Why do some people want to be mentally ill? Is it validation? Attention seeking or just a need to feel special? I was diagnosed with a mental illness when I was in my late teens, and I've found that my family members self-diagnose themselves with one mental disorder or another. I'm not saying they cannot have a disorder, but I don't understand why they don't seek professional help. I always hear terms thrown around like "Narcissist" "Panic attacks" or "OCD" even though they've not sought professional help or gotten a diagnosis.

So why do people do this? Is it fair to say it's the need to feel special? I think we all want to feel special, but some people latch onto mental illness for one reason or another. I dislike it because it trivializes real mental health issues. Panic attacks are terrifying, yet people think it's simply panicking or freaking out. Real narcissism (NPD) is a mental illness, but we use it every day to label people we find toxic. Actual OCD alters a person's life, but these days everyone is OCD.

when u have been thru some shit in life and see people posturing as something they can’t even begin to understand, it’s hurtful. i want younger people than me who feel marginalized to not rely on the identity of that marginalization and categorize every aspect of yrself to make people hear you or see you. i want younger people than me who feel like they are misunderstood to not adopt a damaged / disordered / ill psyche to feel like their navigation thru the world is determined by every facet of who they are. yes theres shit about who we are that makes walking thru life challenging in every way, but i want the youngins to know that if they can avoid some of the shit that sucks in life, they should. and they should understand that adopting that as an identity is not at all a point in a game or a character in a show or a hyperfixation on a fluidly changing sexuality. what we can do is teach and change systemic marginalization is not further box ourselves in, but free ourself from nuanced labeling of the things that make ourselves on the fringe. just wanted to vent and invite discussion on this

they might not be faking or this just isn't the correct sub to post this so if this gets removed/i should remove it i understand that

All I ask is that

Anyways quick recap, one person started claiming they have DID, then another, and then another.

For months my friend was constantly switching their discord pluralkit thingy and always talking about how they "forgot to switch" and stuff. After about a month of switching every few hours atleast, hes now gone completely cold turkey and stopped - conveniently at the same time that his boyfriend stopped switching his profile too.

I last saw the two of them Friday, then saw them again this Monday and in the span of two days, my friend is now violently ticking every 10-30seconds. I don't want to assume too quick, but he has never shown any signs of ticking before. I have known him for almost my whole life as we were in school together. That Friday, the last time i saw him before he started this, he was completely fine and now hes started hitting himself and violently shaking his head. I have also noticed he has done it more when nobody is actively looking at or paying attention to him. Then a day later, Tuesday. His boyfriend has started ticking too out of nowhere. I dont want to be this skeptical all the time, but it just seems really suspicious how its just started out of thin air like this? Help?

"We aimed to assess the psychoeducational quality of TikTok content about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from the perspective of both mental health professionals and young adults across two pre-registered studies. In Study 1, two clinical psychologists with expertise in ADHD evaluated the claims (accuracy, nuance, overall quality as psychoeducation material) made in the top 100 #ADHD TikTok videos. Despite the videos’ immense popularity (collectively amassing nearly half a billion views), fewer than 50% of the claims about ADHD symptoms were judged to align with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In Study 2, 843 undergraduate students (no ADHD =  224, ADHD self-diagnosis =  421, ADHD formal diagnosis =  198) were asked about their typical frequency of viewing #ADHD content on TikTok and their perceptions of ADHD and were shown the top 5 and bottom 5 psychologist-rated videos from Study 1. A greater typical frequency of watching ADHD-related TikToks was linked to a greater willingness to recommend both the top and bottom-rated videos from Study 1, after controlling for demographics and ADHD diagnostic status. It was also linked to estimating a higher prevalence of ADHD in the general population and greater challenges faced by those with ADHD. Our findings highlight a discrepancy between mental health professionals and young adults regarding the psychoeducational value of #ADHD content on TikTok. Addressing this is crucial to improving access to treatment and enhancing support for those with ADHD."

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0319335

Discord is a crazy place because wdym that actually happened😭

A really long while ago, so like in 2022/23 or 2024 i used discord a lot more and i knew this person which claimed to have (i believe) tourettes and some kind of personality disorder (DID or bipolar/borderline - it was one of the three which I'm surprised they didn't just go with all but whatever)

I sent them a video of my outfit because i wanted them to rate it and in the video is was shaking a bit and ig it did twitch like once (but that's also just normal because my body just does that every once in a while) and they started asking me questions about tourettes after and said they also had these 'symptoms'?? I don't have tourretes it was just freezing 😭

They might have tourettes and one of the other disorders but i don't think so because they ONLY talked about disorders and sounded like they were 'enjoying' having it

Used to watch her four years ago and thought she was okay but stopped watching before the furry or therian stuff when her channel became spammed music uploads. Got reminded of her recently and learned a lot of things I really wish I hadn’t. She’s started started doing this on her nearly 20k side channel. Hadn’t seen her mentioned here yet. The comments are uncritical and exactly what you’d expect, but found it interesting as I don’t see as much faking on YouTube outside of the usual crowd or tiny channels.

They have like at least one of every type of disorder