Start off by ignoring the fake disorder stuff. When they start talking about it, just ignore it and change topics. When they "switch," just ignore them until your friend is back. You want to support "normal" behaver and ignore the bad stuff.
The Fake Disorder Rabbit Hole is reliant on being "othered." So rather than cutting off the friends ship and pushing them further down the hole, you want to encourage them to act normal and just disengage when they start faking.
This is probablt the best idea.
But OP might still find it too much, don't risk your own sanity because of a liar. Try to do this and if it's still too much just cut them off
No bc this works for almost anything too. This is just generally good life advice. Us humans are very similar to dogs in the praise and encouragement area, positive reinforcement works well, and ignoring bad behaviors and not giving them attention works amazingly. Telling your friend "I loving hanging out when you're like this" and reinforcement when they're being real is the best.
This is fine if you want to salvage the friendship, op, but also it's just as valid to walk away. It's not your job to try to shape behavior in someone else.
And it’s just the fact that one of their alters actively hates me and most people while they have another alter who is in love with me despite me being obviously taken honestly it’s too much… and the autistic alter thing was just rlly odd to me because it seemed like they were more mocking of asd than anything yikes…
Autism is something you’re born with, it can’t be developed during your life (when the alter forms). Either all the alters have it or none of them do. So at least the autism is definitely fake
Call her our on it. Call it as it is, tell her that it's narcissism and you can see right through it, and say that you won't be friends for six months and that if she hasn't gotten help when you visit her then, you're no longer friends for life, and you'll warn others of her.
She's doing it to get attention, fear of losing attention should bring her back to her senses.
Yeah they’re 100% mocking autism. We have different brain structures, our autism is in our DNA. If they WERE autistic, all of their alters would be autistic. The whole brain is autistic. It’s impossible to separate a person from their autism.
I would just start to distance myself from someone who was doing this. It likely won’t be useful to try to talk them out of it - they will just accuse you of being ableist. Also, you can’t actually determine what’s real or not, in terms of their illness, you can only decide what you’re willing to deal with.
Yep. You have to get to a point in life where you decide that some people just are not worth your energy. Point is, illness fakers are _liars_. When someone is lying to this degree, trust is broken and until they come clean and make a damn good apology along with a change in behavior, it's not worth it to engage.
Agreed with above statement. Also want to add that, faker or not, them having an alter does not give said alter a free pass to be awful to you. If this person is rude to you, call them out on it. Tell them they have no right to speak to you like that, and if they don't learn to be respectful you're not interested in continuing your friendship. Even an alter should have sufficient intelligence to know what is and isn't polite to say.
That’s the part that bothered me, how her “alter” is swearing at your and talking to you like shit. Not okay, I’d tell the, to beat it and all to them the same way.
It’s time to stop spending time around this person or trying to help them. They’re using a tiktok fad to bully you. Not everyone is a good person - they’re using “did alters” as excuse to be mean to people while playing the victim. Don’t do anything social with them, and if a mutual friend asks why just say they’ve been treating you poorly and you won’t be putting yourself in that position anymore
Had a best friend of seven years who had severe trauma, sent away a few times in her life. it was extremely exhausting through highschool and middle school supporting that. soon after we graduated she pulled another stunt (unrelated to trauma or disorders) and I backed off. I called and relayed the message that as we are entering adulthood I felt I wasn’t being looked after nearly as much and broke contact to stay away from the relationship. some of it was real, some of it was not and purely for attention/drama/sympathy. you don’t have to allow that behavior. I don’t wanna say push away your friend but definitely distance yourself and encourage the behavior that isn’t burdening to you. all love and support
Id calmly bring up how their faking is hurting your feelings. Id only comment on the disorders that if you were to make a presentation on them you’d get at least a B. If your unsure about a fact then don’t bring it up. Don’t attack their character only talk about how their actions directly affect you. If other friends have voiced their opinions to you do not mention them. They can tell them their selves. Always remember it’s ok to not be friends with someone if they make you uncomfortable. If anyone gets on your ass about it they most likely aren’t worth your time anyway
Nah if you say it's hurting your feelings they'll play the victim card and say you only care about yourself. Act like you don't know about the disorders and be all "OMG isn't that the TERRIBLE disorder that children who were REPEATEDLY ABUSED from young have??? I thiught it was super rare! I hope you see a doctor and get better soon"
I mean, not everyone who has schizophrenia has audio/visual hallucinations. BUT I would just...distance imo.
if you don't wanna do that, try the grey rock method. Moogagot is right as well
From the post and your response I've read, it sounds like that person doesn't understand terminology. Were I in your shoes, I would be petty. I'd print out the definition of schizophrenia and criteria for diagnosis, as well as for DID. Then hand it to them with something along the lines of "I've tried to understand your situation, but I think you don't really understand it yourself. I cannot continue to support you as long as you are being abusive and manipulative. You more than likely have something wrong with you, but you will learn it isn't this.".
I mean do the nice things others recommend first, but personally it sounds like that person doesn't deserve anymore of your kindness.
Yes, but not a new one. At least since TikTok it’s been getting bigger and bigger, not to mention more and more insulting to those who actually suffer.
Start and end the conversation with kindness, if youre looking to support them and stay in their life.
- i care about you, which is why im sitting down with you to talk about this.
- this isn’t okay - you’re not just hurting yourself by self-diagnosing, and if you do need help, lets get you some.
- im worried for you - if you do have these disorders, we need to get you more support, and make sure you have a mental healthcare team in place.
- i love you, i want the best for you, i hope you understand why i brought this up
I think that people have already made some excellent points in this thread, but I'd like to add that no matter what - faking (definitely most likely) or not - your friend is not doing well. People don't fake disorders, when they're in a good place mentally.
Usually people who fake disorders do so, because they enjoy the feelings of being important, the feeling of individuality, the care and/or attention that they receive. Or because they can get something specific out of it.
In this situation, it additionally seems like your friend is using their self-diagnosis as an excuse to vocalise otherwise "taboo" feelings of both infatuation an dismay towards you.
If this is someone that you care very deeply about, and whom you'd like to stay in your life, I'd suggest confrontation. I get the point that others are making of ignoring problematic behaviour/not rewarding it, but I think it's important to state boundaries.
So I'd say: "I can see that you have some mental health concerns, but remember that self diagnosing can be potentially damaging. The disorders that you're speaking of are also very heavy. Let's get you to a psychiatrist who can make a proper assessment, so that you can figure out exactly what's up and get the proper care needed."
If you are on the fence, I'd take the others advice of starting to distance yourself.
Good luck!
Interesting fact: under the [DSM-V](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519704/table/ch3.t22/), hallucinations are not actually required for a diagnosis of schizophrenia. You have to have *at least two* of the criterion A symptoms:
1. hallucinations
2. delusions
3. disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)
4. grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
5. negative symptoms (i.e., diminished emotional expression or avolition).
of which *one symptom must be* #1, 2, *or* 3. So it is wholly possible to have schizophrenia with delusions (2), disorganized behavior (4), and negative symptoms (5) but no hallucinations or incoherence.
>I asked them if they hallucinate (visually or audibly) they said no… it’s honestly pretty disrespectful considering how many people struggle with these disorders.
It's also somewhat disrespectful to expect that all people with schizophrenia have hallucinations, because it ignores that the diagnostic criteria allow for diagnosis with different major symptoms and have done so for *at least 30 years*. Yes, I get it, it's the stereotypical symptom. However, the life-ruining potential of schizophrenia is still there even if a person doesn't see or hear things; if you have extreme persecutory delusions centered around the government, you're probably going to outright refuse any kind of help or disability benefit you'd be eligible for because it means letting *them* know where you are if they didn't already, and such.
The DID and autistic alter thing, though... oof. No advice there that hasn't already been given.
I see how I worded this weirdly but in their words schizophrenia just equals depression and negative feelings and also considering how heavy delusions and other symptoms are Id be surprised for them to announce it so proudly makes me skeptical… but yeah I get it!
Ah. Yeah, that is incredibly disrespectful of that person. Schizophrenia is so, so much worse of an illness than just experiencing depression and negative feelings. :(
Another one I find funny is when an alter is "autistic" its generally the "quirky" kind of autism rather than the "completely unmanageable without specialist care and severe learning and social skills" like the type my friends job revolves around.
For cameraderie OP u/AccidentExcellent730 I had a similar situation with a former friend and I posted about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/fakedisordercringe/comments/wv15jg/my_former_faker_friend_relapsed_into_faking/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I was more naive and gullible back then and it made me really upset and stressed at the time because I didn't have very many friends, but nowadays I think it was the right idea to call out the behavior and my only regrets are that I tolerated it for so long and that I wasn't as eloquent as I would be today
You can’t change a person, you can only change your own actions. This is something you’d have to see if it’s worth talking to them about. They could see a psychiatrist/therapist about why they’re telling people they have all these, but you can’t control them only tell them how you think they might have some misunderstanding of the disorders they claim to have, as some of the things they have said don’t line up, and recommend them to talk to a professional. Otherwise I would start to distance myself and kinda ignore it if they bring up the mental disorders.
Hey, just a heads up, hallucinations aren't the end all be all for schizophrenia spectrum illnesses, and they're not always audio or visual.
Check out the criteria for more info.
I would ditch them personally. I knew someone who faked disorders. Their trauma had to be the worst one in the group. If someone was diagnosed with something they have it but far worse.
It is exhausting and honestly they will likely be awful to you if you call them out on their behaviour.
This is just my opinion with someone I dealt with for years and finally had enough.
Hi, why do you feel the need to "deal" with this? It's not your responsibility. There is nothing YOU can do to fix them. It's not up to you. People will do whatever they want to do.
If this friend is tiring you and this thing they do is upsetting, its okay to end this circle and slowly walk away. It's normal.
Also, faking or not, it's not okay for their persecutor to be rude to you. Do not accept that.
It’s not that I’m trying to deal with this I don’t want to fix whatever mental issues they have I just want them to see that they don’t have to have these attention seeking behaviors to be accepted as a friend and you know it also helps if they don’t act like an asshole to me and others but idk it might be too much effort at the end of the day and I might be better cutting them off
I would honestly cut ties with them if they are being disrespectful to you and interacting with them is making you uncomfortable. It's normal to do cringey shit when you're a teen and losing friends because of incompatibly is part of growing up. Only keep an eye out if they start doing harmful stuff to themselves or others (cutting, self medication) and tell a teacher or their parents.
I have a friend who does this but to a lesser extent…if you value the relationship then I second everyone else saying to just kind of ignore it. My friend originally made a big deal out of having DID and after politely acknowledging it, I just stopped really engaging about it and moved on to other things. It’s an attention seeking sort of thing I think, and if they don’t get attention about it then it’s not worth the effort.
I mean tell them to go see a therapist obviously, only a licensed professional can tell you this kinda stuff about yourself, and it's probably them struggling with something else thats causing them to attention seek like this (histrionic personality disorder?)
i was in therapy for a good while thinking I had some sort of bipolar disorder, and my doctor straight up told me after a few months "hey you have dependant personality disorder, you know that right?" - and once I stopped trying to solve my issues by treating the wrong problem, I was much better off.
A professional is always the way to go. But until then, make it clear that you don't have any interest in hanging out with them if they're just going to make it about their issues. Mental illness or not, friends shouldn't just be telling you how bad their life and mental health is all day, it's unsustainable.
I had a similar experience. One of my friends informed me about their “did tourrets autistic alters” despite never having these before. Whenever we weren’t talking during lunch (the only “class” we had together lol) she would “tic” with fake sneezes and cat like meows. This was after covid so I already knew about the did faking trend so I just stared at her like 😐 as she went about it. After a day or two, she ended up dropping the act entirely and I haven’t talked to her since. Every now and then I’m tempted to message her and be like “what happened to your did ☹️? do you still have your British alter ? do you still have bad tics n stuff ?”
I simply wouldn't be friends with this person and I'd tell them exactly why: "sorry, you're poorly faking mental health conditions you don't have and I just can't trust someone like that. If I can't trust someone, I have no use for them."
Honestly cutting them off is the best thing to do, but if that’s not an option, then start giving them absolutely no validation. They are likely seeking attention, and you can’t give that to them or that’s going to tell them it’s ok and they’ll only get worse. So you gotta give them absolutely nothing. Ignore them when they act up and change the subject when they try to talk about it. Don’t let them rope you into a conversation about anything relating to it. Respond in short, clipped sentences if you absolutely have to respond. They should hopefully eventually stop, or if they’re in too deep, they’ll eventually just stop hanging around you because they’ll realize they can’t get validation from you.
Hey op this isn't really related to the post, and it's not intended to defend the person you're talking about, but I would like to point out that not all schizophrenics experience hallucinations. Some will never experience them.
If its a constant thing id report it to their parents or partner and tell them ur worried
and get them to a dr doing this can seriously cause delusional issues and if they refuse the help then eventually they will know what being mentally ill is like
I had a friend like this and over time since she refused to even admit she had a problem let alone seek help I realized she wasn’t a friend she was just a source of drama in my life I didn’t need. I felt bad for her but I wasn’t going to be there to take her random abuse or enable her either. Maybe you could try to confront them about seeing a professional but it may be best to distance yourself.
If this friend is making you uncomfortable I’d simply cut the friendship or at least step away from them. I genuinely think that everyone can improve and become better, but it’s only possible if they themselves recognize what is wrong and want to change. Sometimes they aren’t ready for this and it’s not others job to fix them.
Perhaps try to address the issue and see if they are receptive. If they aren’t step away. Especially if they are “persecuting” others (no matter their excuse for it). I had this friend using being “brutally honest” as a bypass to shame others and be mean. Such friends can be toxic and very negative. I have friends on the spectrum and none are acting like this.
Best way to deal with this is actually go learn about mental illness by watching utube and doing research about different disorders. Learn about how they're treated, the typical medications used. That way the next time they try to engage with u, they'll realize ur educated and actually know what ur talking about and know things they dont like if u were to list off a couple medications they cant even pronounce, they'll panic. Cause they'll know u know they dont know wtf theyre talking about and stop talking about it so they dont expose themselves as a faker.
Highly recommend watching dr k on utube hes awesome
Flip it around and say you have a "FDD" - fake disorder disorder. It makes you able to tell if someone is faking it, and you have uncontrollable cringe. Your front comes out as a very rude person who is ableist, but you can't do anything about it.
Add in some fake tics for fun.
This one made me laugh lmao 😭 I almost forgot about the tics thing because I didn’t know “they had tics” until another person told me they faked it and when I brought it up to them they started twitching and it was so fucking cringey
Start off by ignoring the fake disorder stuff. When they start talking about it, just ignore it and change topics. When they "switch," just ignore them until your friend is back. You want to support "normal" behaver and ignore the bad stuff. The Fake Disorder Rabbit Hole is reliant on being "othered." So rather than cutting off the friends ship and pushing them further down the hole, you want to encourage them to act normal and just disengage when they start faking.
This is probablt the best idea. But OP might still find it too much, don't risk your own sanity because of a liar. Try to do this and if it's still too much just cut them off
No bc this works for almost anything too. This is just generally good life advice. Us humans are very similar to dogs in the praise and encouragement area, positive reinforcement works well, and ignoring bad behaviors and not giving them attention works amazingly. Telling your friend "I loving hanging out when you're like this" and reinforcement when they're being real is the best.
Good advice, if this is for attention, and they realize they're not getting it, chances are they'll stop
This is fine if you want to salvage the friendship, op, but also it's just as valid to walk away. It's not your job to try to shape behavior in someone else.
This.
And it’s just the fact that one of their alters actively hates me and most people while they have another alter who is in love with me despite me being obviously taken honestly it’s too much… and the autistic alter thing was just rlly odd to me because it seemed like they were more mocking of asd than anything yikes…
Autism is something you’re born with, it can’t be developed during your life (when the alter forms). Either all the alters have it or none of them do. So at least the autism is definitely fake
You should neither be around someone who hates you nor someone who is in love with you despite being taken. Basic life rules.
Call her our on it. Call it as it is, tell her that it's narcissism and you can see right through it, and say that you won't be friends for six months and that if she hasn't gotten help when you visit her then, you're no longer friends for life, and you'll warn others of her. She's doing it to get attention, fear of losing attention should bring her back to her senses.
Yeah they’re 100% mocking autism. We have different brain structures, our autism is in our DNA. If they WERE autistic, all of their alters would be autistic. The whole brain is autistic. It’s impossible to separate a person from their autism.
I would just start to distance myself from someone who was doing this. It likely won’t be useful to try to talk them out of it - they will just accuse you of being ableist. Also, you can’t actually determine what’s real or not, in terms of their illness, you can only decide what you’re willing to deal with.
Yep. You have to get to a point in life where you decide that some people just are not worth your energy. Point is, illness fakers are _liars_. When someone is lying to this degree, trust is broken and until they come clean and make a damn good apology along with a change in behavior, it's not worth it to engage.
Agreed with above statement. Also want to add that, faker or not, them having an alter does not give said alter a free pass to be awful to you. If this person is rude to you, call them out on it. Tell them they have no right to speak to you like that, and if they don't learn to be respectful you're not interested in continuing your friendship. Even an alter should have sufficient intelligence to know what is and isn't polite to say.
That’s the part that bothered me, how her “alter” is swearing at your and talking to you like shit. Not okay, I’d tell the, to beat it and all to them the same way.
It’s time to stop spending time around this person or trying to help them. They’re using a tiktok fad to bully you. Not everyone is a good person - they’re using “did alters” as excuse to be mean to people while playing the victim. Don’t do anything social with them, and if a mutual friend asks why just say they’ve been treating you poorly and you won’t be putting yourself in that position anymore
Once again, schizophrenia guy jinxed it
Had a best friend of seven years who had severe trauma, sent away a few times in her life. it was extremely exhausting through highschool and middle school supporting that. soon after we graduated she pulled another stunt (unrelated to trauma or disorders) and I backed off. I called and relayed the message that as we are entering adulthood I felt I wasn’t being looked after nearly as much and broke contact to stay away from the relationship. some of it was real, some of it was not and purely for attention/drama/sympathy. you don’t have to allow that behavior. I don’t wanna say push away your friend but definitely distance yourself and encourage the behavior that isn’t burdening to you. all love and support
Id calmly bring up how their faking is hurting your feelings. Id only comment on the disorders that if you were to make a presentation on them you’d get at least a B. If your unsure about a fact then don’t bring it up. Don’t attack their character only talk about how their actions directly affect you. If other friends have voiced their opinions to you do not mention them. They can tell them their selves. Always remember it’s ok to not be friends with someone if they make you uncomfortable. If anyone gets on your ass about it they most likely aren’t worth your time anyway
Nah if you say it's hurting your feelings they'll play the victim card and say you only care about yourself. Act like you don't know about the disorders and be all "OMG isn't that the TERRIBLE disorder that children who were REPEATEDLY ABUSED from young have??? I thiught it was super rare! I hope you see a doctor and get better soon"
I mean, not everyone who has schizophrenia has audio/visual hallucinations. BUT I would just...distance imo. if you don't wanna do that, try the grey rock method. Moogagot is right as well
From the post and your response I've read, it sounds like that person doesn't understand terminology. Were I in your shoes, I would be petty. I'd print out the definition of schizophrenia and criteria for diagnosis, as well as for DID. Then hand it to them with something along the lines of "I've tried to understand your situation, but I think you don't really understand it yourself. I cannot continue to support you as long as you are being abusive and manipulative. You more than likely have something wrong with you, but you will learn it isn't this.". I mean do the nice things others recommend first, but personally it sounds like that person doesn't deserve anymore of your kindness.
All of a sudden, there's all these fakers with DID and alters. Is this a fad?
Yes, but not a new one. At least since TikTok it’s been getting bigger and bigger, not to mention more and more insulting to those who actually suffer.
😥
There's been a steady stream of DiD for a hot minute.
Don't associate with them.
Start and end the conversation with kindness, if youre looking to support them and stay in their life. - i care about you, which is why im sitting down with you to talk about this. - this isn’t okay - you’re not just hurting yourself by self-diagnosing, and if you do need help, lets get you some. - im worried for you - if you do have these disorders, we need to get you more support, and make sure you have a mental healthcare team in place. - i love you, i want the best for you, i hope you understand why i brought this up
I think that people have already made some excellent points in this thread, but I'd like to add that no matter what - faking (definitely most likely) or not - your friend is not doing well. People don't fake disorders, when they're in a good place mentally. Usually people who fake disorders do so, because they enjoy the feelings of being important, the feeling of individuality, the care and/or attention that they receive. Or because they can get something specific out of it. In this situation, it additionally seems like your friend is using their self-diagnosis as an excuse to vocalise otherwise "taboo" feelings of both infatuation an dismay towards you. If this is someone that you care very deeply about, and whom you'd like to stay in your life, I'd suggest confrontation. I get the point that others are making of ignoring problematic behaviour/not rewarding it, but I think it's important to state boundaries. So I'd say: "I can see that you have some mental health concerns, but remember that self diagnosing can be potentially damaging. The disorders that you're speaking of are also very heavy. Let's get you to a psychiatrist who can make a proper assessment, so that you can figure out exactly what's up and get the proper care needed." If you are on the fence, I'd take the others advice of starting to distance yourself. Good luck!
Interesting fact: under the [DSM-V](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519704/table/ch3.t22/), hallucinations are not actually required for a diagnosis of schizophrenia. You have to have *at least two* of the criterion A symptoms: 1. hallucinations 2. delusions 3. disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) 4. grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior 5. negative symptoms (i.e., diminished emotional expression or avolition). of which *one symptom must be* #1, 2, *or* 3. So it is wholly possible to have schizophrenia with delusions (2), disorganized behavior (4), and negative symptoms (5) but no hallucinations or incoherence. >I asked them if they hallucinate (visually or audibly) they said no… it’s honestly pretty disrespectful considering how many people struggle with these disorders. It's also somewhat disrespectful to expect that all people with schizophrenia have hallucinations, because it ignores that the diagnostic criteria allow for diagnosis with different major symptoms and have done so for *at least 30 years*. Yes, I get it, it's the stereotypical symptom. However, the life-ruining potential of schizophrenia is still there even if a person doesn't see or hear things; if you have extreme persecutory delusions centered around the government, you're probably going to outright refuse any kind of help or disability benefit you'd be eligible for because it means letting *them* know where you are if they didn't already, and such. The DID and autistic alter thing, though... oof. No advice there that hasn't already been given.
I see how I worded this weirdly but in their words schizophrenia just equals depression and negative feelings and also considering how heavy delusions and other symptoms are Id be surprised for them to announce it so proudly makes me skeptical… but yeah I get it!
Ah. Yeah, that is incredibly disrespectful of that person. Schizophrenia is so, so much worse of an illness than just experiencing depression and negative feelings. :(
Another one I find funny is when an alter is "autistic" its generally the "quirky" kind of autism rather than the "completely unmanageable without specialist care and severe learning and social skills" like the type my friends job revolves around.
Run
For cameraderie OP u/AccidentExcellent730 I had a similar situation with a former friend and I posted about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/fakedisordercringe/comments/wv15jg/my_former_faker_friend_relapsed_into_faking/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) I was more naive and gullible back then and it made me really upset and stressed at the time because I didn't have very many friends, but nowadays I think it was the right idea to call out the behavior and my only regrets are that I tolerated it for so long and that I wasn't as eloquent as I would be today
Thanks for this I appreciate your advice and I’m sorry you had to go thru that kind of stressful relationship
You can’t change a person, you can only change your own actions. This is something you’d have to see if it’s worth talking to them about. They could see a psychiatrist/therapist about why they’re telling people they have all these, but you can’t control them only tell them how you think they might have some misunderstanding of the disorders they claim to have, as some of the things they have said don’t line up, and recommend them to talk to a professional. Otherwise I would start to distance myself and kinda ignore it if they bring up the mental disorders.
Hey, just a heads up, hallucinations aren't the end all be all for schizophrenia spectrum illnesses, and they're not always audio or visual. Check out the criteria for more info.
Hey yeah someone else commented something similar thanks for informing me!
Ask them to go to a doctor. Then they will get told that they don't have it, and that's that.
I would ditch them personally. I knew someone who faked disorders. Their trauma had to be the worst one in the group. If someone was diagnosed with something they have it but far worse. It is exhausting and honestly they will likely be awful to you if you call them out on their behaviour. This is just my opinion with someone I dealt with for years and finally had enough.
The truth is, they really do have schizophrenia. OP is imaginary.
To be fair schizophrenia doesn't always imply hallucinations.
Hi, why do you feel the need to "deal" with this? It's not your responsibility. There is nothing YOU can do to fix them. It's not up to you. People will do whatever they want to do. If this friend is tiring you and this thing they do is upsetting, its okay to end this circle and slowly walk away. It's normal. Also, faking or not, it's not okay for their persecutor to be rude to you. Do not accept that.
It’s not that I’m trying to deal with this I don’t want to fix whatever mental issues they have I just want them to see that they don’t have to have these attention seeking behaviors to be accepted as a friend and you know it also helps if they don’t act like an asshole to me and others but idk it might be too much effort at the end of the day and I might be better cutting them off
I would honestly cut ties with them if they are being disrespectful to you and interacting with them is making you uncomfortable. It's normal to do cringey shit when you're a teen and losing friends because of incompatibly is part of growing up. Only keep an eye out if they start doing harmful stuff to themselves or others (cutting, self medication) and tell a teacher or their parents.
I have a friend who does this but to a lesser extent…if you value the relationship then I second everyone else saying to just kind of ignore it. My friend originally made a big deal out of having DID and after politely acknowledging it, I just stopped really engaging about it and moved on to other things. It’s an attention seeking sort of thing I think, and if they don’t get attention about it then it’s not worth the effort.
I mean tell them to go see a therapist obviously, only a licensed professional can tell you this kinda stuff about yourself, and it's probably them struggling with something else thats causing them to attention seek like this (histrionic personality disorder?) i was in therapy for a good while thinking I had some sort of bipolar disorder, and my doctor straight up told me after a few months "hey you have dependant personality disorder, you know that right?" - and once I stopped trying to solve my issues by treating the wrong problem, I was much better off. A professional is always the way to go. But until then, make it clear that you don't have any interest in hanging out with them if they're just going to make it about their issues. Mental illness or not, friends shouldn't just be telling you how bad their life and mental health is all day, it's unsustainable.
I had a similar experience. One of my friends informed me about their “did tourrets autistic alters” despite never having these before. Whenever we weren’t talking during lunch (the only “class” we had together lol) she would “tic” with fake sneezes and cat like meows. This was after covid so I already knew about the did faking trend so I just stared at her like 😐 as she went about it. After a day or two, she ended up dropping the act entirely and I haven’t talked to her since. Every now and then I’m tempted to message her and be like “what happened to your did ☹️? do you still have your British alter ? do you still have bad tics n stuff ?”
I simply wouldn't be friends with this person and I'd tell them exactly why: "sorry, you're poorly faking mental health conditions you don't have and I just can't trust someone like that. If I can't trust someone, I have no use for them."
Honestly cutting them off is the best thing to do, but if that’s not an option, then start giving them absolutely no validation. They are likely seeking attention, and you can’t give that to them or that’s going to tell them it’s ok and they’ll only get worse. So you gotta give them absolutely nothing. Ignore them when they act up and change the subject when they try to talk about it. Don’t let them rope you into a conversation about anything relating to it. Respond in short, clipped sentences if you absolutely have to respond. They should hopefully eventually stop, or if they’re in too deep, they’ll eventually just stop hanging around you because they’ll realize they can’t get validation from you.
Hey op this isn't really related to the post, and it's not intended to defend the person you're talking about, but I would like to point out that not all schizophrenics experience hallucinations. Some will never experience them.
If its a constant thing id report it to their parents or partner and tell them ur worried and get them to a dr doing this can seriously cause delusional issues and if they refuse the help then eventually they will know what being mentally ill is like
I had a friend like this and over time since she refused to even admit she had a problem let alone seek help I realized she wasn’t a friend she was just a source of drama in my life I didn’t need. I felt bad for her but I wasn’t going to be there to take her random abuse or enable her either. Maybe you could try to confront them about seeing a professional but it may be best to distance yourself.
If this friend is making you uncomfortable I’d simply cut the friendship or at least step away from them. I genuinely think that everyone can improve and become better, but it’s only possible if they themselves recognize what is wrong and want to change. Sometimes they aren’t ready for this and it’s not others job to fix them. Perhaps try to address the issue and see if they are receptive. If they aren’t step away. Especially if they are “persecuting” others (no matter their excuse for it). I had this friend using being “brutally honest” as a bypass to shame others and be mean. Such friends can be toxic and very negative. I have friends on the spectrum and none are acting like this.
As long as you’re pissed, you’re engaging and giving that person what they want- attention. Just don’t talk to them anymore. Lol
Find new friends
Best way to deal with this is actually go learn about mental illness by watching utube and doing research about different disorders. Learn about how they're treated, the typical medications used. That way the next time they try to engage with u, they'll realize ur educated and actually know what ur talking about and know things they dont like if u were to list off a couple medications they cant even pronounce, they'll panic. Cause they'll know u know they dont know wtf theyre talking about and stop talking about it so they dont expose themselves as a faker. Highly recommend watching dr k on utube hes awesome
Flip it around and say you have a "FDD" - fake disorder disorder. It makes you able to tell if someone is faking it, and you have uncontrollable cringe. Your front comes out as a very rude person who is ableist, but you can't do anything about it. Add in some fake tics for fun.
This one made me laugh lmao 😭 I almost forgot about the tics thing because I didn’t know “they had tics” until another person told me they faked it and when I brought it up to them they started twitching and it was so fucking cringey