Tuesday, September 2, 2025

compassionate human language terms of mental illness

Non-Clinical Terms for Common Mental Health Experiences

A Compassionate Language Guide
Compiled by Telle Wild Rose

Nonclinical tools link: LINK

Anxiety
- Nervousness
- Worrying a lot
- Overthinking
- Tense or on edge
- Jumpy
- Tight chest or racing heart
- Hard to relax
- Ruminating
- Feeling panicky
- Butterflies in stomach
- Feeling unsafe

Depression
- Heavy-hearted
- Feeling low
- Down in the dumps
- Sad a lot
- No motivation
- Emotionally numb
- Hopeless
- Crying often
- Drained
- Hard to get out of bed
- Tired all the time
- Empty inside

Trauma Responses
- Easily startled
- Shut down emotionally
- Flashbacks
- Can’t trust people
- Always on alert
- Avoids reminders
- Feels like it’s happening again
- Spacey or disconnected
- Feeling broken
- Stuck in survival mode

Anger & Irritability
- On a short fuse
- Snapping at people
- Feeling ragey
- Frustrated all the time
- Holding in too much
- Built-up stress
- Quick to explode
- Hard to calm down

Grief & Loss
- Heartache
- Missing someone deeply
- Numb with sorrow
- Waves of sadness
- Can’t stop thinking about them
- Overwhelmed by memories
- Tears come unexpectedly

Burnout & Exhaustion
- Running on empty
- Totally drained
- Can’t keep up
- Mentally fried
- Just surviving
- No energy left
- Tapped out
- Emotionally spent

Overstimulation & Sensory Overload
- Too much going on
- Can’t focus
- Sounds feel too loud
- Need quiet
- Everything feels too much
- Need to unplug
- Want to hide in silence

Mood Swings & Emotional Intensity
- Emotions all over the place
- Feeling everything too deeply
- Rollercoaster feelings
- Can’t explain why I’m crying
- Happy one moment, sad the next
- Up and down all day

Loneliness & Disconnection
- Feeling invisible
- Nobody gets me
- Alone even in a crowd
- Longing for connection
- Disconnected from others
- Feeling left out
- Unseen, unheard

Fear & Paranoia
- Can’t stop looking over my shoulder
- Feel like something bad is coming
- Hard to trust people
- Feel watched or judged
- Everything feels like a threat

Intrusive Thoughts or Voices
- Thoughts I don’t want
- Things pop into my head I didn’t ask for
- Voices in my head
- Feels like someone’s talking to me inside
- Unwanted mental noise
- Inner chatter I can’t shut off

Self-Esteem & Identity Struggles
- Don’t like myself
- Feel like I’m not enough
- Don’t know who I am anymore
- Ashamed of who I am
- Feel like a failure
- Hard to accept myself

Disconnection from Reality (Mild Dissociation)
- Floating feeling
- Watching myself from outside
- Everything feels unreal
- Zoned out
- Not fully here
- Spacey
- Dreamlike state

Obsessive or Repetitive Thinking
- Can’t stop checking
- Need things a certain way
- Stuck on one thought
- Looping thoughts
- Mind won’t let it go
- Do things over and over

No comments:

Post a Comment

Devine Romance: smooth as molasses, sweet as honey, taste like chocolate

  DEVINE ROMANCE PIECE the Bridegroom (Christ) and His Bride (the church) Smooth as molasses, sweet as honey, taste like chocolate By telle ...