Hey, so I saw your post here about people faking mental illness and signs to look for saying it's attention seeking. It really concerned me so I wanted to reach out to explain why:
Saying that anyone is "attention seeking" or "faking" a mental illness is a really huge stigma that ends up causing the people with mental health issues to think their faking and don't seek help because they don't want to look like their trying to get attention and it causes people who could be a support system for the person to possibly ignore or dismiss what's going on and make it worse.
There's no such thing as faking a mental illness for attention. No one with a healthy mind would do that. If they are doing such things, it legitimately means they have something going on they need help with, it may just not be the disorder or illness they say it is, and maybe something else.
No one copes with their mental health in the same ways, I have a friend with anxiety who very clearly states her triggers. I myself mention my trauma in day to day because it helps me form a healthier acceptance to what happened. People who have addictions may openly display them as a way to pretend they're not an issue. Some people with mental illness may not even realize they are using it as a crutch, but mental illnesses and disorders are also something that are legitimate reasons, it just doesn't remove personal responsibility.
If someone sounds proud of SI, or SA, there's another mental health issue going on, it's not that they are faking. I lost a friend from High School because of that stigma. Because instead of realizing she needed help they believed exactly what you did.
It's definitely frustrating and upsetting when people do these things, but they're not faking, healthy people don't fake for attention, clout or to get their way. If someone is mentally ill they're not faking. Most of the things you listed are symtoms of Cluster B disorders (personality disorders) according to the DSM-V. What you stated could seriously hurt someone with those disorders trying to seek help from personal or professional support.
Stating you are anti-stimga, you needed to know that post promotes stigmas, it doesn't dispell them at all. That post promotes toxic and harmful stigmas, both to those who could help and those who need help. If you are dedicated to being anti-stigma, it would be a great show of support to delete your post.
yeah i was an asshole back in the day. Post is deleted, Iāve learned a lot throughout the years. Thank you :) /gen
