E051: (Ab)Normal Psych, and Changing the Language Around Mental Health with Dr. Jen Wolkin

In this day and age, so many people are still afraid to seek treatment with regard to their mental health issues. Hence, specialists like our guest today, Dr. Jen Wolkin, work hard in destigmatizing what it means to be abnormal and what mental health versus illness is.

In today's episode, learn more about the segmentation of mental health and mental illness, and what we all can do about it to bring more belonging, mattering, and acceptance into the world.

Dr. Wolkin is dedicated to advocating for people with mental health challenges as well as for the accessibility of treatment. Unfortunately, we're in a society that still stigmatizes and likes to label and put down people. And that's not okay because we're doing a great disservice to not only ourselves but those who are really struggling.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

What got her interested in Psychology
Changing the language around mental health
Why she named her class from Abnormal Psych to (Ab)Normal Psych
The life-changing exercise Dr. Wolkin did to her class
Using the DSM book just as a guide, not a gospel
Seeking therapy as an act of bravery
The power of rewriting your story

Episode Highlights:

Changing the Language Around Mental Health

Dr. Wolkin changed her class at NYU from Abnormal Psych to (Ab)Normal Psych. She wanted to use it as an opportunity to educate people that the mere use of the label "abnormal" is detrimental. She used it to have a dialogue about what normal versus abnormal really means.

Normal is just a percentage under a bell curve and what's abnormal is anything outside a certain percentage, both on the lower end and the upper end. And so, in theory, when people talk about brilliance or Mensa, that's abnormal. Hence, these metrics and the way we use these words like "disorder" or “abnormal” can hurt people. Using slurs like – idiot, retarded, or schizophrenic –are hurtful and we don't really feel its magnitude until we put ourselves in such a position.

It's then important to just conceptualize "abnormal" as something that deviates from what wellness is, impairs your overall functioning, decreases your quality of life, and creates suffering for you. We don’t want to minimize what they’re going through because it’s real and painful. But we can talk about it in such a way that will ultimately take the stigma away.

Seeking Therapy as An Act of Bravery

Recognizing there's something going on, and you may not have the tools for, or you don't know how to decipher is an enormous act of bravery. Unfortunately, a lot of people are still afraid of seeking treatment.

The Power of Rewriting Your Story

We try to tell stories to make sense of ourselves in our worlds. And oftentimes, we tell a story that maybe once helped us survive. But that no longer serves us and just holds us back. And so, try to figure out what story are you telling and how is that holding you back? How is that not serving you? How is that even contributing to anxiety and mood struggles?

Then you have to rewrite your story. This doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes we have to delve deep into why that other story was told and written. At the end of the day, the story we tell ourselves should shapeshift as we evolve and grow.