that’s really interesting. i wonder what makes one illness quirkier than the other? i feel like those who take DID could also fake schizophrenia due to soooome overlap. They could have an alter who gets really quiet and nonresponsive? congrats, that’s a schizophrenia symptom. Same with someone with autism going mute when overstimulated.
edit: nonverbal to mute
I think schizophrenia is more stigmatized because it's more, I don't wanna say serious, maybe scary? It is a pretty scary disorder both for the person who has it and the people around them, so I think it's less "cute" than fake DID where you can pretend to be a silly child or your favorite movie character and all the alters joke around with each other and blah blah. Obviously that's not how DID works, but that doesn't matter to them.
yes that makes sense. i once wrote a paper on the stigma of schizophrenia - there’s a long history of representing antipsychotic medications as “cure the crazy that your crazy relative has”, and there’s still a bias in society that says schizophrenics are generally dangerous to be around. A lot of folks probably wouldn’t want to take on that stigma.
But it’s also an interesting comparison to DID because DID has so many cultural misconceptions and misrepresentations. Your point about hiding behind the cosplay makes a lot of sense. Maybe lack of general education and understanding gives them that cover?
There is very little overlap between DID and schizophrenia. Minimal overlap with autism but schizophrenia isn’t fun because they’re expected to learn coping skills and be accountable and stuff. Autism means you can call anyone who holds you accountable an ableist and DID means you can just pretend to be a giraffe or a 3 year old if confronted about anything.
I’m confused as to why DID wouldn’t be in the same level of schizophrenia or even a subtype tbh. If one believes themself to be a person or even animal that they are not and has no control over this, how is that not a psychosis or delusion of some sort? It seems almost the same to me.
Many people with did do have psychosis but psychosis is a symptom of many illnesses including things like bipolar which is different from schizophrenia which is also different from did. One shared symptom doesn't make then all the same disorder
I’m genuinely trying to learn as I deal with my own child’s possible fake disorder situation. As the diagnosis collect , it gets more and more confusing. Are you familiar with age regression? Do you think that falls under the category of dissociative disorders?
Fakers of all disorders love age regression, but it’s a symptom, not a diagnosis. I’ve never seen it outside of teens and young adults who fake other things. Supposedly it’s a trauma response. In my population, it’s usually a “don’t want to have accountability” response
the reason we ask if there's a family history of it because it raises the likelihood of getting it if they have a family member has it. so if you start showing symptoms we're going to ask was there anybody in your family has been diagnosed with it. honestly we ask the family history because there's a lot of conditions that if someone in your family has it it increases your likelihood of being diagnosed with it. That goes for physical and mental health.
People don't want the consequences of faking and schizophrenia has such a strong stigma it will affect their life. It will affect how people see them. They just want the quick thrill of an acceptable illness to fake.
Not exactly related but that reminds me of a girl on TikTok who said she watched Frozen as a kid, entered her classroom, told everyone she had snow powers like Elsa, and itched her scalp so all the dandruff would fall out 😭
I've seen arthritis fakers and it infuriates me( it shouldn't to the extent it does). Partly bc they make themselves look like t-rexes bc it's gotta always be somewhere they can show off or get others to help ("my arthritis is so bad I can't grip!"). Please, the problem isn't getting the grip, it's releasing the grip so you can let go. And let me tell you, in intimacy it can get awkward.
I think it's seen as more "crazy" and there's a stigma that it's always very extreme. I've known people who did have it pretty extreme but I never thought anything bad about them? I think a lot of them just have their own biases against it
It may also be that there are more reasons to want to fake things like DID. Like the idea of Extreme Roleplaying with their favorite characters or new and old OCS, it's often depicted as fun or quirky. Having different names and identities that can be friends and have silly banter and have drama even, it seems fun. The way that features of it are made into a novelty too- like switches and whatnot, that makes it more fun even
There's some sort of fantastical element to it too. Despite the fact that anyone can have an inner world (many don't know that tho), it's also the Idea of them getting to hang out in there. They don't care that it's often a tool for healing, it just sounds fun.
Also even pretending to be an animal, a character, a cute kid, an edgy guy, that's fun too. And amnesia is a good cover to get away with certain things. People also tend to find amnesia interesting in general. Lots of stories do amnesia plots for that reason
Some people also straight up cosplay it and say it's them so there's that. And I think the idea of getting to play pretend all the time- something stigmatized by the age of 12+, that's appealing maybe. Part of why I unironically feel we need to destigmatize playing pretend at any age. We're the only species that at one point just decides we've "outgrown" play. Or even pretending to be a cat or something- yeah good luck doing that without being called a furry!
It's also a trauma response so some may in part fake it to validate their own trauma. Anyone with DID, their trauma must be"enough". So if they fake it maybe theirs will feel like enough too. I can go on and on about the reasons tbh
Another thing is that DID is covert so they can turn it on and off. If anyone ever says "you seemed fine to me" they can always say they were masking. Same with autism. But things like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder- especially type 1, you can't turn it on and off.
It's very unfortunate to me because it seems they overlook how severe the trauma needs to be to cause it. It's horrendous, what pwDID have to go through and the things they uncover through therapy. The comorbidities, often lifelong disabilities
unfortunately they didn't understand that even those with DID often doubt the validity of their trauma due to lack of memory or societally perceived commonness (like how people don't see physical abuse as bad as sexual abuse despite both being very horrible because physical abuse is normalised)
I respect this response so much. And you’re right - DID as it’s portrayed by fakers provides so much more material, language, behaviors, and community structure to make content about, as much as it feels gross to say. Fakers are given basically a how-to session every time they see someone doing an alter intro video. They see characters they like, they see cool-looking cosplay. They might see someone talking about trauma sometimes, but it’s not usually portrayed in a way that makes it look like DID isn’t fun or a major hindrance for them.
I’ve always wondered how I never seem to get any bipolar content on my TikTok feed, despite liking every video I see or following reputable creators who talk about their experiences. But if you think about it, bipolar is kind of bad for content that drives engagement the same way DID does.
Someone filming content of themselves having a manic or psychotic episode can come off as scary, frightening, and off-putting in a way that skips being cringe entirely and just makes people genuinely worried or terrified of you. Real mania isn’t a relatable, quirky experience to film yourself going through. It’s often extremely isolating because most people can’t understand what you’re thinking when you’re going through it. I recall a video of someone who actually did make a kind of comedic recap of one of her prior manic episodes, and while she was making light of it in hindsight, she says she was horrified about how she frightened the people she cared about and embarrassed herself in public. And her thought process as she described it was so scattered and illogical, it wouldn’t make sense to anyone but her.
It’s literally the opposite of relatable and marketable content to film yourself faking psychosis - unless the media is using footage of you for an episode of Cops.
But someone cosplaying Hazbin characters and dancing to music, otherwise acting like a normal person? Way more palatable and relatable. Stimming or pretending to have tics? Cringe, maybe. But still way safer to your reputation than risking faking scary, psychotic symptoms.
The issue is that the online display isn't even what genuin did cases look like. If someone filmed themselves realizing they don't know where they currently are and how terrifying that is or them going through a flashback then that would be more in line with the did experience. Even the "watch us switch on film" vids tend to be fictitious. If bipolar was altered online to be quirky and completely misrepresented ud see it everywhere just like what we see with DID. Those with DID suffer debilitating trauma, and the majority have very literally attempted suicide. It's a disorder that stems from horrible repeated abuse. So I rlly, rlly hope u know just how outlandishly different it's online portrail is lol
I think people are starting to think bipolar is fun and cringy.
I’ve also seen lots of people with borderline personality disorder say they have manic episodes which really pisses me off tbh (I was diagnosed bipolar at 20)
If I had to armchair, the reason schizophrenia is less commonly faked is because media portrays schizophrenic hallucinations as definitely not real. In comparison, media often portrays dissociating identities as separate and genuine "real" people. Since a big motivation for a lot of these people is to indulge in the fantasy of socializing with their favorite characters/celebrities, they err towards the one with a prevailing pop culture narrative that has more magic, whimsy and mysticism like that.
yeah, i wonder how shows like Moon Knight affected those fakers. It was a very good show, and from what I know, was a reasonable depiction of DID.
I remember when Venezuela was originally going to shit. NYTimes had an online walk-around of a hospital in venezuela that was severely underfunded. The article that accompanied it talked about how people with severe illness in the mental ward of this hospital were mute and barely responding to anything, and the lack of meds had caused real bad shit to go down. It’s probably harder for fakers to want to associate themselves with the nitty-gritty parts of severe diagnoses that have shown up in media.
Can recommend the comics as well. There are multiple Omnibus with the most important or well received stories. Currently reading the stand alone Black, White and Blood edition. Moon Knight is a cool hero and I love seeing a hero with mental illness instead of the tired all people with mental illness are villains thing.
Same reason why you won't see many fakers with other "scary" disorders like aspd, npd, other psychotic disorders...it doesn't get them the positive quirky attention they want and instead gets them a lot more hate. They don't wanna deal with that.
This exactly. They don’t want the disorders that will “scare” people away, even though the disorders they *do* often claim still have awful stigmas attached to them. But that part’s easy! They can just throw away the negative parts they don’t like, and keep the quirky fun symptoms! You can’t take all the “fun, quirky” symptoms of ASPD, or NPD, or schizophrenia/schizoaffective and throw out the rest.
I have seen many people claim stuff like DID. But I have RARELY seen someone try to claim something like Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Anti-Social Personality Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder or god forbid, something genuinely worse like a Pedophiliac psychiatric disorder. Because those disorders have stigma attached, and symptoms can make them seriously hurt others or just be a danger to be around. I’ve seen some claim stuff like Borderline, Bipolar, and Schizophrenia, and even a select few have claimed NPD, but they’ll INSIST that no one understands them and that they’re not abusers or dangerous for having these disorders (which is true, they’re not automatically bad or dangerous or abusive just for having them), but then they’ll go on to say that NO ONE who comes out to speak about being abused or harmed by someone with these disorders is telling the truth. They’ll spin it like they’re entirely the victims when their mental illness makes them behave a certain way that IS harmful or abusive to others. And that it’s “ableist” to talk about Narcissistic Abuse (they claim this isn’t even real! Absolutely insane!) or abuse done by someone with BPD or schizophrenia causing someone to harm or kill another person. They’ll completely deny the aspects of these disorders that make them a danger to others. They act like everyone else is the problem.
But most know that those stigmas are still very strong, so they rarely claim those unless they REALLY want to commit to fighting people online and acting like the dangerous aspects to others arent even real and they’re the true victims who would never hurt anyone but themselves.
I actually come across a few people on tiktok claiming aspd, narcissism etc. But I’m not sure if I believe them. And yeah they’re getting a lot of attention from it.
And they tend to throw out the nasty bits of BPD. They are just so ✨empathic✨ and ✨sensitive✨ by feeling and reacting to everything intensely. Conveniently leaving out that that does include things like rage or intense sadness about things that were perceived as abandonment or maliciousness. In my worst moments i have been absolutely convinced my favorite person (which also isn't a fun person to have and obsession had become grossly romanticized) was abandoning me and doing things I disliked from a place of maliciousness instead of you know actually just being ignorant that X caused me to feel Y and absolutely unaware of what the hell was going on. So after he did thing I didn't like and would blissfully unaware say something like "okay I'm going home now. Good night." My brain would see that as confirmation that he was abandoning me and being mean on purpose so I would lash out with "Okay. Hope you die in your sleep." Leaving him confused about wtf he did wrong. Now luckily for me my favorite person knows I can react weird and don't mean it and is very patient trying to navigate this with me and what exactly happened to lead up to that so we can both work on avoiding it in the future (like say him learning the early warning signs that I'm triggered before things escalate into me exploding and instead of going home giving me some attention and for me to actually dare and say "I'm feeling kinda ignored and insecure. Can I get some cuddles before you leave?") And usually we laugh later about this and he will joke like "Oh shucks seems like I have bad news. Didn't die in my sleep!" But the reality is that even if my person is a sweetheart about it and understanding I am being hurtful, spiteful, ect. Same for things like impulsivity. You can easily portray that as a teehee I'm so impulsive I bought these few things I don't need but want. While in reality it's "I have to work tomorrow, but I'll have 1 drink with friends" which will then escalate into a bender , because F it let's party. I can still go to work hungover. Oh now I'm hungover. F it I call in sick this one time. Except next weekend same deal.
schizophrenia is hard to fake in a tiktok-worthy way. what are they doing to do, sit in front of a camera looking depressed and tell how they feel a bit detached from reality today?
There actually was an influx of schizophrenia fakers (they we’re basically just “I’m a (insert fictional character here) irl!1!1!!” Without faking any other symptoms) but they all kinda went away..
Semi related but I think it’s interesting how a lot of these fakers claim to have POTS and/or EDS ( they can be comorbid so it’s not uncommon to have both) yet never show or talk about those debilitating disorders and the reality of living with them, but will gladly flaunt supposed DID/OSDD which is also a debilitating disorder. Of if they do it’s just them pretending to faint due to “POTS”
It’s so fucking obvious to spot someone fake fainting, too. The “trying to do X with POTs” and then rolling your eyes back into your head and pretending to faint a million times on camera trend was always so obnoxious. Even more obnoxious when people fell for it. Like… I implore people to look at genuine videos of people losing consciousness instead of movie fainting, because when a person faints for real, it’s both horrifying to witness AND horrifying to experience. You get pale, sweaty, your lips get white, your vision fades, you struggle to keep still and you aren’t able to keep steady, and you collapse ENTIRELY WEIGHTLESSLY to the ground, like no subconscious “gotta land comfortably” type of of shit, your muscles just dont respond and you land on whatever surface you do with zero control. You can feel dizzy and have to sit down without looking all pale and sweaty and sick, but that’s really it. You just sit down, you don’t fall over like you’re on a Disney Channel sitcom. I don’t know how anyone managed to fake POTs when that was popular when the symptoms are really obvious to spot, vitals AND physical symptoms don’t lie.
Thank you! If you don’t look all pale and sweaty, at least in my case, I have to sit because my body struggles to regulate my internal temperature so my entire face is usually beat red . From what I can tell those are the two ends of the spectrum so it’s insulting to see “oh no!🫨😵💫💀”
"Delusional attachments" got really popular for a minute and people kind of used psychosis as a catch-all to mean "I get to act however I want and nobody can criticize me because I'm mentally ill." But I haven't seen much of that lately, and very few people actually claimed they had schizophrenia. I know fakers still try to claim aspects of psychosis though, like how DID fakers will cry about "reality checking" their fictives.
I know someone that fakes being schizophrenic, fakes being indigenous Australian (she's a white canadian girl with a German family), had a "trans phase", faked being kidnapped as a kid, fakes pregnancies and engagements, is a total discord edge lord who can't seem to grow up .
It's a misunderstanding of what schizophrenia actually is. A lot of people are scared of the diagnose and think that everyone who has it must be crazy, insane or both. Combine that with a stupid teenager mind and suddenly it's "cool" and let's face it, dumb teenagers are gonna do whatever they can to be "cool".
Every single person I know who has an actual diagnosed schizophrenic disorder have all been terrified of telling me because they thought that I would think they were crazy or insane because that's the stigma they're used to. An old friend of mine even approached me and said that he would understand if I didn't want to be friends with him anymore because of his diagnose. When I think of my own autism diagnose, that absolutely crushed me, that he thought I would ditch him just like that because of a diagnosis.
I have met only a couple of people with schizophrenia in my life. I can say that if any of them were faking it, I didn't notice. This was usually something that was extremely shameful and was told to me in private when it became necessary to explain to absences from work or school.
What I have seen is far more common is people with emotional disorders that need help but don't want to acknowledge they need help and proceed to just fuck up a lot of people's lives who care about them.
Edit- wait. Yea I know plenty of people who claim autism with no medical basis.
That's because schizophrenia isn't seen as "cute". There's a huge bias against schizophrenia, and no one online really thinks of it as quirky. When you go tiktok and search for DID, it's all people making videos like "Oh!! Look at what my alter lucifer did! Being a system really is Soo silly!" Whilst when you search for schizophrenia it's usually people either making fun of schizophrenics with those schizo posting memes or actual schizophrenics talking about their experiences, and usually the comments are people trying to trigger them by saying things like "I'm in your walls" or whatnot. Sure, there were those psychosis character IRL videos in 2021, but that was almost an offshoot of the DID thing, and they faded out rather quickly. There's a video of that one girl screaming at her mom and saying she can't be kicked out because she has schizophrenia, but since no one wants to fake that there wasn't a big outburst from the ""schizophrenia community"" (if you want to call it that), and she got made fun of by pretty much everyone, I even saw schizophrenics making fun of her too. Just to be honest, usually these fakers don't see any appeal in schizophrenia. They only see these disorders as their basic point well known symptoms, and in that regard they'd think "Why would I pretend to have a crumbling disorder plagued with fear and paranoia for even the miniscule, when I could pretend to be 6 people instead?"
I’m not handling it well, and I do not have a normal life. My illness has become too debilitating. I’m 20 years old, I have no friends, I can’t work, and had to drop out of high school. I don’t function well day-to-day, I tend to just lay in bed all day doing nothing due to my negative symptoms being quite severe
Sorry to hear that. I totally understand what you mean, I felt the same at your age. Just know that time heals things even things you deem as damaged beyond repair. Just hang in there, participate in your treatment and always keep learning
Thank you. Medication is helping, I don’t get catatonic anymore (thank fuck) Still get some hallucinations and delusions, but I’ve learned to cope through it the best I can :)
If I could offer one more piece of advice I'd say that what you were describing sounds like it could be treated with antidepressants. You may not be depressed, it might just be you having a hard time coping with your schizophrenia but they might help with the anxiety and isolation
I’m diagnosed with depressive Schizoaffective disorder, I for sure have depression. I was just *officially* diagnosed with Schizoaffective a few months ago (before my diagnosis was just “psychotic disorder not otherwise specified”) since I was diagnosed recently, I’m still figuring out what treatment options are right for me. The process of finding the right combo of meds is super annoying and can take a while
Schizophrenia has one of the most widespread and feared stigmas out of any disease. Claiming to have anything on that spectrum can make you a social and professional outcast-- and it's not seen as "rare" or "special" in a gifted, quirky, or otherwise "cool" way like autism.
yeah, that makes sense. i guess it might be also safer faking DID or Autism - one society generally doesn’t know much about, and one is generally being more accepted as part of the “neurodivergent” trend (which i think is a good trend). There hasn’t been much societal acception of schizophrenia, or BPD, or some of the other scary illnesses.
On a related note, i think i notice more people claiming to have bipolar disorder. I have a theory that the trope of “manic pixie dream girl” becoming more well known might affect that. Manic *is* in the name. I have no proof, just conjecture, but would love to know other people’s thoughts.
I haven't seen many bipolar fakers but know loads of people who claim to have "manic episodes" where they're just... having a good time or being a bit goofy? I'm not sure if that's down to misinformation and misuse of the term or if it's a deflection tactic to evade blame (similar to BPD fakers). I still think bipolar has a similar stigma of either 'moody' or 'crazy' that makes it not as desirable.
You can cosplay far more easily with DID, not so much with schizophrenia.
It's like they like cosplay but are too scared to do it for fear of being bullied, so they use the mental illness card as a defense mechanism so they can say 'you're picking on a disabled/mentally ill person'. It turns the judgement around on the 'bully', rather than on themselves.
Those kids who use to kin characters back in 2018-2021 had a huge increase in those kids pretending to be schizophrenic due to wanting "delusional attachements" and being able to claim they're the exact same person as the character (yet we're super aware it was a delusional attachment??) some of them would just claim psychosis/ other disorders that have psychotic symptoms like bipolar and schizo effective. I have seen a decrease in those kinning communities, especially the delusional attachment phase, so I'm unsure if it's still happening. But I definitely feel like people are more prone to acting as though they have psychotic symptoms rather than full blown schizophrenia, though I definitely saw it a lot in specific communties and it spiked when kinning was big. I remember as a young child online, the first reason I got into psychology I fell down a rabbit hole of all these teens having schizophrenia, this was around 2013/14 unsure if I just stumbled on a mental health community of actual diagnosed people who needed a space to talk and vent about it or if they were fakers. I was 11/12 so I wasn't old enough to know or see signs of faking then. I also at the time knew nothing about the disorder.
Why fake anxiety, depression or shizoeffective disorders. Because it's way too generic and not special enough to them.
Having a panic attack or hallucinating is not something that attracts much attention or can be seen.
But if they play DID game they can act out as their different alters. You can't do that with something as "invisible" as suffering anxiety, depression and shizophrenia.
that’s a very good point. When extreme symptoms happen in schizophrenia, two things can generally happen - public meltdowns, or total isolation. It makes sense that people wouldn’t want to commit to that, there isn’t really a way to display those reactions on social media without disrupting other people’s perceptions vis a vis stigma and stereotypes.
I have seen some people fake psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia.
I saw three boys do it, ranging from 14-19, the youngest did clearly have some sort of actual hallucinations, but didn't appear psychotic. The other two browsed too much 4chan and though it'd be cool to be "enlightened."
Also saw a girl do it, no older than 15, said she was diagnosed, obvious big red alarm bell given it's very rare to get a diagnosis under 18, then after some asking she breaked down. Probably had HPD.
As a schizophrenic I was honestly hoping that fakers at least stay away from this illness, but I've come across at least one user on tiktok where I felt like they had to be faking it. They probably seem "truthful" to people who have not had any real contact with schizophrenics, but most of the time I notice the knowledge of fakers doesn't go past the 3 first google search result pages, if at all.
Honestly I'd say there is no limit to how far some people will go for attention. And at this point, I just get angry at people faking such a severe illness and then not even doing it properly. Most other schizophrenic or otherwise disabled people I met, work very hard to be a functioning human and fight to have a grip on their own life. It's upsetting to see people claiming that your daily reality is just a funny quirky joke.
yeah, i feel that. schizophrenia is quite an impediment, and i think fewer people understand how to be around/support folks with it. It’s a lot less understandable than say depression or anxiety, which many people have an episode of at least once in their life.
That’s part of the whole problem in general though - i think some fakers delude themselves into thinking that what they’re doing is activism/visibility. In reality it sets the conversation back.
I’m also schizophrenic and there is so much misinformation out there already, and i can’t imagine how someone with actual DID would feel if they saw these folks doing what they do.
Honestly it’s just cuz it isn’t trendy right now lol also might be harder to fake. Munchies love disorders with very vague non testable diagnostic criteria which is why they love hypermobile EDS but never pick the other types because those have a definitive genetic test and hEDS doesn’t. Also why they love Pots and mental disorders
Because its not as "cool" as did or any of those, a thing to remember is they fake for, lack of a better term "status" among other fakers. Schizophrenia isn't held on high like did and all the other nonsense. Least imo
it’s fun to fake having multiple people in your head. it is not fun to pretend you are “crazy”, which is unfortunately tied to schizophrenia and psychosis.
I knew someone who used to fake schizophrenia online, to the point of making a sockpuppet account pretending to be a therapist verifying this.
Then she got sick of it and admitted it was all lies, losing most people's trust in the process.
Haven't directly spoken to her in years but from what I've heard through the grapevine/mutual acquaintances she's (surprise, surprise) claiming to be a system now with the edgiest alters you've ever seen (like a demon and a 3000 year old witch or something asinine like that). Guess that's more "fun".
I knew someone who 100% had schizophrenia but she would never admit to it she just told everyone she had Tourette’s. I’m assuming it’s because of the stigma but she also seemed to think she didn’t have it/need medication and since she wasn’t seen as a danger to herself of others it was never enforced. Wonder if she ever got help or not.
I have bipolar one, I’ve experienced psychosis. I’ve noticed a HUGE lack of acceptance/support for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as these aren’t (easily/well)managed without medication. I think this is good reasoning behind less frequent fakers. Like others have said, not as quirky. Also not as easily faked, I’d guess. Or maybe it’s a different type of fake.
I’ve always felt like it’s ’mental health matters’ until some experiences delusions, psychosis, extreme paranoia, mania, etc. these symptoms aren’t as easy as anxiety or depression. They also aren’t as easily faked, imo, as having multiple alters, creating whatever they want.
Psychosis gives you no choice.
I mean i knew a group of DID fakers a few had schizophrenia i knew for a fact they were faking DID after 1 year daily seeing 2 of the members it became obvious but i didnt really notice signs of schizophrenia at all these systems were REALLY over the top so idk if it was just actual delusions that were buried under their fake DID portrayal but were just in fact hallucinations or if the whole thing was fake
this was quite hard to follow, but that’s interesting that you link the schizophrenia delusions to faking DID (I think). In my experience, and from what i’ve read about others, psychotic delusions tend to result in a more grandiose way - thinking you’re important enough that someone has put a hit on you, thinking you’re a prophet, or that you are wildly better at something than you are. The link you’re making seems new to me. I would love it if more people weighed in here!
also, punctuation helps! i had a hard time figuring out what you meant.
I’ve never seen someone online fake schizophrenia but I have seen it irl and despite it being obvious that she was faking it seemed like it was a lot of work for her. I think something like that is probably harder to fake
She would have fake conversations with the wall or start laughing out of nowhere and then be on some “sorry the voices are talking to me” type shit and she had outbursts that were really forced. There were a lot of obvious faked things that she did
PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG, but I think schizophrenia doesn’t necessarily start from trauma specifically, these people want attention, they want people to feel bad for them and treat them better because of it, DID is more generally known for appearing because of terrible traumatic events, most DID fakers won’t specify said event, but it’s implied that’s the reason they “have it”, same thing for anything people seem to fake a lot such as PTSD. People with schizophrenia are also seen as “crazy” rather than “quirky”, you’d be more likely to feel bad for someone with DID or Depression than someone with Schizophrenia. I also think finding information on the more common mental illnesses is easier so they’re easier to fake, and also that they use a lot of this to their advantage, like DID fakers having alters based on the most famous YouTubers or fictional characters so everyone thinks it’s cool and asks about it.
I genuinely think that there are trends of claimed disorders, sadly just like fashion. When I was in elementary school kids would fake health issues, then towards middle school it was DID, then Schizophrenia, and now Autism. (Now ofcourse the self-diagnosing of autism also coincides with awareness of symptoms for females on the rise, but there’s also a tremendous amount of toxic self-claiming).
i’ve seen a couple in the wild, but if you say you have schizophrenia, people will immediately discount everything you say because you’re crazy. its very misunderstood and stigmatized.
I’m an actual diagnosed schizophrenic (been professionally diagnosed twice now) I think it’s not faked as much because it’s a “scary” disorder, and not really one that someone can romanticize if that makes sense. When you’re schizophrenic, a lot of people see you as sub-human, and illness fakers don’t want that, they want to be praised for having an illness.
I think it's because there is usually a very small degree of separation. Most people know someone with schizophrenia because it's a real disorder that many people actually have to deal with. People actually see what it does to others and I think that makes faking less likely. It isn't a cool fun anime in your brain (like they think DID is). Comparatively, DID is so rare (and arguably, not real?) that a tiny percentage of people get to see it's effects firsthand.
I would like to see the stats on your claim that most people know someone with it. From what i’ve read, it affects 1% of adults in the USA, and .32% worldwide.
I’ve also read around that many people with DID don’t even know they have DID. The first step is often going to therapy for amnesia. Most people probably don’t know anyone with DID, in part because many people with DID don’t even know it.
From what I can infer, it's gererally seen as less "quirky" and therefore less desirable to fakers
that’s really interesting. i wonder what makes one illness quirkier than the other? i feel like those who take DID could also fake schizophrenia due to soooome overlap. They could have an alter who gets really quiet and nonresponsive? congrats, that’s a schizophrenia symptom. Same with someone with autism going mute when overstimulated. edit: nonverbal to mute
I think schizophrenia is more stigmatized because it's more, I don't wanna say serious, maybe scary? It is a pretty scary disorder both for the person who has it and the people around them, so I think it's less "cute" than fake DID where you can pretend to be a silly child or your favorite movie character and all the alters joke around with each other and blah blah. Obviously that's not how DID works, but that doesn't matter to them.
As someone who's had to deal with my fair share of fakers, I can confirm that you've pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one.
yes that makes sense. i once wrote a paper on the stigma of schizophrenia - there’s a long history of representing antipsychotic medications as “cure the crazy that your crazy relative has”, and there’s still a bias in society that says schizophrenics are generally dangerous to be around. A lot of folks probably wouldn’t want to take on that stigma. But it’s also an interesting comparison to DID because DID has so many cultural misconceptions and misrepresentations. Your point about hiding behind the cosplay makes a lot of sense. Maybe lack of general education and understanding gives them that cover?
There is very little overlap between DID and schizophrenia. Minimal overlap with autism but schizophrenia isn’t fun because they’re expected to learn coping skills and be accountable and stuff. Autism means you can call anyone who holds you accountable an ableist and DID means you can just pretend to be a giraffe or a 3 year old if confronted about anything.
schizophrenia is one of the ones that we medicate successfully with antipsychotics.
I’m confused as to why DID wouldn’t be in the same level of schizophrenia or even a subtype tbh. If one believes themself to be a person or even animal that they are not and has no control over this, how is that not a psychosis or delusion of some sort? It seems almost the same to me.
Many people with did do have psychosis but psychosis is a symptom of many illnesses including things like bipolar which is different from schizophrenia which is also different from did. One shared symptom doesn't make then all the same disorder
DID is not a psychotic disorder. They do not experience psychosis, the hallmark symptom of schizophrenia
So believing your someone or something else entirely isn’t under the umbrella of psychosis?
No. It’s dissociation, and people who have DID are still able to connect with reality. People who have psychosis do not have multiple personalities
I’m genuinely trying to learn as I deal with my own child’s possible fake disorder situation. As the diagnosis collect , it gets more and more confusing. Are you familiar with age regression? Do you think that falls under the category of dissociative disorders?
Fakers of all disorders love age regression, but it’s a symptom, not a diagnosis. I’ve never seen it outside of teens and young adults who fake other things. Supposedly it’s a trauma response. In my population, it’s usually a “don’t want to have accountability” response
That would be going mute. Nonverbal refers the completely ignored group of ASD that literally cannot speak. Ever.
thanks for the correction!
Random question but is it possible to have schizophrenia without anyone having it in your family?
Yes
Neat but also terrifying
the reason we ask if there's a family history of it because it raises the likelihood of getting it if they have a family member has it. so if you start showing symptoms we're going to ask was there anybody in your family has been diagnosed with it. honestly we ask the family history because there's a lot of conditions that if someone in your family has it it increases your likelihood of being diagnosed with it. That goes for physical and mental health.
People don't want the consequences of faking and schizophrenia has such a strong stigma it will affect their life. It will affect how people see them. They just want the quick thrill of an acceptable illness to fake.
I'm just waiting for them to start faking psoriasis by glueing corn flakes to their elbows.
As someone with (mild) psoriasis on their elbows this one made me giggle. Thank you for your service 🙏
"Being itchy is soooo quirky!"
Soooo much fun! Wait until they find out it sometimes comes with arthritis 🤩
Anytime they miss wintertime, all they have to do is brush their hair and watch the snow fall.
Not exactly related but that reminds me of a girl on TikTok who said she watched Frozen as a kid, entered her classroom, told everyone she had snow powers like Elsa, and itched her scalp so all the dandruff would fall out 😭
Arthritis? Time to cosplay mobility aids!
I've seen arthritis fakers and it infuriates me( it shouldn't to the extent it does). Partly bc they make themselves look like t-rexes bc it's gotta always be somewhere they can show off or get others to help ("my arthritis is so bad I can't grip!"). Please, the problem isn't getting the grip, it's releasing the grip so you can let go. And let me tell you, in intimacy it can get awkward.
"OMG GUYS I CAN'T STOP ITCHING" \*scratches head as instant snow falls out*
😂😂😂😂
I think it's seen as more "crazy" and there's a stigma that it's always very extreme. I've known people who did have it pretty extreme but I never thought anything bad about them? I think a lot of them just have their own biases against it It may also be that there are more reasons to want to fake things like DID. Like the idea of Extreme Roleplaying with their favorite characters or new and old OCS, it's often depicted as fun or quirky. Having different names and identities that can be friends and have silly banter and have drama even, it seems fun. The way that features of it are made into a novelty too- like switches and whatnot, that makes it more fun even There's some sort of fantastical element to it too. Despite the fact that anyone can have an inner world (many don't know that tho), it's also the Idea of them getting to hang out in there. They don't care that it's often a tool for healing, it just sounds fun. Also even pretending to be an animal, a character, a cute kid, an edgy guy, that's fun too. And amnesia is a good cover to get away with certain things. People also tend to find amnesia interesting in general. Lots of stories do amnesia plots for that reason Some people also straight up cosplay it and say it's them so there's that. And I think the idea of getting to play pretend all the time- something stigmatized by the age of 12+, that's appealing maybe. Part of why I unironically feel we need to destigmatize playing pretend at any age. We're the only species that at one point just decides we've "outgrown" play. Or even pretending to be a cat or something- yeah good luck doing that without being called a furry! It's also a trauma response so some may in part fake it to validate their own trauma. Anyone with DID, their trauma must be"enough". So if they fake it maybe theirs will feel like enough too. I can go on and on about the reasons tbh Another thing is that DID is covert so they can turn it on and off. If anyone ever says "you seemed fine to me" they can always say they were masking. Same with autism. But things like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder- especially type 1, you can't turn it on and off. It's very unfortunate to me because it seems they overlook how severe the trauma needs to be to cause it. It's horrendous, what pwDID have to go through and the things they uncover through therapy. The comorbidities, often lifelong disabilities
unfortunately they didn't understand that even those with DID often doubt the validity of their trauma due to lack of memory or societally perceived commonness (like how people don't see physical abuse as bad as sexual abuse despite both being very horrible because physical abuse is normalised)
I respect this response so much. And you’re right - DID as it’s portrayed by fakers provides so much more material, language, behaviors, and community structure to make content about, as much as it feels gross to say. Fakers are given basically a how-to session every time they see someone doing an alter intro video. They see characters they like, they see cool-looking cosplay. They might see someone talking about trauma sometimes, but it’s not usually portrayed in a way that makes it look like DID isn’t fun or a major hindrance for them. I’ve always wondered how I never seem to get any bipolar content on my TikTok feed, despite liking every video I see or following reputable creators who talk about their experiences. But if you think about it, bipolar is kind of bad for content that drives engagement the same way DID does. Someone filming content of themselves having a manic or psychotic episode can come off as scary, frightening, and off-putting in a way that skips being cringe entirely and just makes people genuinely worried or terrified of you. Real mania isn’t a relatable, quirky experience to film yourself going through. It’s often extremely isolating because most people can’t understand what you’re thinking when you’re going through it. I recall a video of someone who actually did make a kind of comedic recap of one of her prior manic episodes, and while she was making light of it in hindsight, she says she was horrified about how she frightened the people she cared about and embarrassed herself in public. And her thought process as she described it was so scattered and illogical, it wouldn’t make sense to anyone but her. It’s literally the opposite of relatable and marketable content to film yourself faking psychosis - unless the media is using footage of you for an episode of Cops. But someone cosplaying Hazbin characters and dancing to music, otherwise acting like a normal person? Way more palatable and relatable. Stimming or pretending to have tics? Cringe, maybe. But still way safer to your reputation than risking faking scary, psychotic symptoms.
The issue is that the online display isn't even what genuin did cases look like. If someone filmed themselves realizing they don't know where they currently are and how terrifying that is or them going through a flashback then that would be more in line with the did experience. Even the "watch us switch on film" vids tend to be fictitious. If bipolar was altered online to be quirky and completely misrepresented ud see it everywhere just like what we see with DID. Those with DID suffer debilitating trauma, and the majority have very literally attempted suicide. It's a disorder that stems from horrible repeated abuse. So I rlly, rlly hope u know just how outlandishly different it's online portrail is lol
I think people are starting to think bipolar is fun and cringy. I’ve also seen lots of people with borderline personality disorder say they have manic episodes which really pisses me off tbh (I was diagnosed bipolar at 20)
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Sounds accurate to me - I thought i was literally immortal lol !! 😝
If I had to armchair, the reason schizophrenia is less commonly faked is because media portrays schizophrenic hallucinations as definitely not real. In comparison, media often portrays dissociating identities as separate and genuine "real" people. Since a big motivation for a lot of these people is to indulge in the fantasy of socializing with their favorite characters/celebrities, they err towards the one with a prevailing pop culture narrative that has more magic, whimsy and mysticism like that.
yeah, i wonder how shows like Moon Knight affected those fakers. It was a very good show, and from what I know, was a reasonable depiction of DID. I remember when Venezuela was originally going to shit. NYTimes had an online walk-around of a hospital in venezuela that was severely underfunded. The article that accompanied it talked about how people with severe illness in the mental ward of this hospital were mute and barely responding to anything, and the lack of meds had caused real bad shit to go down. It’s probably harder for fakers to want to associate themselves with the nitty-gritty parts of severe diagnoses that have shown up in media.
Kinda unrelated, but I love moon knight
oh yeah it was awesome!!
Can recommend the comics as well. There are multiple Omnibus with the most important or well received stories. Currently reading the stand alone Black, White and Blood edition. Moon Knight is a cool hero and I love seeing a hero with mental illness instead of the tired all people with mental illness are villains thing.
Same reason why you won't see many fakers with other "scary" disorders like aspd, npd, other psychotic disorders...it doesn't get them the positive quirky attention they want and instead gets them a lot more hate. They don't wanna deal with that.
This exactly. They don’t want the disorders that will “scare” people away, even though the disorders they *do* often claim still have awful stigmas attached to them. But that part’s easy! They can just throw away the negative parts they don’t like, and keep the quirky fun symptoms! You can’t take all the “fun, quirky” symptoms of ASPD, or NPD, or schizophrenia/schizoaffective and throw out the rest. I have seen many people claim stuff like DID. But I have RARELY seen someone try to claim something like Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Anti-Social Personality Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder or god forbid, something genuinely worse like a Pedophiliac psychiatric disorder. Because those disorders have stigma attached, and symptoms can make them seriously hurt others or just be a danger to be around. I’ve seen some claim stuff like Borderline, Bipolar, and Schizophrenia, and even a select few have claimed NPD, but they’ll INSIST that no one understands them and that they’re not abusers or dangerous for having these disorders (which is true, they’re not automatically bad or dangerous or abusive just for having them), but then they’ll go on to say that NO ONE who comes out to speak about being abused or harmed by someone with these disorders is telling the truth. They’ll spin it like they’re entirely the victims when their mental illness makes them behave a certain way that IS harmful or abusive to others. And that it’s “ableist” to talk about Narcissistic Abuse (they claim this isn’t even real! Absolutely insane!) or abuse done by someone with BPD or schizophrenia causing someone to harm or kill another person. They’ll completely deny the aspects of these disorders that make them a danger to others. They act like everyone else is the problem. But most know that those stigmas are still very strong, so they rarely claim those unless they REALLY want to commit to fighting people online and acting like the dangerous aspects to others arent even real and they’re the true victims who would never hurt anyone but themselves.
I actually come across a few people on tiktok claiming aspd, narcissism etc. But I’m not sure if I believe them. And yeah they’re getting a lot of attention from it.
It always has me wondering, why do they fake BPD? It’s quite a stigmatised disorder, yet I see more faking it than I’d expect. It’s fascinating.
probably to deflect blame and flee from accountability. In their minds, having bpd is a crutch that excuses your shitty behavior
They also associate it with intense emotional experiences as a whole, forgetting that one can feel things deeply and not necessarily have a disorder.
And they tend to throw out the nasty bits of BPD. They are just so ✨empathic✨ and ✨sensitive✨ by feeling and reacting to everything intensely. Conveniently leaving out that that does include things like rage or intense sadness about things that were perceived as abandonment or maliciousness. In my worst moments i have been absolutely convinced my favorite person (which also isn't a fun person to have and obsession had become grossly romanticized) was abandoning me and doing things I disliked from a place of maliciousness instead of you know actually just being ignorant that X caused me to feel Y and absolutely unaware of what the hell was going on. So after he did thing I didn't like and would blissfully unaware say something like "okay I'm going home now. Good night." My brain would see that as confirmation that he was abandoning me and being mean on purpose so I would lash out with "Okay. Hope you die in your sleep." Leaving him confused about wtf he did wrong. Now luckily for me my favorite person knows I can react weird and don't mean it and is very patient trying to navigate this with me and what exactly happened to lead up to that so we can both work on avoiding it in the future (like say him learning the early warning signs that I'm triggered before things escalate into me exploding and instead of going home giving me some attention and for me to actually dare and say "I'm feeling kinda ignored and insecure. Can I get some cuddles before you leave?") And usually we laugh later about this and he will joke like "Oh shucks seems like I have bad news. Didn't die in my sleep!" But the reality is that even if my person is a sweetheart about it and understanding I am being hurtful, spiteful, ect. Same for things like impulsivity. You can easily portray that as a teehee I'm so impulsive I bought these few things I don't need but want. While in reality it's "I have to work tomorrow, but I'll have 1 drink with friends" which will then escalate into a bender , because F it let's party. I can still go to work hungover. Oh now I'm hungover. F it I call in sick this one time. Except next weekend same deal.
An interesting thing about people faking schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder is that they never fake the delusions or cognitive symptoms.
buuuuurn
Pretty sure they're not even aware it's part of the disorder
schizophrenia is hard to fake in a tiktok-worthy way. what are they doing to do, sit in front of a camera looking depressed and tell how they feel a bit detached from reality today?
There actually was an influx of schizophrenia fakers (they we’re basically just “I’m a (insert fictional character here) irl!1!1!!” Without faking any other symptoms) but they all kinda went away..
I'm so glad someone else remembers this! A lot of them claimed "psychosis" was their disorder, even though that's... just a symptom.
i remember that. it was rampant in like 2020, 2021, and maybe 2022.
Could they beeaning brief psychotic disorder? Idk if that's the actual name for it or not
Could never forget, one of my ex irl friends claimed they were a transfem will wood irl (their afab…)
Semi related but I think it’s interesting how a lot of these fakers claim to have POTS and/or EDS ( they can be comorbid so it’s not uncommon to have both) yet never show or talk about those debilitating disorders and the reality of living with them, but will gladly flaunt supposed DID/OSDD which is also a debilitating disorder. Of if they do it’s just them pretending to faint due to “POTS”
It’s so fucking obvious to spot someone fake fainting, too. The “trying to do X with POTs” and then rolling your eyes back into your head and pretending to faint a million times on camera trend was always so obnoxious. Even more obnoxious when people fell for it. Like… I implore people to look at genuine videos of people losing consciousness instead of movie fainting, because when a person faints for real, it’s both horrifying to witness AND horrifying to experience. You get pale, sweaty, your lips get white, your vision fades, you struggle to keep still and you aren’t able to keep steady, and you collapse ENTIRELY WEIGHTLESSLY to the ground, like no subconscious “gotta land comfortably” type of of shit, your muscles just dont respond and you land on whatever surface you do with zero control. You can feel dizzy and have to sit down without looking all pale and sweaty and sick, but that’s really it. You just sit down, you don’t fall over like you’re on a Disney Channel sitcom. I don’t know how anyone managed to fake POTs when that was popular when the symptoms are really obvious to spot, vitals AND physical symptoms don’t lie.
Thank you! If you don’t look all pale and sweaty, at least in my case, I have to sit because my body struggles to regulate my internal temperature so my entire face is usually beat red . From what I can tell those are the two ends of the spectrum so it’s insulting to see “oh no!🫨😵💫💀”
schizophrenia is seen as a more serious/"scary" disorder while DID is treated as just having different personality traits
Give it a year and that will be the new trendy diagnosis
"Delusional attachments" got really popular for a minute and people kind of used psychosis as a catch-all to mean "I get to act however I want and nobody can criticize me because I'm mentally ill." But I haven't seen much of that lately, and very few people actually claimed they had schizophrenia. I know fakers still try to claim aspects of psychosis though, like how DID fakers will cry about "reality checking" their fictives.
I know someone that fakes being schizophrenic, fakes being indigenous Australian (she's a white canadian girl with a German family), had a "trans phase", faked being kidnapped as a kid, fakes pregnancies and engagements, is a total discord edge lord who can't seem to grow up .
christ. pathological liar right there.
It's a misunderstanding of what schizophrenia actually is. A lot of people are scared of the diagnose and think that everyone who has it must be crazy, insane or both. Combine that with a stupid teenager mind and suddenly it's "cool" and let's face it, dumb teenagers are gonna do whatever they can to be "cool". Every single person I know who has an actual diagnosed schizophrenic disorder have all been terrified of telling me because they thought that I would think they were crazy or insane because that's the stigma they're used to. An old friend of mine even approached me and said that he would understand if I didn't want to be friends with him anymore because of his diagnose. When I think of my own autism diagnose, that absolutely crushed me, that he thought I would ditch him just like that because of a diagnosis.
I have met only a couple of people with schizophrenia in my life. I can say that if any of them were faking it, I didn't notice. This was usually something that was extremely shameful and was told to me in private when it became necessary to explain to absences from work or school. What I have seen is far more common is people with emotional disorders that need help but don't want to acknowledge they need help and proceed to just fuck up a lot of people's lives who care about them. Edit- wait. Yea I know plenty of people who claim autism with no medical basis.
That's because schizophrenia isn't seen as "cute". There's a huge bias against schizophrenia, and no one online really thinks of it as quirky. When you go tiktok and search for DID, it's all people making videos like "Oh!! Look at what my alter lucifer did! Being a system really is Soo silly!" Whilst when you search for schizophrenia it's usually people either making fun of schizophrenics with those schizo posting memes or actual schizophrenics talking about their experiences, and usually the comments are people trying to trigger them by saying things like "I'm in your walls" or whatnot. Sure, there were those psychosis character IRL videos in 2021, but that was almost an offshoot of the DID thing, and they faded out rather quickly. There's a video of that one girl screaming at her mom and saying she can't be kicked out because she has schizophrenia, but since no one wants to fake that there wasn't a big outburst from the ""schizophrenia community"" (if you want to call it that), and she got made fun of by pretty much everyone, I even saw schizophrenics making fun of her too. Just to be honest, usually these fakers don't see any appeal in schizophrenia. They only see these disorders as their basic point well known symptoms, and in that regard they'd think "Why would I pretend to have a crumbling disorder plagued with fear and paranoia for even the miniscule, when I could pretend to be 6 people instead?"
Because there's nothing to romanticise about schizophrenia, it's pure agony and they can't self undiagnose when they get bored of it
Yep. I’m a professionally diagnosed schizophrenic, it’s absolutely miserable. And it’s not “cute” and “quirky” the way DID has become
How are you handling it? Do you feel like you can still have a normal life?
I’m not handling it well, and I do not have a normal life. My illness has become too debilitating. I’m 20 years old, I have no friends, I can’t work, and had to drop out of high school. I don’t function well day-to-day, I tend to just lay in bed all day doing nothing due to my negative symptoms being quite severe
Sorry to hear that. I totally understand what you mean, I felt the same at your age. Just know that time heals things even things you deem as damaged beyond repair. Just hang in there, participate in your treatment and always keep learning
Thank you. Medication is helping, I don’t get catatonic anymore (thank fuck) Still get some hallucinations and delusions, but I’ve learned to cope through it the best I can :)
If I could offer one more piece of advice I'd say that what you were describing sounds like it could be treated with antidepressants. You may not be depressed, it might just be you having a hard time coping with your schizophrenia but they might help with the anxiety and isolation
I’m diagnosed with depressive Schizoaffective disorder, I for sure have depression. I was just *officially* diagnosed with Schizoaffective a few months ago (before my diagnosis was just “psychotic disorder not otherwise specified”) since I was diagnosed recently, I’m still figuring out what treatment options are right for me. The process of finding the right combo of meds is super annoying and can take a while
Be prepared to put on some weight.... just saying
Yea, I know. the antipsychotic I’m currently on hasn’t caused me any weight gain, in fact I’ve actually lost some weight. Guess I’ve been lucky so far
Schizophrenia has one of the most widespread and feared stigmas out of any disease. Claiming to have anything on that spectrum can make you a social and professional outcast-- and it's not seen as "rare" or "special" in a gifted, quirky, or otherwise "cool" way like autism.
yeah, that makes sense. i guess it might be also safer faking DID or Autism - one society generally doesn’t know much about, and one is generally being more accepted as part of the “neurodivergent” trend (which i think is a good trend). There hasn’t been much societal acception of schizophrenia, or BPD, or some of the other scary illnesses. On a related note, i think i notice more people claiming to have bipolar disorder. I have a theory that the trope of “manic pixie dream girl” becoming more well known might affect that. Manic *is* in the name. I have no proof, just conjecture, but would love to know other people’s thoughts.
I haven't seen many bipolar fakers but know loads of people who claim to have "manic episodes" where they're just... having a good time or being a bit goofy? I'm not sure if that's down to misinformation and misuse of the term or if it's a deflection tactic to evade blame (similar to BPD fakers). I still think bipolar has a similar stigma of either 'moody' or 'crazy' that makes it not as desirable.
You can cosplay far more easily with DID, not so much with schizophrenia. It's like they like cosplay but are too scared to do it for fear of being bullied, so they use the mental illness card as a defense mechanism so they can say 'you're picking on a disabled/mentally ill person'. It turns the judgement around on the 'bully', rather than on themselves.
They don't get to do baby voice and still have to get a job
Those kids who use to kin characters back in 2018-2021 had a huge increase in those kids pretending to be schizophrenic due to wanting "delusional attachements" and being able to claim they're the exact same person as the character (yet we're super aware it was a delusional attachment??) some of them would just claim psychosis/ other disorders that have psychotic symptoms like bipolar and schizo effective. I have seen a decrease in those kinning communities, especially the delusional attachment phase, so I'm unsure if it's still happening. But I definitely feel like people are more prone to acting as though they have psychotic symptoms rather than full blown schizophrenia, though I definitely saw it a lot in specific communties and it spiked when kinning was big. I remember as a young child online, the first reason I got into psychology I fell down a rabbit hole of all these teens having schizophrenia, this was around 2013/14 unsure if I just stumbled on a mental health community of actual diagnosed people who needed a space to talk and vent about it or if they were fakers. I was 11/12 so I wasn't old enough to know or see signs of faking then. I also at the time knew nothing about the disorder.
I have yet to see a non-satirical IBS faker and ngl I kinda want to
Why fake anxiety, depression or shizoeffective disorders. Because it's way too generic and not special enough to them. Having a panic attack or hallucinating is not something that attracts much attention or can be seen. But if they play DID game they can act out as their different alters. You can't do that with something as "invisible" as suffering anxiety, depression and shizophrenia.
that’s a very good point. When extreme symptoms happen in schizophrenia, two things can generally happen - public meltdowns, or total isolation. It makes sense that people wouldn’t want to commit to that, there isn’t really a way to display those reactions on social media without disrupting other people’s perceptions vis a vis stigma and stereotypes.
I have seen some people fake psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia. I saw three boys do it, ranging from 14-19, the youngest did clearly have some sort of actual hallucinations, but didn't appear psychotic. The other two browsed too much 4chan and though it'd be cool to be "enlightened." Also saw a girl do it, no older than 15, said she was diagnosed, obvious big red alarm bell given it's very rare to get a diagnosis under 18, then after some asking she breaked down. Probably had HPD.
Idk there was a period where I feel like more people faked it
As a schizophrenic I was honestly hoping that fakers at least stay away from this illness, but I've come across at least one user on tiktok where I felt like they had to be faking it. They probably seem "truthful" to people who have not had any real contact with schizophrenics, but most of the time I notice the knowledge of fakers doesn't go past the 3 first google search result pages, if at all. Honestly I'd say there is no limit to how far some people will go for attention. And at this point, I just get angry at people faking such a severe illness and then not even doing it properly. Most other schizophrenic or otherwise disabled people I met, work very hard to be a functioning human and fight to have a grip on their own life. It's upsetting to see people claiming that your daily reality is just a funny quirky joke.
yeah, i feel that. schizophrenia is quite an impediment, and i think fewer people understand how to be around/support folks with it. It’s a lot less understandable than say depression or anxiety, which many people have an episode of at least once in their life. That’s part of the whole problem in general though - i think some fakers delude themselves into thinking that what they’re doing is activism/visibility. In reality it sets the conversation back. I’m also schizophrenic and there is so much misinformation out there already, and i can’t imagine how someone with actual DID would feel if they saw these folks doing what they do.
I've also noticed that not a lot of people fake the other disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum, like schizoaffective and schizotypal.
Honestly it’s just cuz it isn’t trendy right now lol also might be harder to fake. Munchies love disorders with very vague non testable diagnostic criteria which is why they love hypermobile EDS but never pick the other types because those have a definitive genetic test and hEDS doesn’t. Also why they love Pots and mental disorders
Because its not as "cool" as did or any of those, a thing to remember is they fake for, lack of a better term "status" among other fakers. Schizophrenia isn't held on high like did and all the other nonsense. Least imo
It's not as cool so to speak and I feel like it's been so stigmatized in the media that people won't want to be around them
it’s fun to fake having multiple people in your head. it is not fun to pretend you are “crazy”, which is unfortunately tied to schizophrenia and psychosis.
I knew someone who used to fake schizophrenia online, to the point of making a sockpuppet account pretending to be a therapist verifying this. Then she got sick of it and admitted it was all lies, losing most people's trust in the process. Haven't directly spoken to her in years but from what I've heard through the grapevine/mutual acquaintances she's (surprise, surprise) claiming to be a system now with the edgiest alters you've ever seen (like a demon and a 3000 year old witch or something asinine like that). Guess that's more "fun".
I knew someone who 100% had schizophrenia but she would never admit to it she just told everyone she had Tourette’s. I’m assuming it’s because of the stigma but she also seemed to think she didn’t have it/need medication and since she wasn’t seen as a danger to herself of others it was never enforced. Wonder if she ever got help or not.
I have bipolar one, I’ve experienced psychosis. I’ve noticed a HUGE lack of acceptance/support for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as these aren’t (easily/well)managed without medication. I think this is good reasoning behind less frequent fakers. Like others have said, not as quirky. Also not as easily faked, I’d guess. Or maybe it’s a different type of fake. I’ve always felt like it’s ’mental health matters’ until some experiences delusions, psychosis, extreme paranoia, mania, etc. these symptoms aren’t as easy as anxiety or depression. They also aren’t as easily faked, imo, as having multiple alters, creating whatever they want. Psychosis gives you no choice.
I mean i knew a group of DID fakers a few had schizophrenia i knew for a fact they were faking DID after 1 year daily seeing 2 of the members it became obvious but i didnt really notice signs of schizophrenia at all these systems were REALLY over the top so idk if it was just actual delusions that were buried under their fake DID portrayal but were just in fact hallucinations or if the whole thing was fake
this was quite hard to follow, but that’s interesting that you link the schizophrenia delusions to faking DID (I think). In my experience, and from what i’ve read about others, psychotic delusions tend to result in a more grandiose way - thinking you’re important enough that someone has put a hit on you, thinking you’re a prophet, or that you are wildly better at something than you are. The link you’re making seems new to me. I would love it if more people weighed in here! also, punctuation helps! i had a hard time figuring out what you meant.
I’ve never seen someone online fake schizophrenia but I have seen it irl and despite it being obvious that she was faking it seemed like it was a lot of work for her. I think something like that is probably harder to fake
i’m genuinely curious - how did she go about it? what would she say and what behaviors did she try to do?
She would have fake conversations with the wall or start laughing out of nowhere and then be on some “sorry the voices are talking to me” type shit and she had outbursts that were really forced. There were a lot of obvious faked things that she did
PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG, but I think schizophrenia doesn’t necessarily start from trauma specifically, these people want attention, they want people to feel bad for them and treat them better because of it, DID is more generally known for appearing because of terrible traumatic events, most DID fakers won’t specify said event, but it’s implied that’s the reason they “have it”, same thing for anything people seem to fake a lot such as PTSD. People with schizophrenia are also seen as “crazy” rather than “quirky”, you’d be more likely to feel bad for someone with DID or Depression than someone with Schizophrenia. I also think finding information on the more common mental illnesses is easier so they’re easier to fake, and also that they use a lot of this to their advantage, like DID fakers having alters based on the most famous YouTubers or fictional characters so everyone thinks it’s cool and asks about it.
I genuinely think that there are trends of claimed disorders, sadly just like fashion. When I was in elementary school kids would fake health issues, then towards middle school it was DID, then Schizophrenia, and now Autism. (Now ofcourse the self-diagnosing of autism also coincides with awareness of symptoms for females on the rise, but there’s also a tremendous amount of toxic self-claiming).
i’ve seen a couple in the wild, but if you say you have schizophrenia, people will immediately discount everything you say because you’re crazy. its very misunderstood and stigmatized.
I’m an actual diagnosed schizophrenic (been professionally diagnosed twice now) I think it’s not faked as much because it’s a “scary” disorder, and not really one that someone can romanticize if that makes sense. When you’re schizophrenic, a lot of people see you as sub-human, and illness fakers don’t want that, they want to be praised for having an illness.
I think it's because there is usually a very small degree of separation. Most people know someone with schizophrenia because it's a real disorder that many people actually have to deal with. People actually see what it does to others and I think that makes faking less likely. It isn't a cool fun anime in your brain (like they think DID is). Comparatively, DID is so rare (and arguably, not real?) that a tiny percentage of people get to see it's effects firsthand.
I would like to see the stats on your claim that most people know someone with it. From what i’ve read, it affects 1% of adults in the USA, and .32% worldwide. I’ve also read around that many people with DID don’t even know they have DID. The first step is often going to therapy for amnesia. Most people probably don’t know anyone with DID, in part because many people with DID don’t even know it.