You know the type: The person who, when someone else has depression, says “Just stop being depressed” or if someone has an anxiety disorder, says “You need to stop being anxious” - and thinks that that solves the problem.
In other words, “speaking the outcome” to people. Is there a term for this?
Know-it-all ?
I would go with “minor asshole” or “clueless asshole”.
I think a know-it-all, would provide more information than something that could be a needle-point wall hanging.
I’ll see “clueless asshole,” and raise that to insensitive clueless asshole.
I’m agreeable to that change.
You’d at least think they’d tell you what to do instead. Like telling the depressed person to “cheer up” or telling the anxious person to “calm down.”
I’d leave insensitive out of it though. ISTM this is one of those ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ things. I think it’s a pretty common misconception among those that have never had mental health issues to think someone that does have them can just snap out of it, or that they just don’t have the will power to get over whatever their issue is. Now, if it’s been explained to the person that it’s more than that and that telling a depressed person to ‘cheer up’ is like telling someone with two broken legs to ‘just get up, put one foot in front of the other, this isn’t that hard’, and they keep doing it, then, yeah, asshole.
Especially since they don’t even have to understand the reasoning behind it. Once it’s been explained to them, if they keep doing it, they’re going out of their way to be an asshole when the alternative is to just not say anything at all.
Thanks for the replies thus far.
For clarification, I guess what I mean more is the behavior, not the person. Like, what is the behavior called.
Some people think that other people genuinely don’t know what they need to do (i.e., that an obese person somehow wouldn’t know that they need to lose weight), or they think that people have the ability to snap out of something at will. The idea that people have total control at will to do or be anything.
People will say things like “You need to have love for something” as if that person can flick an on/off switch to make themselves love something they don’t love.
I’ve seen both sides of it with drinking as an example.
Some recovering alcoholics are sure that because they can’t handle alcohol, that no one else can. These assholes exist. I’ve spoken to them and I can’t stand them.
On the other side I knew people who have no problems with alcohol and are sure anyone that can’t handle is just weak. They’re not trying. As the Op sort of said, there answer to an alcohol problem is “just stop drinking.”
@Velocity; I know what you’re looking for, I don’t think the term exists in common usage at least. Maybe there is a clinical term for such. But not all behaviors have an assigned name or term.
My first assumption is to label it “narcissism”, but that may just be because a friend of mine continually posts on Facebook about her narcissistic ex-husband, and to her, everything is narcissism (except her constant posts about herself).
I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the mental health community had some type of nickname for these people or these statements since “just stop being depressed” is a pretty common thing they get told.
I see a distinction between naivete and denial in this behavior. A naive person might be set to rights by it being explained that addictions or mental health issues are not the same as a simple habit you can choose to change with minimal struggle. Someone for whom it would be personally threatening to admit that truth tends to be the type that will get angry if you have that discussion with them.
I’m real familiar with the latter. But I don’t have a name for the behavior.
So it falls into the …
Belittling , Condescending and Patronizing - This kind of speech is a passive-aggressive approach to giving someone a verbal put-down while maintaining a facade of reasonableness or friendliness.
But, as they might not realize they’re being condescending, maybe not.
Check the link, it is a largish list of behaviors.
You need to stop worrying about what the term is.
Nancy Reagan was famous for “just say no to drugs” and the problem is solved.
Hey, we can coin a term for now. Nancyism.
Technically though Nancy Reagan’s campaign was trying to reach kids before they tried drugs, not after they were addicted to said. So not really the same thing.
Actually, I think “outcome speaker” is pretty good, or something similarly related. “Speaking the outcome” is already a really clear and concise statement of what you’re trying to find a term for.
I was going to say the same thing. While this specific behavior exists, I am unaware of a term for it.
I was thinking Captain Obvious applies but like patronizing, narcissist, and asshole, the term fits the behavior but isn’t specific to the behavior.
For clarification, I think many such people don’t even have malicious intent. They aren’t “speaking the outcome” in a sneering way. So “asshole” may not be the term.
There are many nice, well-meaning folks who genuinely are baffled why depressed people can’t just snap out of it and “decide” to stop being depressed, or someone with PTSD can’t just…become a non-PTSD person “like the way you were before.”
That is an EXCELLENT resource, thanks for linking it!