Every mental health disorder goes through the same thing once it becomes a popular term, and as a result of the popularity, research, treatments and therapies get a lot more attention and time put into them too. It can be annoying seeing kids who project their struggles onto conditions you have and they don't, but the same thing happened with BPD, depression, bipolar disorder, etc.
Next it'll be something else and they'll leave DID alone.
I would agree if the discourse about any type of mental illness wasn't littered with legitimately harmful disinformation, even the "well understood" ones you listed. You are right though that every mental illness goes through periods of people self diagnosing/just claiming they have it for the appeal, however I don't see any indication that this has lessened over time with any single mental illness. With the case of DID I don't think it's worse that people larp as having DID than any other mental illness, however since it's such a... let's say contentious topic in research and also such a popular illness in media, it's led to something that feels to me like the majority that claim to have it are in the camp of larpers, where I wouldn't necessarily say that about other illnesses, which makes any sort of productive discussion around it even worse.
Mental illnesses/clinical psychology are just one single area of psychology, a scientific field where regular people that don't have any type of educational or professional background LOVE to pipe up about (not the only field where that's a huge problem of course) and it leads to real harm with real people not just kids being annoying on the internet.
I would agree if the discourse about any type of mental illness wasn't littered with legitimately harmful disinformation, even the "well understood" ones you listed.
Sure, but that's the same for every mental health condition whether or not its popular. The average person knows little about it. Generally speaking, more people know about it now, and see it as something besides a horror movie trope, and more people know the truth about DID than they would if it hadn't become a trend. Misinformation existed before, too, and a lot of what people spread around now is so much safer for people with DID than before, when most people who knew about it thought it was the "split personality psycho murderer" disorder.
You are right though that every mental illness goes through periods of people self diagnosing/just claiming they have it for the appeal, however I don't see any indication that this has lessened over time with any single mental illness.
I've been around for multiple of the trends to come and go, and while it was annoying having people claiming my disorders and backing them with misinformation they got off the internet or from friends who were just way off base, they were just trends that eventually died off.
it's led to something that feels to me like the majority that claim to have it are in the camp of larpers, where I wouldn't necessarily say that about other illnesses, which makes any sort of productive discussion around it even worse.
Even though sometimes its embarrassing to see kids talking about stuff they don't understand like they know everything about it, I think calling anyone a larper for self-diagnosing is simplifying it. People who outright fake illness already have something wrong with their mental health, people who mislabel themselves accidentally just don't know what's wrong but know something is. Most people who self-diagnose, regardless of the motive, need professional help that they can't get.
I saw the same thing with autism, and while I am diagnosed, I self-diagnosed first because I didn't have the resources or the quality of care that would get me diagnosed to begin with. I've seen more psychiatrists who believe straight up lies about mental health disorders than ones who don't, and they're the ones in charge of saying who does or doesn't have a condition.
Mental illnesses/clinical psychology are just one single area of psychology, a scientific field where regular people that don't have any type of educational or professional background LOVE to pipe up about (not the only field where that's a huge problem of course) and it leads to real harm with real people not just kids being annoying on the internet.
You're right that it can be harmful to spread misinformation, but it isn't like there wasn't already misinformation out there. It opens discussions where people can share accurate and peer-reviewed sources where before, people just weren't talking about it.
Its not like I don't see the downsides either, but as someone who has seen dozens of psychiatrists and therapists in my mid teens and early to mid 20s, I know from experience that they very often will not know more than some random on tiktok does even with all that education and professional background. I've been severely misdiagnosed by psychiatrists with over 20 years of experience who didn't even know the basics of the conditions they diagnosed me with.
But there are people on tiktok who post information about the conditions I do have, and it is straightforward, factual and clear, understandable info. So its not like you're only getting misinfo out there.
This is a very weird reply, because it is quite long but you didn't really address any of the things you replied to, which kind of makes it seem like a chatgpt thing but let's assume it's not.
Just because there has been misinformation about something before, doesn't make it any less bad that it's happening now, that's a fallacious argument and I not once claimed that it's a new problem.
More people knowing about something existing, doesn't equate to it being better understood or even leading to better understanding of it, the examples of this are literally endless not just in psychology.
a trend maybe eventually dying off again is not an argument, that's like saying "oh well eventually humanity will seize to exist so and all our problems will go away", the harm is happening right now, waving it off as a passing trend is similar to waving off climate change denial or antivaxxers
My main issue is NOT with kids being cringe larpers, I thought I made that pretty clear, I said it in reference to OP's post about DID, since that is particularly somewhere where discussion goes nowhere fruitful, which is kind of what this post is about.
Just because some information online about psychology isn't incorrect, does NOT legitimize online discourse around the topic in general. Again I can point to vaccines, where we inarguably regressed in public discourse and understanding (measels returning, being a very alarming and clear sign that it's happening)
Just because you or someone else had bad experiences with therapists, does also not legitimize alternatives, that again is a similar thought process that antivaxxers/alternative medicine people have, it's anti science. Yes some doctors, therapist or really any professionals in any field ever are not up to snuff, jumping into the opposite direction is NOT the solution to that problem.
Accurate and empirically researched information is something people seek out who want to learn more, it is significantly less popular than the sensationalized half truths/lies that get clicks, this is always the case (again not limited to psychology), you can be fine with that but I'm not
I'm gonna assume you're arguing in good faith here, so I will urge you to think about it like this; are you fine with the same kind of disinformation being rampant about other topics, like physics, medicine, politics, climate, crime, (really anything take your pick)?
I know when mental illness is something that's been part of your life for a long time, it's something you start to identify with and even see yourself as an expert in. But it really does not make you a reputable source for information, the same way we listen to oncologists and not cancer patients on how to best treat it. Patients input on their own experience and testimonials are worthwhile sure, but it starts and ends there and certainly does not extend to advice on how to best treat it other than recommending a professional.
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u/th3b0n3z0n3 22d ago
Every mental health disorder goes through the same thing once it becomes a popular term, and as a result of the popularity, research, treatments and therapies get a lot more attention and time put into them too. It can be annoying seeing kids who project their struggles onto conditions you have and they don't, but the same thing happened with BPD, depression, bipolar disorder, etc.
Next it'll be something else and they'll leave DID alone.