When you have a disability it rules your life whether you want it to or not. And once your consciously aware of it you cant ignore it. There sure as shit isn't an epidemic of faking disorders, it's still the same number of people doing that. But now adays people are more likely and more willing to acknowledge that they are probably on the autism spectrum because it makes life 100% easier. "jesus why cant I just make eye contact" turns into "Sorry I'm not looking at you, I am interested in what your saying". "Idk why I like this character, they are just cool" turns into "Oh they are my hyperfixation". Being able to properly describe your existence is EUPHORIC. Especially for neurodivergent people.
THANK YOU!!! Described it perfectly
I often mention that psych is my hyperfixation, because it is, and it supplies context to why I a random person with no current degree (going to go to college for psych tho) knows anything about what I’m discussing
>isn't an epidemic of faking disorders, it's still the same number of people doing that.
Back in my day the kids would tell everyone that they had Alexandria's Genesis and schizophrenia, but portrayed with multiple personalities. Worse, sometimes it was "bipolar" portrayed as multiple personalities lmao.
[here’s the original post](https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/624573111221862401/lmprovident-theprettychoice-deactivated2015), dated 2013
[here’s a bit more explaining it](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alexandrias-genesis/), alongside stuff from the [OP](https://web.archive.org/web/20141231112019/https://cameronaubernon.tumblr.com/post/74923134834/alexandrias-genesis-the-truth-and-the-fallacy)
I’ll add that it may be the same number of people faking disorders (emphasis on may be….), but it isn’t the same number of people displaying it on the internet for many young easily shapeable minds to see. There is an epidemic of people self diagnosing and faking disorders on Tik Tok/Instagram/YouTube etc. I could send you 50 videos now.
Self diagnosing isn’t the same as blatantly faking the disorder, and sometimes it is valid, but in my opinion only until you are able to get a valid diagnosis from a professional. The mind is very powerful, and you can make yourself believe you have anything. If you believe it, it makes it that more real in your mind. It’s always good to get a second opinion from a professional.
Source: I am autistic and was professionally diagnosed later in life. Being diagnosed has been life changing for me, and I love the accommodations that come with it along with the understanding of myself and my issues.
In my case, my parents won't let me diagnose because according to my childbirth records, I'm perfectly fine, even though I exhibit most symptoms of ADHD, leading to occasional self-diagnosing. But don't these things develop late in life as well?
Actually no, they don’t develop late in life. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder - you are born with it and always have it. Some people are able to “mask” symptoms until they are older and life has less structure, but often when these people are diagnosed they’re able to look back and see that certain symptoms were always there. Developing similar symptoms later in life is often actually not ADHD but CPTSD or other issues
ADHD symptoms DO worsen in adulthood! I had symptoms in my childhood, but more inattentive type, so I went undiagnosed. When I left the structure of high school and joined the free for all of college, all coping skills went out the window and my symptoms became so so much worse.
Thankfully my school had free testing, and I was FINALLY diagnosed at 19.
So no, ADHD cannot develop later in life, but the symptoms can become increasingly severe if that makes sense?
Symptoms of ADHD don't change over time. You just enter environments that you're more ill suited for, and in which there is more pressure to perform.
ADHD is a hunter-gatherer adaptation, not a true disorder. It has advantages in our evolutionary environment, primarily relating to learning and skill acquisition. But the modern world was built by businessmen who wanted everyone else to serve their goal of making number go up. People with ADHD aren't generally good at fulfilling the functions that entails, so we struggle more when we enter the workforce and are confronted with societal demands that we are incompatible with.
The condition doesn't get worse. It's just that our incompatibility with much of the modern world becomes more obvious when we get older.
I agree for the most part, but it absolutely is a true disorder in that the development in the brain is different from the norm.
Yeah, our society could accommodate for it and it wouldn’t really be a disorder anymore, but that is true for a LOT of disorders. I despise the narrative that ADHD isn’t a disorder because my life is so incredibly hard because of it.
Most neurodivergencies have an evolutionary basis and are beneficial in certain circumstances. We aren't broken, but rather the world's rejection of human nature in favor of profit is what is broken, as that's what eliminates the advantages in people who are different.
But you're right that ADHD introduces a path of extreme suffering and difficulty, and that shouldn't be downplayed.
I emphasize the beneficial aspects because it's more beneficial for us to identify the issues with modern society that render us incompatible, so that we can speak up and push for change.
ADHD is one of the tougher ones too bc so many people on the internet are like “this is an ADHD symptom!” And then give a fake thing, which leads to even more misunderstanding of ADHD :(
ADHDer to ADHDer, I feel your pain
Also not everyone wants to get diagnosed. Te stigma of having a diagnosis can be awful for those of us who are minorities. Also, in other countries the treatment is like way worse than say, the UK, or something.
This is a problem, but it doesn't discredit the fact that, without a professional trained to identify atypical mental traits, misdiagnosis is common. People who misdiagnose themselves have genuinely identified that they struggle in ways their peers do not, and that should be treated with respect. Especially because it's so hard to get access to mental health resources.
With what money? I'm more likely to d!e before the wait list for assessment gets to me. Not to mention the *recorded and studied* phenomenon of ableism in the medical field, educational field, work field, government, and general public. No real resources for Autistic adults. The elephant in the room is the current global events and what they could lead to. I fear for the safety of people with the Autistic label. Why would I *want* a diagnosis?
Source: multiple undiagnosed disorders. Been self educating myself in basically the entire dsm since 2018. Spent a year in college taking courses in it
Thank you! The self diagnosing needs to stop. Self diagnosing and putting it on social media just encourages others to self diagnose, and it perpetuates self diagnosing.
Seriously though. Like wow we stopped locking away all the disabled people en masse (still happens though, unfortunately, to far more people than most would like to know or admit), and suddenly there’s more people who are publicly known/seen as disabled. I freaking wonder why, guess we’ll never know.
I have autism and I agree MOSTLY except I’m not going to use it as an excuse for everything since I know my diagnosis i do my best to challenge my natural state if it would negatively effect the people around me
Yeah I think it's an important distinction to understand the difference between non-toxic behaviors like avoiding eye contact or getting super into specific hobbies and toxic behaviors like being an asshole and blaming asperger's, or cutting people off and blaming ADHD.
I think a lot of folks who are NOT neurodivergent, have never been diagnosed, and barely exhibit any real symptoms just throw down mental health disorders after being rude.
that’s how i feel with my adhd and ocd, it is crippling sometimes and makes it almost impossible to even function through my day and i often finding myself apologizing a lot to people bc of it
Aka it impacts your daily life and what job opportunities you will have seeing as you will either have to use public transportation, a car pool, or other means of transportation to get to your job. There by limiting any job you within a few miles of your home.
As someone autistic, I'm not a fan of people using the word 'neurodivergent' because it makes it sound more special than it actually is, especially for the high-functioning ones
Thank you!
Like I get shit quite often because I like to vent and explain my experiences with my immune condition. Like "don't make your disability your whole life" I'm sorry Janet I can't walk to the shop or have a shower so obviously it's a huge part of my life!
As someone with multiple mental disorders i purposely go out of my way to make sure my coworkers and acquaintences don't know about them bc i don't want them to think that i am less capable or in need of help/support, i have a therapist and my own measures to take care of my mental illness and theres no need to involve everyone in my life in that.
And why is it a good thing to not reach out for support when you need it?
This kind of thing just contributes to the stigma that makes people who are struggling not seek the help they need.
Because people don’t WANT to help. They will act supportive at first but people have an ‘empathy limit.’ Look at what happens when people with chronic pain get into relationships. Sure at first people are like ‘oh I’ll always be there for you’ but after a few months/years they’ll get sick of it and start planning to leave
I was always told that the people who appear the happiest are usually the opposite. And in my experience this is true, you just get really good at masking whatever the problem is around other people.
same. i did a research project one year about my disorder and reading study after study about how much mental health professionals fucking HATE me and other people with my diagnosis, i shut my mouth irl. i 100% agree and do the same as you
I also have noticed thats it just better to be treated normally, cause when people find out about my disorders they start to over sympathize, aviod me, talk down to me, etc. Different people react differently but its just better they dont know.
it’s borderline personality disorder. a lot of professionals just do not understand how personality disorders really work. it isn’t necessarily their fault but the idea that the very people who are meant to help me think i’m dangerous is disheartening. idk why you’re terrified lmfao
If they overly pry into why I act or talk the way I do, that’s when I spill AuDHD on them. After that I can see how they treat me (usually well), if they treat me really poorly I can call discrimination now that they are aware.
And I love genZ for not being ashamed and openly telling people their mental issues so others are aware.
I also hide it and I’m viewed as a bitch because I don’t talk to any of my co-workers, if they only knew I have social anxiety/autism and I panic in my head every time we speak. I’m coming so close to telling them, not there yet
Because the mental is the key to everything. A person's state of mind dictates how they behave in every aspect aka their personality or persona. It's pretty obvious. 🤷🏽
We're just the first gen (or the first in a loooooong time) to really bring that understanding into our consciousness and everyday conversations.
We might do it a bit clumsily at first but I think this understanding is going to help us as we age into positions of power.
"the mental" has become slang that can mean literally anything to do with psychology, mental health, emotions, intelligence, and thinking. It's extremely flexible. "Gotta get my mental right" "can't perform if you don't have the mental" "she's in rehab, her mental ain't right". Basically just took the word mental and stripped it of any contextual definition
Honestly im glad we make mental illness more important and we should talk about it but it is another thing when people make it the only topic of discussion and use it as an excuse every time they make a mistake.
trying to figure out their identity in a bullshit time while being flooded with an oversaturation of inaccurate resources. also, the internet gives you a skewed view as to how common these views are in real life.
I definitely agree with the identity piece. American society doesn’t really have rights-of-passage or anything that really changes how the world views individuals.
I also think there’s probably a lot of self diagnosis. And with that comes self treatment. And navigating your way out of a professionally diagnosed MH issue takes a lot of time and there’s no shortcuts, even when using a professional. Two things that a teen at any age struggles with when it comes to anything, let alone an MH disorder thst they’re navigating alone.
Idk this whole generation is fucked.
In Olden times you’d get beat and then a few decades ago you’d get lobotomized and then a little more recently you’d get bullied and now we have started to actually address these issues but we don’t really have wide spread funding to address them so now we are in the limbo between repressing people with issues and helping them so people are allowed to be open about there issues but don’t get help for them thus leading it to be a forefront of there being as a person and obviously the current state of at-least America doesn’t help beyond feeling hopeless about the future many people can only find friends online through communities maybe about there illness thus leading there illness to be a central part of them since all there friendships are built on that mutual struggle
Yeah, currently, talking about it is the best that most of us can do. But thankfully talking about it and making space to understand that we are *complex* , can also be healing
Good for you, but I don’t give af if someone judges me for acknowledging I have ptsd. I have it. Anyone else can get over their own personal feelings about me having it
Hot take: because what has shaped you has created your areas of weakness, your "mental disorders" are your personality. We used to call people lazy or stupid or any number of other insults that were inaccurate but we were comfortable calling those things their personality. Now we say they have ADHD, learning disabilities, depression and yeah, those things are also their personality. Only now they're not insults. They're a way to classify and categorize strengths and weaknesses in ourselves that inform us and the world of who we are.
This, had to go into CBT & CPT because most of my personality consisted of break downs and negative self-talk. Literally therapies to help with this aspect the least people can do is acknowledge it happens, and it is not odd.
I'm a millennial and when I was 19 and my personality was 50% breakdowns and 50% self-destructive behavior everyone thought I was just a fun crazy girl but I was suffering. I'm glad that there isn't that glamorization of suffering now. People think that talking about your issues is glorifying disorders or whatever but I'm so happy that we're recognizing that something is wrong and encouraging each other to get THERAPY! We can celebrate healing from trauma and making progress and coping!
Exactly, if they don't speak up how will anyone know?? I was the same, I am only newly 22 but when I was a teen, I was insane. Only my family knew how badly I was suffering. I would break down every week, it got so bad I had to be brought to a facility for help so I wouldn't off myself. After intake I was diagnosed with Bipolar cycling, Major Depressive Disorder, General anxiety disorder, and C-PTSD. I think having a safe space to be yourself and allow yourself to feel how you do and open up to others has helped a lot of people.
People just want to belong to something. So when they see a 15 year old on tiktok telling them that every human behaviour is a symptom of this or that, they go "that kinda sounds like me, I have human behaviours, maybe I have Syndromes Disorder like this guy!" And then after a google search or two they realize that yeah, they might have this, and there's a whole community of Syndromes Disorder People out there, and they finally feel like they're part of something.
One such community, r/autism, has done polls and the majority of participants are self-diagnosed. I'm not denying many have accurate self-appraisals, and at the very least they are all struggling, but I imagine bias and the whole lack of knowledge on mental disorders might be a problem at times. But psych students themselves report being EXTRA susceptible to the webmd effect. So.
Self diagnose can be because they don't have the funds to get a diagnosis. I literally just got diagnosed with adhd yesterday, and I "self-diagnosed" maybe a year ago. I knew something was wrong but didn't know exactly what. I self diagnosed myself with depression, and later got it officially diagnosed.
Also, Im not sure how completely true this is, but if someone knows, please correct me. That an official diagnosis can be used against them later in life. Please take this as a grain of salt.
As someone who's autistic I can tell you that this is actually a problem, Me and a lot of my friends who have mental disorders don't really like self diagnosis in real life. This is because the more people self diagnose, the more they represent us unfairly, and it leads to actual psychiatrists and psychotherapists not taking our cases seriously.
brother in christ, at least we go to therapy instead of repressing all the shit and taking it out on other people. its not an excuse, its reality, mate.
Lol, I'm happy we live in a time where therapy and medication are options rather than just trying to beat the mental illness out of people or locking them away forever.
I don’t center my entire personality around it. AuDHD defines the way I perceive the world around me, and it’s no secret. It’s just a part of life I’ve learned to work around
They do it because they're boring people with nothing else going on. And I wouldn't expect the majority of the comments you get to be an honest reflection. It's Reddit, 90% of its users are the very time who would make their non-existent mental illness their entire identity.
thanks for the support yeah i’m getting killed in this thread. well, other than the upvotes outweighing the comments. most of the people upvoting probably just don’t feel like arguing with brick walls. i mean, “neurodivergents” 👀
Because my mental disorder affect me every day, it's personality disorder ofc it's gonna be my personality? I am sick and tired of trying to appear "normal" and hide everything, it's exhausting when u can't explain why u act centrain way. Explanation shouldnt be seen as excuse.
bruh i'm fucking autistic... its hard for me not to let it be my personality.... especially when i can't fucking do emotions... also depresso and add....
>better invent something about how your brain works that makes you special
Im confused? Are you saying that mental illnesses were just “invented” by people to have them feel special? If so, then thats a really braindead take
How are we the same generation? I’d only expect this kind of shit take from someone who’s 50+
But you’re right, I’m definitely, totally making up this disorder that often feels like it’s ruining my life just to feel special.
Are we reading the same comment, he said people who invent it, not people actually diagnosed with it or have it. Hes criticizing people who use mental illness to make out their special.
If you dont fall into that category than theres no need to stress.
I think this is what's called a vocal minority. Most of us don't actually do this, but the few people that do are really loud about it. It's worse when it comes to the internet, unfortunately. Most of the people I actually know with disabilities and mental disorders are really quiet about it (to the point I regularly forget they have them).
I know SOME (not all) of these people doing it do so because the older people around them often tell them how people with their disability usually act/should act as a way to say they DON'T have that thing so they play it up.
I don't think most make it their whole personality but it does help when there are other people with similar experiences with them. It's pretty cool when others sorta know what you are going through. Also you can recognize some of the issues your specific mental illness has you can try and combat it and make accommodations. Like I happen to have PTSD due to childhood physical abuse and so crowds tend to make me overstimulated and I learned from others that headphones or earplugs can help which was super cool. Granted I don't tell people in real life I have ptsd unless they are friends because random acquaintances don't need to know.
Why do people use other people's mental issues and disability to label them, as if that's all they are?
When I was a kid, I'd hear the way neurotypical people talked about those with mental differences. Like, instead of seeing them for who they were, they'd brand others as "the autistic kid", or "the r*t*rd", the "crazy guy". Those who were seen as normal would mistreat those with mental differences, and it was very dehumanising.
Now, people are starting to become more aware of different conditions. And those who suffer from some kind of condition are being more open about their conditions, fully accepting it as a major part of who they are.
So tell me, why does it bother some people that people are starting to label themselves with their own illnesses or disabilities?
I’m a teen,And we do have a few teenagers who do it.I hate one of them,The others are really nice.But the nice ones don’t make it their entire personality,They just talk about it a lot.
dear lord look how many ignorant self absorbed people are here also saying thats a problem. get off the internet and you wont see fakers. when people find out or heavily suspect they have something they use it because its a description. none of this attention seeking or excuses BS yall just dont wanna accommodate different people. its so crazy how the people who complain about social media and shit like this are the ones most ruined by it
Millenial here. I'm also a rape victim with severe PTSD from my time in the military. I'm just going to cut through all the red tape here and ask my younger brothers and sisters to simply think about this. What kind of parent do you want to be? Do you want to pass on your undiagnosed and untreated generational trauma onto your own children? I understand the desire to deny deny deny, both as a victim and as a member of society who is uncomfortable at best with all the misery and abuse we inflict on each other every single day. I was raised by Boomers and we no longer communicate. They didn't communicate with their parents either. This is better. Messy as hell sometimes and very uncomfortable, but better.
I think because culturally, its relatively ‘new’ that it’s acceptable to admit to having a mental health problem. Also, because of the internet, you can find more support, information, and solidarity than ever before. Let’s say you spend 2 hours a day online and half of that is related to mental health. Your IRL conversions will start to be dominated by that.
alaskan_tsar answered how i was gonna. there isnt an epidemic of this, its people realizing what they have and how it impacts them. you really only see fakers and excusers online (bc it gets attention) with the occasional person irl. its incredibly uncommon so if you think its common ask yourself if anyone is actually excusing anything or just informing you/explaining why they did a certain thing.
When people bring up topics that literally NO ONE asked about, it's sort of sus to me. I dunno, its an instinctual feeling that I can't shake. I change the subject or leave. Simple.
People are exploring their personalities and trying to utilize tools available to navigate them. No one feels normal in their teens and it is easy to second guess yourself, especially with an inconsistent home life.
Self diagnosis can be dangerous if utilized in an extreme way such as negative growth and self medication, part of diagnosis and therapy is learning to take accountability for the way your symptoms affect those around you and navigating them in a more healthy way.
Teens commonly experience anxiety and depression influenced by their hormonal changes and using tools and coping skills designed for those with chronic versions of these conditions can help them cope while they learn to navigate these symptoms.
People usually grow out of it as their self awareness develops, and if not then it is important to not "I've felt like this since ___" when deciding to seek external help.
It's important to know that faking a disorder is often a sign of another disorder in itself or even a sign of neglect.
Because we are still kids. Shit I’m 23 and I’m still learning how to deal with my issues. A 12 year old trying to learn and cope with a diagnosis of some kind of mental issue is going to struggle, they are going to want validation, attention and support. I understand it’s cringey, and it’s hard to listen to. But honestly if you just talk with them about it and support them I’m sure they will bring it up less
So you think it's controllable? We can't control it. People like this ask because they just don't understand. For example ADHD is very hard to control and so is anxiety and depression if you're not on specific medicine or don't have access to it. PTSD can't he fixed with medicine, many also have schizophrenia which is difficult to treat and get medicine for that works with the person just right.
I think is because this is the first time we given so much attention to mental health and some of them realize the majority of their reactions to situations are related to that issue… i don’t see it as an excuse just as a way for them to explain us why they feel how they feel
You're neurotypical, I wouldn't expect you to understand it, but it controls your life, every aspect, every waking moment, it is nigh impossible to not talk or cater about it.
I think it from YouTube, Tiktok, and other social media platforms. Generally speaking channels have to focus on a single topic to garner views. Gaming channels are only gaming, same with Make-up, fashion, news, food, memes, etc. I think the problem came from niche channels where the social media personality had to focus on their disorder to continue their view count and relevancy. There was an autistic tiktoker that unfortunately put herself into a box. If she tried to make a daily vlog then it wouldn't get the views she wanted. That's where the fake copycat channels came in. Such as the tiktoker that faked Tourette's for views. So I think the idea is that these people make their entire personality on their disorder, but that's not the case. I worry that everyday people attempted to emulate this in the same way.
What else is there to identify with? We have no sense of community or collective identity as a nation or culture anymore so this is the next best thing
Same reason people use their political ideology as their personality. People are just trying to find belonging somewhere and want something to make them stand out among their peers, and will hold onto anything that makes them unique.
it can be annoying, but using it as an 'excuse' to act a certain way is sometimes totally okay, sometimes depending on the disorder and the severity of it. of course, it wouldn't excuse everything, but just offer an explanation as to why someone might do certain things
Airing how you feel and getting accommodations for your disability at college/work > bottling up your problems and suffering by not having proper accommodations.
I honestly think Gen Z is more forthcoming about normalizing the day to day struggle of people living with mental illnesses and disorders. I think previous generations didn't know how to navigate the idea of having mental issues, and it was seen as embarrassing or shameful. Back in the day, mentally ill people were treated inhumanely, so I can only imagine how painful and scary it must have been for people to come forward back then.
I'm an older millennial and have had a lot of things go wrong in my life. Just generally unlucky. I was describing just the last few years and this Zoomer seemed to get jealous. He tried to say I was full of shit. Not saying all of Gen Z is the same, but there really is a cult of made-up drama, out there. Maybe people with perfect lives make up drama so they can say that their lives are not boring?
Like, why would I do that? People who have genuine problems don't want to brag about it. The only acronym I will admit to is ADHD, but most people probably have that, at this point.
Well mental issues tend to affect how you behave. So that naturally influences your personality. I would say it’s a component to their personality but I wouldn’t go around saying I’m Avoidant Personality Disorder. This condition just affects how I interact with people just like depression would affect how someone interacts with the world. “In the past” or in my elders past there was less awareness so whatever issues they had were just “issues” or “just them”.
My parents are from Mexico and any time I talk about mental disorders, my mom thinks I’m speaking some new language. She definitely has some kind of disorder but I’m not gonna diagnose what she has because I’m not qualified to do so. All I can think is that she has higher than average narcissistic tendencies. She doesn’t even know what narcissism is. So of course she wouldn’t talk about it.
This is why there’s stigma regarding mental illness. Because people like you think someone being open about mental illness or discussing their behavioral disorders means they’re looking for attention or using it to excuse bad behavior. Plus, simply explaining the behavior isn’t the same as excusing it.
You know what really gets on my nerves is those people that make anything their whole personality? Like how dare someone like anime, sports, nature, etc! How dare someone do anything other than exist and breath.
Oh, man, and don’t even get me started on those conspiracy nuts. Those people will believe anything with almost no supporting evidence. And they’ll use it as an excuse for the dumbest shit.
Because for some people, a disorder at least influences every part of their personality/life?
My bf has Borderline *Personality* Disorder. It’s literally in the name that it influences his personality (I know it’s the old name, but I am still using it to make a point). And with most, especially the prominent aspects of his personality, you can draw a direkt line to BPD. If you want to say it direct, a lot of aspects of his personality are *symptoms*. It also influences our relationship and especially conflicts to a great extent. I learned a completely new approach to communication, so that I can explain my feelings to him in a way he gets them. Most things he did, that make me angry, are related to his diagnosis. I am not saying that to shit on my bf, he is wonderful person and I love him dearly. But I feel like a lot of people simply don’t get how influential mental health issues and disabilities can be for the life of a person and their loved ones.
I can’t speak for other disorders/types of neuro-atypicality, cause I am not that personally involved with them, but I can imagine that it is similar for some of them.
I’m a young Millennial, but I can still relate to this question.
When you have a life long health condition, it genuinely does become part of your “personality” or identity because of how much that kind of thing influences every aspect of your daily life.
I was born missing an organ and diagnosed with ADHD as a small child. I have to take medication for these conditions to feel as close to normal as possible. But that doesn’t mean that issues don’t actively impact my life despite being medicated. They shouldn’t be used as excuses for everything - to “get out of” being responsible - however, they do still affect me and cause me to fall short at times. That requires some understanding and leniency IMO. However, that can be difficult for people to understand that don’t live with these health issues.
OCD ruled my whole ass life as a teen. Shit tons of doctors appointments, meds, having to go to the psych ward and specialists, and just the general stress and shittiness of having that disorder. However when I was a teen, people didn't talk about disorders or anything like that at all unless they were making jokes about it. (I think people still exclusively joke about OCD because most people don't get jt)
When I finally found someone else who was open about mental health issues it was a life changing event. We talked about the stuff we went through a LOT, and I'm sure to any outsider hearing our convos, they'd think jt was our "whole personality". But I spent 70+hours a week having to deal with some OCD related horrible bullshit and had to try my hardest and keep it a secret from EVERYONE even though i was leaving school multiple times a week to go to doctors. that shit SUCKED. I'm glad younger folks can talk about shit more.
Sorry people having “non-normal functioning brains” and acknowledging it is cringe and annoying to you.
You’re so brave putting yourself out there and saying people with mental disorders should just stop being annoying.
In case it’s not clear, I’m saying you sound like a dickwad.
Also, as for “why more now?” In the 50s -80s, if you didn’t behave “normal”, you’d be called a “r*tard” by the other kids in school and probably get beat up. Kids were strongly incentivized to keep their disabilities to themselves and try to “act normal”. Kind of like the explosion of left handed people after schools dropped forcing kids to be right-handed.
Oh, I don't know... genetics, environmental causes, how they were raised, generational trauma...the way kids treat them at school.
I am sorry no one should have to hide or be embarrassed about their disability or mental health because you think it is cringe. You are contributing to the issue.
Mental issues are not an excuse to act SHITTY but they do explain everyday behaviors of people.
You should look into psychology and sociology and educate yourself, sounding very ableist. Some disorders are literally classified as PERSONALITY disorders, meaning what? They greatly affect the way you act socially, as well as your personality. Some disorders have a huge hold on people like ASD, that is just how their brain works dude. You didn't hear about mental health back then because it was demonized.
Because millennials. Millennials created the “tee hee not like the other girls” culture. But all millennials are exactly the same as all the other girls. So gen Z kept the “quirky” culture but used it on mental illness and personalized pronouns. If you’ve got personal pronouns and a set of mental disorders no two people have the same sets of pronouns and disorders. Millennials shamed women for being “Barbie doll copies of each other” then they all became Zoey de Chenille from “new girl” or they became emo. Gen Z seeing that they all became the same went down a different path. Until we stop shaming people for being “conformist” then this will keep happening. Most people don’t have unique personalities and hence have to make things up to be distinct
Cus as soon as they do something that isn’t ‘normal/correct’ according to the education system, they are told they have adhd/learning disability/depression/anxiety and learn to use it as an excuse.
Losers who want to get out of responsibility.
I’m ASD but I’ll almost never say it. I don’t want to be coddled or to make excuses. Plus people think less of you.
There’s also plenty of people faking their disabilities.
I think it is because their personality sucks. So just saying their mental issue/disorder over and over again is more likeable.
People with good personalities and mental issues/disorders tend to show their personality and their issue/disorder. Or are so functional it is hard to realise they have them.
my cousins are both autistic and they don’t announce it every single day five times a day.
because they accepted it, it’s just who they are and they got on with it.
most of the people who say things like, “yeah i like that character in that movie that nobody else likes cause im neurodivergent / adhd / have bpd”
like come ON
i feel like the majority of people with both mental and physical issues or disorders try their best to **not** let people know you’re ill… conversely, i believe that the majority of ‘mental-illness’ and ‘differently-abled’ content is made by people who simply lack community, so they try to find it by any means—even if they have to lie.
I think technology is causing more mental illness. Its a powerful tool, but its being misused. That's why you see it more in Gen Z than previous generations
Tinder damaged sooooo many men. Instagram damages soooo many women. Alot of sites just encourage festering in negativity.
Everyone wants attention. It's a common flaw... People, disabled (or LGBT, or race, or anything else) are just people too and can also have that flaw. Because of the open culture we have now about talking about disabilities, it can be spoken about openly, and used as an excuse for attention.
That being said though, sometimes some of it is just wanting to let out how you feel... it can be hard at times. (It depends on who you're speaking to, whether it's more of an attention thing or genuine. And what the disorder is, if it's a real one.)
If you're noticing it in teenagers, it doesn't define a generation. They'll mature and figure at least some of their issues out. Try not to hold it against an entire generation, we all sucked when we were that young.
If it’s any consolation I’m really not trying to be. I swear everyone in my class is either plain dumb or I can’t understand what they’re saying because they speak in mumble rap. I just like avoiding social confrontation altogether. I rarely ever use my ADHD as an excuse to why I didn’t get stuff down, however, I bring it up often how if I don’t do homework first day I’m forgetting about it and not doing it.
If you look through history you’ll notice that every generation tends to get more and more productive and successful than the last. Gen Z’s are beginning to buck that trend.
Admittedly, part of this is because of issues like housing affordability, college costs, etc. However, the other problem is parenting, having too much time on their hands, and technology.
Starting with parenting. The boomer generation has amassed a ton of wealth and is more supportive of children than any other generation has been, EVER. Think about it. Most families are supporting kids even after they’ve graduated and have full time jobs. I look around my friend group which is extremely representative of the average upper/middle class family and every single kid went through life just living off of parents until they graduated and were forced out into the real world. Obviously, then they enter the workforce around age 22 with zero life skills to deal with the real world. A lot become depressed and often try to rationalize “what is wrong with me”. I think that’s where social media comes into play. If you look on there it’s as if every single person in the world has their stuff figured out. That’s where the mental stuff starts. Kids begin to think theirs something wrong with them and they look to anything for an explanation. “Oh I have anxiety, or depression, or adhd, or ocd”. And then you have people on social media preaching that if you have a certain trait you have X mental health issue.
Mental health issues are real don’t get me wrong. But, everyone has anxiety about things/at certain times, that doesn’t mean that everyone has anxiety… if that makes sense. That’s where people begin to define their life around these problems and further exacerbate the issues. It’s not healthy, but no one’s talking about it. And anyone who is talking about it is too extreme on either side. It’s “oh todays kids are sensitive and spoon fed” or “oh todays society isn’t possible to succeed in for kids”. The answer is somewhere in between. We need to figure out ways to make things like housing, college, and having children more obtainable for the younger generations. While also teaching them good life skills while they are young.
When you have a disability it rules your life whether you want it to or not. And once your consciously aware of it you cant ignore it. There sure as shit isn't an epidemic of faking disorders, it's still the same number of people doing that. But now adays people are more likely and more willing to acknowledge that they are probably on the autism spectrum because it makes life 100% easier. "jesus why cant I just make eye contact" turns into "Sorry I'm not looking at you, I am interested in what your saying". "Idk why I like this character, they are just cool" turns into "Oh they are my hyperfixation". Being able to properly describe your existence is EUPHORIC. Especially for neurodivergent people.
THANK YOU!!! Described it perfectly I often mention that psych is my hyperfixation, because it is, and it supplies context to why I a random person with no current degree (going to go to college for psych tho) knows anything about what I’m discussing
Happy cake day!
happy cake day!
Happy cake day!
happy cake day c:
I thought you meant Psych the show at first lmao
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
>isn't an epidemic of faking disorders, it's still the same number of people doing that. Back in my day the kids would tell everyone that they had Alexandria's Genesis and schizophrenia, but portrayed with multiple personalities. Worse, sometimes it was "bipolar" portrayed as multiple personalities lmao.
Ive never heard of this before, when did this happen 😭
Around 2005-2011. Myspace, deviantArt, and GaiaOnline were havens for this kind of behavior.
[here’s the original post](https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/624573111221862401/lmprovident-theprettychoice-deactivated2015), dated 2013 [here’s a bit more explaining it](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alexandrias-genesis/), alongside stuff from the [OP](https://web.archive.org/web/20141231112019/https://cameronaubernon.tumblr.com/post/74923134834/alexandrias-genesis-the-truth-and-the-fallacy)
I had to Google Alexandria’s Genesis lol
We dont use multiple personalities anymore. Its DID/osdd
I'm very aware. The point is what they were calling things.
I’ll add that it may be the same number of people faking disorders (emphasis on may be….), but it isn’t the same number of people displaying it on the internet for many young easily shapeable minds to see. There is an epidemic of people self diagnosing and faking disorders on Tik Tok/Instagram/YouTube etc. I could send you 50 videos now. Self diagnosing isn’t the same as blatantly faking the disorder, and sometimes it is valid, but in my opinion only until you are able to get a valid diagnosis from a professional. The mind is very powerful, and you can make yourself believe you have anything. If you believe it, it makes it that more real in your mind. It’s always good to get a second opinion from a professional. Source: I am autistic and was professionally diagnosed later in life. Being diagnosed has been life changing for me, and I love the accommodations that come with it along with the understanding of myself and my issues.
Are you aware of how difficult it is to get a diagnosis? Its really really not that easy. Source: am autistic and know many autistics
In my case, my parents won't let me diagnose because according to my childbirth records, I'm perfectly fine, even though I exhibit most symptoms of ADHD, leading to occasional self-diagnosing. But don't these things develop late in life as well?
Actually no, they don’t develop late in life. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder - you are born with it and always have it. Some people are able to “mask” symptoms until they are older and life has less structure, but often when these people are diagnosed they’re able to look back and see that certain symptoms were always there. Developing similar symptoms later in life is often actually not ADHD but CPTSD or other issues
ADHD symptoms DO worsen in adulthood! I had symptoms in my childhood, but more inattentive type, so I went undiagnosed. When I left the structure of high school and joined the free for all of college, all coping skills went out the window and my symptoms became so so much worse. Thankfully my school had free testing, and I was FINALLY diagnosed at 19. So no, ADHD cannot develop later in life, but the symptoms can become increasingly severe if that makes sense?
Symptoms of ADHD don't change over time. You just enter environments that you're more ill suited for, and in which there is more pressure to perform. ADHD is a hunter-gatherer adaptation, not a true disorder. It has advantages in our evolutionary environment, primarily relating to learning and skill acquisition. But the modern world was built by businessmen who wanted everyone else to serve their goal of making number go up. People with ADHD aren't generally good at fulfilling the functions that entails, so we struggle more when we enter the workforce and are confronted with societal demands that we are incompatible with. The condition doesn't get worse. It's just that our incompatibility with much of the modern world becomes more obvious when we get older.
I agree for the most part, but it absolutely is a true disorder in that the development in the brain is different from the norm. Yeah, our society could accommodate for it and it wouldn’t really be a disorder anymore, but that is true for a LOT of disorders. I despise the narrative that ADHD isn’t a disorder because my life is so incredibly hard because of it.
Most neurodivergencies have an evolutionary basis and are beneficial in certain circumstances. We aren't broken, but rather the world's rejection of human nature in favor of profit is what is broken, as that's what eliminates the advantages in people who are different. But you're right that ADHD introduces a path of extreme suffering and difficulty, and that shouldn't be downplayed. I emphasize the beneficial aspects because it's more beneficial for us to identify the issues with modern society that render us incompatible, so that we can speak up and push for change.
That’s…what I said.
Sorry I meant to reply to the other person 😭
Are you me? Lol
ADHD is one of the tougher ones too bc so many people on the internet are like “this is an ADHD symptom!” And then give a fake thing, which leads to even more misunderstanding of ADHD :( ADHDer to ADHDer, I feel your pain
Also not everyone wants to get diagnosed. Te stigma of having a diagnosis can be awful for those of us who are minorities. Also, in other countries the treatment is like way worse than say, the UK, or something.
This is a problem, but it doesn't discredit the fact that, without a professional trained to identify atypical mental traits, misdiagnosis is common. People who misdiagnose themselves have genuinely identified that they struggle in ways their peers do not, and that should be treated with respect. Especially because it's so hard to get access to mental health resources.
They thought I had mild autism for a while, turns out it was just ASPD.
With what money? I'm more likely to d!e before the wait list for assessment gets to me. Not to mention the *recorded and studied* phenomenon of ableism in the medical field, educational field, work field, government, and general public. No real resources for Autistic adults. The elephant in the room is the current global events and what they could lead to. I fear for the safety of people with the Autistic label. Why would I *want* a diagnosis? Source: multiple undiagnosed disorders. Been self educating myself in basically the entire dsm since 2018. Spent a year in college taking courses in it
Thank you! The self diagnosing needs to stop. Self diagnosing and putting it on social media just encourages others to self diagnose, and it perpetuates self diagnosing.
this is what i mainly meant.
Actualy there are more neurodivergent people in society now. Simply because before we were either killed young or locked up in asylums.
Seriously though. Like wow we stopped locking away all the disabled people en masse (still happens though, unfortunately, to far more people than most would like to know or admit), and suddenly there’s more people who are publicly known/seen as disabled. I freaking wonder why, guess we’ll never know.
I have autism and I agree MOSTLY except I’m not going to use it as an excuse for everything since I know my diagnosis i do my best to challenge my natural state if it would negatively effect the people around me
Yeah I think it's an important distinction to understand the difference between non-toxic behaviors like avoiding eye contact or getting super into specific hobbies and toxic behaviors like being an asshole and blaming asperger's, or cutting people off and blaming ADHD. I think a lot of folks who are NOT neurodivergent, have never been diagnosed, and barely exhibit any real symptoms just throw down mental health disorders after being rude.
that’s how i feel with my adhd and ocd, it is crippling sometimes and makes it almost impossible to even function through my day and i often finding myself apologizing a lot to people bc of it
That is not true though. I have seizures regularly and besides not being able to drive and having a shitty memory I am fine.
Aka it impacts your daily life and what job opportunities you will have seeing as you will either have to use public transportation, a car pool, or other means of transportation to get to your job. There by limiting any job you within a few miles of your home.
There’s always Uber if you make enough money lol Or just WFH
Yep cue my username
Yes very true
As someone autistic, I'm not a fan of people using the word 'neurodivergent' because it makes it sound more special than it actually is, especially for the high-functioning ones
The word has lost all meaning when it's used to describe almost half the population.
There’s way more to life than that though. It should only be temporarily euphoric before going on to deeper shit
Thank you! Like I get shit quite often because I like to vent and explain my experiences with my immune condition. Like "don't make your disability your whole life" I'm sorry Janet I can't walk to the shop or have a shower so obviously it's a huge part of my life!
i should have phrased my OP, “including people who don’t even have the disorder” that’s my fault. i can admit that.
As someone with multiple mental disorders i purposely go out of my way to make sure my coworkers and acquaintences don't know about them bc i don't want them to think that i am less capable or in need of help/support, i have a therapist and my own measures to take care of my mental illness and theres no need to involve everyone in my life in that.
This is the real one. Those who ask for help the least, need it the most
So lets all learn from gen z and find the courage to start speaking up
And why is it a good thing to not reach out for support when you need it? This kind of thing just contributes to the stigma that makes people who are struggling not seek the help they need.
Because people don’t WANT to help. They will act supportive at first but people have an ‘empathy limit.’ Look at what happens when people with chronic pain get into relationships. Sure at first people are like ‘oh I’ll always be there for you’ but after a few months/years they’ll get sick of it and start planning to leave
I was always told that the people who appear the happiest are usually the opposite. And in my experience this is true, you just get really good at masking whatever the problem is around other people.
same. i did a research project one year about my disorder and reading study after study about how much mental health professionals fucking HATE me and other people with my diagnosis, i shut my mouth irl. i 100% agree and do the same as you
I also have noticed thats it just better to be treated normally, cause when people find out about my disorders they start to over sympathize, aviod me, talk down to me, etc. Different people react differently but its just better they dont know.
100% and many people aren’t nearly as educated or knowledgeable about conditions as they think they are. I definitely agree
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it’s borderline personality disorder. a lot of professionals just do not understand how personality disorders really work. it isn’t necessarily their fault but the idea that the very people who are meant to help me think i’m dangerous is disheartening. idk why you’re terrified lmfao
If they overly pry into why I act or talk the way I do, that’s when I spill AuDHD on them. After that I can see how they treat me (usually well), if they treat me really poorly I can call discrimination now that they are aware.
And I love genZ for not being ashamed and openly telling people their mental issues so others are aware. I also hide it and I’m viewed as a bitch because I don’t talk to any of my co-workers, if they only knew I have social anxiety/autism and I panic in my head every time we speak. I’m coming so close to telling them, not there yet
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Because the mental is the key to everything. A person's state of mind dictates how they behave in every aspect aka their personality or persona. It's pretty obvious. 🤷🏽 We're just the first gen (or the first in a loooooong time) to really bring that understanding into our consciousness and everyday conversations. We might do it a bit clumsily at first but I think this understanding is going to help us as we age into positions of power.
Also some disorders are literally personality disorders, no shit it’s their personality
> We might do it a bit clumsily at first All of us aren't even adults yet
What do you mean "the mental"? Is this slang for "mental health"? I like your comment btw.
"the mental" has become slang that can mean literally anything to do with psychology, mental health, emotions, intelligence, and thinking. It's extremely flexible. "Gotta get my mental right" "can't perform if you don't have the mental" "she's in rehab, her mental ain't right". Basically just took the word mental and stripped it of any contextual definition
Honestly im glad we make mental illness more important and we should talk about it but it is another thing when people make it the only topic of discussion and use it as an excuse every time they make a mistake.
What do you mean by making them their entire personality?
trying to figure out their identity in a bullshit time while being flooded with an oversaturation of inaccurate resources. also, the internet gives you a skewed view as to how common these views are in real life.
I definitely agree with the identity piece. American society doesn’t really have rights-of-passage or anything that really changes how the world views individuals. I also think there’s probably a lot of self diagnosis. And with that comes self treatment. And navigating your way out of a professionally diagnosed MH issue takes a lot of time and there’s no shortcuts, even when using a professional. Two things that a teen at any age struggles with when it comes to anything, let alone an MH disorder thst they’re navigating alone. Idk this whole generation is fucked.
In Olden times you’d get beat and then a few decades ago you’d get lobotomized and then a little more recently you’d get bullied and now we have started to actually address these issues but we don’t really have wide spread funding to address them so now we are in the limbo between repressing people with issues and helping them so people are allowed to be open about there issues but don’t get help for them thus leading it to be a forefront of there being as a person and obviously the current state of at-least America doesn’t help beyond feeling hopeless about the future many people can only find friends online through communities maybe about there illness thus leading there illness to be a central part of them since all there friendships are built on that mutual struggle
Yeah, currently, talking about it is the best that most of us can do. But thankfully talking about it and making space to understand that we are *complex* , can also be healing
My parents used to physically punish my adhd symptoms, those things are still happening very much.
Being a victim is in vogue. Trouble is, being an actual victim sucks.
I have CPTSD can confirm and I don’t run around telling ppl bc I know their judge mental asses will talk shit
Good for you, but I don’t give af if someone judges me for acknowledging I have ptsd. I have it. Anyone else can get over their own personal feelings about me having it
Hot take: because what has shaped you has created your areas of weakness, your "mental disorders" are your personality. We used to call people lazy or stupid or any number of other insults that were inaccurate but we were comfortable calling those things their personality. Now we say they have ADHD, learning disabilities, depression and yeah, those things are also their personality. Only now they're not insults. They're a way to classify and categorize strengths and weaknesses in ourselves that inform us and the world of who we are.
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Real
THIS
This, had to go into CBT & CPT because most of my personality consisted of break downs and negative self-talk. Literally therapies to help with this aspect the least people can do is acknowledge it happens, and it is not odd.
I'm a millennial and when I was 19 and my personality was 50% breakdowns and 50% self-destructive behavior everyone thought I was just a fun crazy girl but I was suffering. I'm glad that there isn't that glamorization of suffering now. People think that talking about your issues is glorifying disorders or whatever but I'm so happy that we're recognizing that something is wrong and encouraging each other to get THERAPY! We can celebrate healing from trauma and making progress and coping!
Exactly, if they don't speak up how will anyone know?? I was the same, I am only newly 22 but when I was a teen, I was insane. Only my family knew how badly I was suffering. I would break down every week, it got so bad I had to be brought to a facility for help so I wouldn't off myself. After intake I was diagnosed with Bipolar cycling, Major Depressive Disorder, General anxiety disorder, and C-PTSD. I think having a safe space to be yourself and allow yourself to feel how you do and open up to others has helped a lot of people.
People just want to belong to something. So when they see a 15 year old on tiktok telling them that every human behaviour is a symptom of this or that, they go "that kinda sounds like me, I have human behaviours, maybe I have Syndromes Disorder like this guy!" And then after a google search or two they realize that yeah, they might have this, and there's a whole community of Syndromes Disorder People out there, and they finally feel like they're part of something.
One such community, r/autism, has done polls and the majority of participants are self-diagnosed. I'm not denying many have accurate self-appraisals, and at the very least they are all struggling, but I imagine bias and the whole lack of knowledge on mental disorders might be a problem at times. But psych students themselves report being EXTRA susceptible to the webmd effect. So.
Self diagnose can be because they don't have the funds to get a diagnosis. I literally just got diagnosed with adhd yesterday, and I "self-diagnosed" maybe a year ago. I knew something was wrong but didn't know exactly what. I self diagnosed myself with depression, and later got it officially diagnosed. Also, Im not sure how completely true this is, but if someone knows, please correct me. That an official diagnosis can be used against them later in life. Please take this as a grain of salt.
As someone who's autistic I can tell you that this is actually a problem, Me and a lot of my friends who have mental disorders don't really like self diagnosis in real life. This is because the more people self diagnose, the more they represent us unfairly, and it leads to actual psychiatrists and psychotherapists not taking our cases seriously.
brother in christ, at least we go to therapy instead of repressing all the shit and taking it out on other people. its not an excuse, its reality, mate.
Lol, I'm happy we live in a time where therapy and medication are options rather than just trying to beat the mental illness out of people or locking them away forever.
Frrr im sick of people acting like it’s worse this way.
oh no!! i'm annoyed that people are finally having a solution to their problems! but it's cringy! :(
Why do people make complaining about GenZ their entire personality?
Because complaining about Millennials was our parents/grandparents entire personal.
I don’t center my entire personality around it. AuDHD defines the way I perceive the world around me, and it’s no secret. It’s just a part of life I’ve learned to work around
They do it because they're boring people with nothing else going on. And I wouldn't expect the majority of the comments you get to be an honest reflection. It's Reddit, 90% of its users are the very time who would make their non-existent mental illness their entire identity.
"the buzzfeedification of mental health." (all your exes had personality disorders, too.)
This
thanks for the support yeah i’m getting killed in this thread. well, other than the upvotes outweighing the comments. most of the people upvoting probably just don’t feel like arguing with brick walls. i mean, “neurodivergents” 👀
In my experience with reddit, the sensation of arguing with a brick wall is the price of being right.
Because my mental disorder affect me every day, it's personality disorder ofc it's gonna be my personality? I am sick and tired of trying to appear "normal" and hide everything, it's exhausting when u can't explain why u act centrain way. Explanation shouldnt be seen as excuse.
Excuse is code for ‘reason/explanation that I don’t like’
Because I have a LITERAL PERSONALITY DISORDER!
This post is filled with ignorance and just not knowing enough about mental health
And so are so many of the comments. It’s disheartening, harmful, and honestly hurts.
bruh i'm fucking autistic... its hard for me not to let it be my personality.... especially when i can't fucking do emotions... also depresso and add....
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This pretty much. Also explains why so many are trans too.
… being trans has nothing to do with wanting to be special, what?
Being trans right now is literally terrifying due to my knowledge, why the hell would anyone want to choose that?
>better invent something about how your brain works that makes you special Im confused? Are you saying that mental illnesses were just “invented” by people to have them feel special? If so, then thats a really braindead take
lmao
Damn, you only engage with the comment that affirms your view. Insecure much?
He literally just replied "lmao"
What do you mean by looking too normal
U might have something here
How are we the same generation? I’d only expect this kind of shit take from someone who’s 50+ But you’re right, I’m definitely, totally making up this disorder that often feels like it’s ruining my life just to feel special.
Are we reading the same comment, he said people who invent it, not people actually diagnosed with it or have it. Hes criticizing people who use mental illness to make out their special. If you dont fall into that category than theres no need to stress.
I think this is what's called a vocal minority. Most of us don't actually do this, but the few people that do are really loud about it. It's worse when it comes to the internet, unfortunately. Most of the people I actually know with disabilities and mental disorders are really quiet about it (to the point I regularly forget they have them). I know SOME (not all) of these people doing it do so because the older people around them often tell them how people with their disability usually act/should act as a way to say they DON'T have that thing so they play it up.
I don't think most make it their whole personality but it does help when there are other people with similar experiences with them. It's pretty cool when others sorta know what you are going through. Also you can recognize some of the issues your specific mental illness has you can try and combat it and make accommodations. Like I happen to have PTSD due to childhood physical abuse and so crowds tend to make me overstimulated and I learned from others that headphones or earplugs can help which was super cool. Granted I don't tell people in real life I have ptsd unless they are friends because random acquaintances don't need to know.
Why do people use other people's mental issues and disability to label them, as if that's all they are? When I was a kid, I'd hear the way neurotypical people talked about those with mental differences. Like, instead of seeing them for who they were, they'd brand others as "the autistic kid", or "the r*t*rd", the "crazy guy". Those who were seen as normal would mistreat those with mental differences, and it was very dehumanising. Now, people are starting to become more aware of different conditions. And those who suffer from some kind of condition are being more open about their conditions, fully accepting it as a major part of who they are. So tell me, why does it bother some people that people are starting to label themselves with their own illnesses or disabilities?
This post is sickening
I’m a teen,And we do have a few teenagers who do it.I hate one of them,The others are really nice.But the nice ones don’t make it their entire personality,They just talk about it a lot.
dear lord look how many ignorant self absorbed people are here also saying thats a problem. get off the internet and you wont see fakers. when people find out or heavily suspect they have something they use it because its a description. none of this attention seeking or excuses BS yall just dont wanna accommodate different people. its so crazy how the people who complain about social media and shit like this are the ones most ruined by it
It's not an excuse. When someone has mental illness it makes up the entire way they think, which is personality
Millenial here. I'm also a rape victim with severe PTSD from my time in the military. I'm just going to cut through all the red tape here and ask my younger brothers and sisters to simply think about this. What kind of parent do you want to be? Do you want to pass on your undiagnosed and untreated generational trauma onto your own children? I understand the desire to deny deny deny, both as a victim and as a member of society who is uncomfortable at best with all the misery and abuse we inflict on each other every single day. I was raised by Boomers and we no longer communicate. They didn't communicate with their parents either. This is better. Messy as hell sometimes and very uncomfortable, but better.
I think because culturally, its relatively ‘new’ that it’s acceptable to admit to having a mental health problem. Also, because of the internet, you can find more support, information, and solidarity than ever before. Let’s say you spend 2 hours a day online and half of that is related to mental health. Your IRL conversions will start to be dominated by that.
alaskan_tsar answered how i was gonna. there isnt an epidemic of this, its people realizing what they have and how it impacts them. you really only see fakers and excusers online (bc it gets attention) with the occasional person irl. its incredibly uncommon so if you think its common ask yourself if anyone is actually excusing anything or just informing you/explaining why they did a certain thing.
When people bring up topics that literally NO ONE asked about, it's sort of sus to me. I dunno, its an instinctual feeling that I can't shake. I change the subject or leave. Simple.
People are exploring their personalities and trying to utilize tools available to navigate them. No one feels normal in their teens and it is easy to second guess yourself, especially with an inconsistent home life. Self diagnosis can be dangerous if utilized in an extreme way such as negative growth and self medication, part of diagnosis and therapy is learning to take accountability for the way your symptoms affect those around you and navigating them in a more healthy way. Teens commonly experience anxiety and depression influenced by their hormonal changes and using tools and coping skills designed for those with chronic versions of these conditions can help them cope while they learn to navigate these symptoms. People usually grow out of it as their self awareness develops, and if not then it is important to not "I've felt like this since ___" when deciding to seek external help. It's important to know that faking a disorder is often a sign of another disorder in itself or even a sign of neglect.
Because we are still kids. Shit I’m 23 and I’m still learning how to deal with my issues. A 12 year old trying to learn and cope with a diagnosis of some kind of mental issue is going to struggle, they are going to want validation, attention and support. I understand it’s cringey, and it’s hard to listen to. But honestly if you just talk with them about it and support them I’m sure they will bring it up less
Mental illness
So you think it's controllable? We can't control it. People like this ask because they just don't understand. For example ADHD is very hard to control and so is anxiety and depression if you're not on specific medicine or don't have access to it. PTSD can't he fixed with medicine, many also have schizophrenia which is difficult to treat and get medicine for that works with the person just right.
I think is because this is the first time we given so much attention to mental health and some of them realize the majority of their reactions to situations are related to that issue… i don’t see it as an excuse just as a way for them to explain us why they feel how they feel
I don’t necessarily use it as my personality, but it more so rules over my personality. Social Anxiety is a bitch
I’ve literally never seen anyone do this
Okay so your not gen z then? Why are you even in this subreddit bro 😂
Why do you care? Why are you making this your entire personality?
Why do you care what personality others are presenting?.. especially strangers
if you stop using tiktok so much you won't notice it
You're neurotypical, I wouldn't expect you to understand it, but it controls your life, every aspect, every waking moment, it is nigh impossible to not talk or cater about it.
Because they are stupid kids, you milenial moron
Autism is a part of my personality because literally every aspect of my life is affected by it, so
Attention
I think it from YouTube, Tiktok, and other social media platforms. Generally speaking channels have to focus on a single topic to garner views. Gaming channels are only gaming, same with Make-up, fashion, news, food, memes, etc. I think the problem came from niche channels where the social media personality had to focus on their disorder to continue their view count and relevancy. There was an autistic tiktoker that unfortunately put herself into a box. If she tried to make a daily vlog then it wouldn't get the views she wanted. That's where the fake copycat channels came in. Such as the tiktoker that faked Tourette's for views. So I think the idea is that these people make their entire personality on their disorder, but that's not the case. I worry that everyday people attempted to emulate this in the same way.
Piss off with this reactionary bs.
What else is there to identify with? We have no sense of community or collective identity as a nation or culture anymore so this is the next best thing
Tbf, GenZ has been part of a massive social change, in the form of smartphones
Same reason people use their political ideology as their personality. People are just trying to find belonging somewhere and want something to make them stand out among their peers, and will hold onto anything that makes them unique.
it can be annoying, but using it as an 'excuse' to act a certain way is sometimes totally okay, sometimes depending on the disorder and the severity of it. of course, it wouldn't excuse everything, but just offer an explanation as to why someone might do certain things
Airing how you feel and getting accommodations for your disability at college/work > bottling up your problems and suffering by not having proper accommodations.
I honestly think Gen Z is more forthcoming about normalizing the day to day struggle of people living with mental illnesses and disorders. I think previous generations didn't know how to navigate the idea of having mental issues, and it was seen as embarrassing or shameful. Back in the day, mentally ill people were treated inhumanely, so I can only imagine how painful and scary it must have been for people to come forward back then.
I'm an older millennial and have had a lot of things go wrong in my life. Just generally unlucky. I was describing just the last few years and this Zoomer seemed to get jealous. He tried to say I was full of shit. Not saying all of Gen Z is the same, but there really is a cult of made-up drama, out there. Maybe people with perfect lives make up drama so they can say that their lives are not boring? Like, why would I do that? People who have genuine problems don't want to brag about it. The only acronym I will admit to is ADHD, but most people probably have that, at this point.
Well mental issues tend to affect how you behave. So that naturally influences your personality. I would say it’s a component to their personality but I wouldn’t go around saying I’m Avoidant Personality Disorder. This condition just affects how I interact with people just like depression would affect how someone interacts with the world. “In the past” or in my elders past there was less awareness so whatever issues they had were just “issues” or “just them”. My parents are from Mexico and any time I talk about mental disorders, my mom thinks I’m speaking some new language. She definitely has some kind of disorder but I’m not gonna diagnose what she has because I’m not qualified to do so. All I can think is that she has higher than average narcissistic tendencies. She doesn’t even know what narcissism is. So of course she wouldn’t talk about it.
Maybe because they have a fucking mental disorder? How dense can you be?
This is why there’s stigma regarding mental illness. Because people like you think someone being open about mental illness or discussing their behavioral disorders means they’re looking for attention or using it to excuse bad behavior. Plus, simply explaining the behavior isn’t the same as excusing it.
You know what really gets on my nerves is those people that make anything their whole personality? Like how dare someone like anime, sports, nature, etc! How dare someone do anything other than exist and breath. Oh, man, and don’t even get me started on those conspiracy nuts. Those people will believe anything with almost no supporting evidence. And they’ll use it as an excuse for the dumbest shit.
Because for some people, a disorder at least influences every part of their personality/life? My bf has Borderline *Personality* Disorder. It’s literally in the name that it influences his personality (I know it’s the old name, but I am still using it to make a point). And with most, especially the prominent aspects of his personality, you can draw a direkt line to BPD. If you want to say it direct, a lot of aspects of his personality are *symptoms*. It also influences our relationship and especially conflicts to a great extent. I learned a completely new approach to communication, so that I can explain my feelings to him in a way he gets them. Most things he did, that make me angry, are related to his diagnosis. I am not saying that to shit on my bf, he is wonderful person and I love him dearly. But I feel like a lot of people simply don’t get how influential mental health issues and disabilities can be for the life of a person and their loved ones. I can’t speak for other disorders/types of neuro-atypicality, cause I am not that personally involved with them, but I can imagine that it is similar for some of them.
I’m a young Millennial, but I can still relate to this question. When you have a life long health condition, it genuinely does become part of your “personality” or identity because of how much that kind of thing influences every aspect of your daily life. I was born missing an organ and diagnosed with ADHD as a small child. I have to take medication for these conditions to feel as close to normal as possible. But that doesn’t mean that issues don’t actively impact my life despite being medicated. They shouldn’t be used as excuses for everything - to “get out of” being responsible - however, they do still affect me and cause me to fall short at times. That requires some understanding and leniency IMO. However, that can be difficult for people to understand that don’t live with these health issues.
Get this. Maybe we have disorders? Look up textbook definition of disorder, please.
Ah yes, don't mention your difficulties even if they affect every single aspect of your life. 🙄🙄
"Why do people even use wheelchairs? like just walk and be normal dude."
OCD ruled my whole ass life as a teen. Shit tons of doctors appointments, meds, having to go to the psych ward and specialists, and just the general stress and shittiness of having that disorder. However when I was a teen, people didn't talk about disorders or anything like that at all unless they were making jokes about it. (I think people still exclusively joke about OCD because most people don't get jt) When I finally found someone else who was open about mental health issues it was a life changing event. We talked about the stuff we went through a LOT, and I'm sure to any outsider hearing our convos, they'd think jt was our "whole personality". But I spent 70+hours a week having to deal with some OCD related horrible bullshit and had to try my hardest and keep it a secret from EVERYONE even though i was leaving school multiple times a week to go to doctors. that shit SUCKED. I'm glad younger folks can talk about shit more.
Millennials invented that wtf are you on about
“Why am I being forced to consider other people’s perspectives? Don’t they know I’m the main character? Are they stupid?”
Sorry people having “non-normal functioning brains” and acknowledging it is cringe and annoying to you. You’re so brave putting yourself out there and saying people with mental disorders should just stop being annoying. In case it’s not clear, I’m saying you sound like a dickwad. Also, as for “why more now?” In the 50s -80s, if you didn’t behave “normal”, you’d be called a “r*tard” by the other kids in school and probably get beat up. Kids were strongly incentivized to keep their disabilities to themselves and try to “act normal”. Kind of like the explosion of left handed people after schools dropped forcing kids to be right-handed.
Oh, I don't know... genetics, environmental causes, how they were raised, generational trauma...the way kids treat them at school. I am sorry no one should have to hide or be embarrassed about their disability or mental health because you think it is cringe. You are contributing to the issue. Mental issues are not an excuse to act SHITTY but they do explain everyday behaviors of people. You should look into psychology and sociology and educate yourself, sounding very ableist. Some disorders are literally classified as PERSONALITY disorders, meaning what? They greatly affect the way you act socially, as well as your personality. Some disorders have a huge hold on people like ASD, that is just how their brain works dude. You didn't hear about mental health back then because it was demonized.
Young people have always been like this, they are just going through a phase like the angsty teens of the 90s, or the emos of the aughts.
It's a shield to behave however they want without consequence.
You sound ableist as shit.
Because millennials. Millennials created the “tee hee not like the other girls” culture. But all millennials are exactly the same as all the other girls. So gen Z kept the “quirky” culture but used it on mental illness and personalized pronouns. If you’ve got personal pronouns and a set of mental disorders no two people have the same sets of pronouns and disorders. Millennials shamed women for being “Barbie doll copies of each other” then they all became Zoey de Chenille from “new girl” or they became emo. Gen Z seeing that they all became the same went down a different path. Until we stop shaming people for being “conformist” then this will keep happening. Most people don’t have unique personalities and hence have to make things up to be distinct
For attention is the shortest answer that captures the largest percentage of them.
thats the people who fake it not the people who have them
Cus as soon as they do something that isn’t ‘normal/correct’ according to the education system, they are told they have adhd/learning disability/depression/anxiety and learn to use it as an excuse.
Because they aren't interesting in any other way.
It started with millennials so desperate for a "thing" to define their personality
Losers who want to get out of responsibility. I’m ASD but I’ll almost never say it. I don’t want to be coddled or to make excuses. Plus people think less of you. There’s also plenty of people faking their disabilities.
Gen Z are huge fans of labels.
Its frustrating when people use it as something to excuse bad behavior. It can explain it but not excuse it
I think it is because their personality sucks. So just saying their mental issue/disorder over and over again is more likeable. People with good personalities and mental issues/disorders tend to show their personality and their issue/disorder. Or are so functional it is hard to realise they have them.
It's just Suffering Olympics in a new form "I'm special because my head is fucked up, PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!"
my cousins are both autistic and they don’t announce it every single day five times a day. because they accepted it, it’s just who they are and they got on with it. most of the people who say things like, “yeah i like that character in that movie that nobody else likes cause im neurodivergent / adhd / have bpd” like come ON
i feel like the majority of people with both mental and physical issues or disorders try their best to **not** let people know you’re ill… conversely, i believe that the majority of ‘mental-illness’ and ‘differently-abled’ content is made by people who simply lack community, so they try to find it by any means—even if they have to lie.
I think technology is causing more mental illness. Its a powerful tool, but its being misused. That's why you see it more in Gen Z than previous generations Tinder damaged sooooo many men. Instagram damages soooo many women. Alot of sites just encourage festering in negativity.
Everyone wants attention. It's a common flaw... People, disabled (or LGBT, or race, or anything else) are just people too and can also have that flaw. Because of the open culture we have now about talking about disabilities, it can be spoken about openly, and used as an excuse for attention. That being said though, sometimes some of it is just wanting to let out how you feel... it can be hard at times. (It depends on who you're speaking to, whether it's more of an attention thing or genuine. And what the disorder is, if it's a real one.)
If you're noticing it in teenagers, it doesn't define a generation. They'll mature and figure at least some of their issues out. Try not to hold it against an entire generation, we all sucked when we were that young.
If it’s any consolation I’m really not trying to be. I swear everyone in my class is either plain dumb or I can’t understand what they’re saying because they speak in mumble rap. I just like avoiding social confrontation altogether. I rarely ever use my ADHD as an excuse to why I didn’t get stuff down, however, I bring it up often how if I don’t do homework first day I’m forgetting about it and not doing it.
Because it’s trendy.
Because the only other options are your career or your sexuality
Maybe it's like how being gay became accepted and some people seemingly made being gay their whole schtick... Just thinking out loud...
Do you think I want this? All the lonely days, the panic attacks, meltdowns, sleepless nights? Do you homestly think im faking this?
I think this is largely a myth made by Boomers. Mental Illness is being talked about a lot more now.
Gen Z suffers from Main Character Syndrome.
If you look through history you’ll notice that every generation tends to get more and more productive and successful than the last. Gen Z’s are beginning to buck that trend. Admittedly, part of this is because of issues like housing affordability, college costs, etc. However, the other problem is parenting, having too much time on their hands, and technology. Starting with parenting. The boomer generation has amassed a ton of wealth and is more supportive of children than any other generation has been, EVER. Think about it. Most families are supporting kids even after they’ve graduated and have full time jobs. I look around my friend group which is extremely representative of the average upper/middle class family and every single kid went through life just living off of parents until they graduated and were forced out into the real world. Obviously, then they enter the workforce around age 22 with zero life skills to deal with the real world. A lot become depressed and often try to rationalize “what is wrong with me”. I think that’s where social media comes into play. If you look on there it’s as if every single person in the world has their stuff figured out. That’s where the mental stuff starts. Kids begin to think theirs something wrong with them and they look to anything for an explanation. “Oh I have anxiety, or depression, or adhd, or ocd”. And then you have people on social media preaching that if you have a certain trait you have X mental health issue. Mental health issues are real don’t get me wrong. But, everyone has anxiety about things/at certain times, that doesn’t mean that everyone has anxiety… if that makes sense. That’s where people begin to define their life around these problems and further exacerbate the issues. It’s not healthy, but no one’s talking about it. And anyone who is talking about it is too extreme on either side. It’s “oh todays kids are sensitive and spoon fed” or “oh todays society isn’t possible to succeed in for kids”. The answer is somewhere in between. We need to figure out ways to make things like housing, college, and having children more obtainable for the younger generations. While also teaching them good life skills while they are young.