The global campaign to destigmatize mental health has had an unexpected side effect: we have begun to medicalise the normal struggles of being alive, transforming everyday distress into clinical conditions.
When someone experiencing a difficult patch says,
“I have a mental health problem, probably depression and anxiety,” (no)
they may actually mean something far simpler:
“I have life pressures, and am sometimes sad and worried.” (yes)
Shifting our vocabulary back to these terms is not about downplaying suffering—it is about reclaiming our natural capacity to endure it.
This shift toward honest, demedicalized conversation was recently spotlighted on the podcast Joe Marler Will See You Now. When Prince Harry sat down with England rugby icon Joe Marler, the dialogue bypassed clinical jargon in favor of raw, everyday realities. By stripping away clinical labels, they showed how powerful it is to simply talk about life pressures, coping mechanisms, and human vulnerability without pathologising them as incurable defects.
Feeling overwhelmed by demanding jobs, financial strain, and digital overload is not a biological malfunction. It is a rational response to an intense environment. When we tell a person struggling under these conditions that they have a “mental health problem,” we place the burden entirely on their neurochemistry.
On the podcast, Marler and Harry highlighted this distinction by discussing their own very public, highly intense life pressures. Whether navigating the relentless scrutiny of royal life or the intense physical and mental demands of elite rugby, both men reframed their struggles not as personal failures or chemical illnesses, but as direct responses to extreme environments.
Acknowledging that you are struggling with life pressures reframes the issue from an internal brain glitch to an external set of challenges that can be actively managed.
Emotional pain serves an evolutionary purpose, much like physical pain. Physical pain alerts us to avoid danger; emotional pain signals that something in our lives—our relationships, careers, or habits—needs to change. It is a prompt for reflection and growth, not a chemical glitch.
During their chat, Harry and Marler openly discussed dealing with profound grief and trauma, particularly in relation to Harry’s military service and the founding of the Invictus Games. They emphasized that navigating these feelings requires acknowledging them as a natural part of the human experience rather than trying to medicate or suppress them. Worry is often just our mind’s clunky way of trying to prepare us for upcoming challenges, and sadness is a healthy indicator that we need to slow down, process, and heal.
The language we use to describe our inner world shapes how we experience it. Saying, “I have life pressures, and am sometimes sad and worried” instead of “I have depression and anxiety” fundamentally changes our self-perception. It trades clinical helplessness for a manageable, relatable human experience.
| Struggle | Medicalized Approach | Human-Centric Resilience |
| Workplace Stress | Seeking a clinical anxiety diagnosis | Restructuring workload; setting boundaries |
| Grief or Loss | Treating bereavement as depression | Allowing time to grieve; seeking community |
| Social Isolation | Labelling loneliness as social phobia | Actively joining local groups; scheduling face-to-face time |
Pathologizing terms can make us passive observers waiting for a chemical cure. Reclaiming everyday language restores our personal agency. On the podcast, Harry shared that his personal tools for emotional agency are deeply physical, such as boxing to release tension, while Marler discussed the grounding power of shared humor. Both examples remind us that we possess the natural, practical capacity to navigate difficult seasons.
Normalizing emotional highs and lows removes the fear of feeling down. We stop panicking during a difficult week or month, recognizing that temporary worry and grief are standard parts of the human journey.
Demedicalising daily struggles directs us toward foundational remedies. Instead of seeking clinical interventions for life’s natural friction, we can focus on physical movement, deep social connections, nature, and setting healthy boundaries.
As Prince Harry and Joe Marler demonstrated, swapping psychiatric labels for human language allows us to feel without self-judgment. We are not fragile machines constantly breaking down; we are resilient, adaptive beings experiencing a full, complex life.
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