And what about vitamins? Even though they come in pill form, and may be taken to alleviate problems like arthritis and fatigue, they are still seen as vitamins. Yet while we take "vitamins" to stay healthy, we take "pills" when we are sick. To my mind, "to be healthy" is not the same thing as "not to be sick." Each time someone says they're taking a vitamin, their perception of being healthy gets a boost. Pills, in contrast, may reinforce the perception of illness.
The way we use language encourages people with cancer, alcoholism or depression to consider these disorders an intractable part of who they are. Colds and headaches, by contrast, describe how we are at the time, not who we are. We might be able to improve how we are if we make decisions about what to call our ailments based on differences from one episode to the next. If I enter the physician's office with stomach pains, for example, I leave feeling somewhat better knowing I have "gastroenteritis." Having a name for our disorders gives us some comfort. But we have much more control, however, once we realize that a particular name and its implications are just one of several we could have chosen. Most of us remain oblivious to the way the name is just one of several we could have chosen.
