This week I read an Odyssey article entitled, "Stop Whoring Out Your Undiagnosed Mental Illness." As soon as I read it, I knew that I needed to respond. The article basically says that anyone who has not been diagnosed with a mental illness, but claims they have one, are illegitimate. This is completely untrue.

For one thing, if you have a back pain, but haven't been officially diagnosed with a problem, no one is going to tell you that you don't have a back pain... so why should we do that with mental illness? No one can prove that anyone is having back pain, they could always be faking it. But we believe them because they say so, and we have no other choice but to assume they are telling the truth.

Similarly, you can't look at a person and outwardly tell they have a mental illness. Unless a person chooses to say that they have been diagnosed, you won't know if they have been or not. How do you know that every person who talks about these things is not professionally diagnosed?

Finally, if someone feels something, they have the right to say so. I felt for years that I had anxiety and depression. I went years feeling too insecure to speak to my docotor about it. So was my mental illness not legitamate before I was diagnosed? No. It was not. I still had it. I knew what I felt even when I was young.

No one is trying to be "cool" by claiming they have a mental illness. It's not fun. It's a living hell sometimes, not something to joke about.

I have friends who have never been diagnosed, and I know for a fact that they definitely struggle with mental illness. I will not tell them that they can't speak about mental illness when they haven't been diagnosed. It's absurd.

No one is "whoring out their mental illness." What is there to gain from such a thing? Nothing- except for people who choose to judge you for it.

So, to all of those with mental illness that is undiagnosed, I believe you, and you are legitamate.