Bill Maher slams rise in Americans self-diagnosing with mental illnesses and says: ‘PTSD is for people who fought in Iraq, not people who want to bring their dog on a plane’

Bill Maher has hit on the rise in Americans self-diagnosing themselves with mental illnesses.

The comedian and talk show host, 68, believes it takes away from those who are truly suffering with debilitating conditions.

“PTSD is for people who fought in Iraq, not for people who want to take their dog on a plane,” he said during a monologue on Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday.

Maher insisted that Americans ‘really need to stop pathologising everything’.

He acknowledged that some people have real problems but that there are ‘simple solutions’ to the way most others feel.

“Nobody’s just sad anymore, they’re clinically depressed,” Maher said on his show. ‘They don’t just worry, they have chronic anxiety.

‘Do you like things neat and organized? It’s OCD. You’re sad when it’s cold, outside, seasonal depression.

‘Hate being alone, separation anxiety. Bored? It’s ADHD. Shy? Social anxiety disorder.

‘Why because you don’t want to go to the office party? No one does, at best you’re having too much fun and that leads to getting fired.’

He added: ‘Are you moody? No, you’re bipolar. Some people are bipolar and some people are on the spectrum, but sometimes being on the spectrum is just a whole lot of being a jerk.

“I’m clinically an a******, nothing I can do.”

Maher went on to say that everyone alive is on the spectrum, adding: ‘It’s not noble to glom on to the soft end of it.’

He then pointed out how self-diagnosing mental conditions takes away the seriousness of those who suffer from them.

“PTSD is for people who fought in Iraq, not for people who want to take their dog on a plane,” Maher said.

‘There are people in America with real problems who deserve to feel sad, but sometimes a bad day is just a bad day.

‘When you constantly reinforce this message that no one is just a normal person with normal struggles, but that we are all permanently f***** in the head, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

He continued: ‘Maybe the solution is much simpler and you’ve just gone a week without sleep or sunlight.

‘Maybe you have problems that could be solved with vegetables or exercise.’

In the United States, more than 20 percent of the population lives with a mental illness, according to data from the CDC.

Around one in 25 lives with a serious mental disorder such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression.