
| Excluded | More common than you think | Segregation | Wild |
| Feel sorry | Muppets | Self-harm | Wild funny noises |
| Few sandwiches short of a picnic basket | Needing help | Shock syndrome | Window licker |
| Flid | Nervous | Shouts | Withdrawn |
| Flip in the head | Nightmares | Sick in the head | World of their own |
| Freak | Non-caring | Simple | Worried |
| Fruit cake | None caring | Simpleton | You belong in a home |
| Frustrated | No-one upstairs | Some people born mentally ill | |
| Frustrating | Not all there | Sometimes includes drugs |
Source: Rose, Diana et al. “250 labels used to stigmatise people with mental illness.” BMC health services research vol. 7 97. 28 Jun. 2007, doi:10.1186/1472-6963-7-97.