"How To Tell if Someone Is Faking Mental Illness"

That is, if the person in question is talking about a mental illness in the first place

You know the law better than me and, of course, the laws should be followed. From what you have said, if someone discloses at work, you need to listen and consult your HR department before you advise and follow the companies policies.

The title of this thread is "How To Tell if Someone Is Faking Mental Illness"--that in and of itself implies to me that someone is voluntarily telling someone that they have some sort of mental illness. They might even just be telling a friend, family member or coworker who does not supervise them. If they have chosen to disclose then the law should first be followed if they do this at work but otherwise I still feel exactly what I have stated. What I would do might help some and not others--sometimes we don't know how to respond to people who are suffering perfectly. I admit I am not the queen of tact, an expert, or especially insightful but mostly I try to be responsive when people ask me for help. I have fallen short though. Many people need to be more educated about mental illness and how best to respond. Generally, if someone told me they were mentally ill (and it was bothering them), I would encourage them to seek treatment if they were not already in some kind of treatment and be willing to listen to them talk about it. It could be devastating to some people or discourage them from seeking the treatment they need if we say they are faking it.

I have heard of the idea that everyone is on a spectrum of conditions of sexuality of life. You can move up and down the spectrum and the point is no one is normal. I like the idea that we create our own story and can change it but it is always our story to tell. I don't like to talk to people who judge me like they are editors of my journey, I prefer to hear their story and share a moment. My mom used to claim immunity from most of life and say she was an alcoholic. If we are all searching and struggling and celebrating, then no one gets a free pass, we all can ask for what we need and tell where we have been.

Yes, I agree. I would like to think that some of us can heal our sickness.

The struggles of our lives, AKA "The Eternal Conflict" (Diablo (video game) reference), is the struggle between comfort and moving. On one hand, we are moving so we can create comfort. On the other hand, the desire to move is inevitable.
The thing is, not everyone gets very comfortable in the ride. Some enjoy it, some deal with it and some suffer along the ride, wherever they are and wherever they go. And some unfortunately fall, and more unfortunately is at times the ride waits for no one

Maybe faking a mental illness is in fact a sign of mental illness too. It's disordered to say the least.

I judged my mom for a long time when she said nothing was her fault because she was an alcoholic. I needed her to love me back. I have stopped judging her and am sorry. She still doesn't pick up the phone most of the time. I think it's useful to say where you are coming from if someone tells you their story, to give what you can, and to walk away if you think they are not respecting your boundaries - lying about anything isn't respectful. My mom says she is bipolar now, so she can drink and take tranquilizers that she self prescribes from the doctor she found, "Dr. Nutty" I see that she is in pain. I only phone her when I am able to deal with her lack of affection. I answer for my behavior.

It's one of the reasons I'm not open about my depression at school. (Teachers do know I think, classmates don't) I will mention the PTSD if it comes up, as well as the ASD, but not the depression. I don't want to be considered faking or exaggerating just because I try not to let it show at school, and manage for the most part. The PTSD is more obvious for those who look, and the autism.. well, I'm enough of a weirdo occasionally that people won't easily say I can't have that diagnosis. (Not saying people with autism are weirdos. Just that if someone is a social butterfly, tons of friends, perfectly well-adjusted, never needed any accommodations or disagreed with a teacher.. you'd be more inclined to believe they bought their Asperger's diagnosis on ebay. Asperger's seems to be 'hot' anyway. But as I am no social butterfly, I feel less afraid of being disbelieved. I do smile a lot, so I am afraid of people not believing my depression.)

The problem with this thought is we cannot judge a person of whether he has a mental illness or not. Yet people do that, and that's exactly the problem regarding stigma for example.

Mental illnesses are titles written in personal medical files.
One way to cope with this is not to take mental illnesses as a whole, but to take it as a PART of the whole. Expecting the person to be depressed all the time just because they have depression is stigmatizing.
Expecting the person to have some symptoms of his acclaimed mental illness is starting to become more realistic, both for the benefit of the doubt and the fact that a person is NOT his mental illness, as I said above. The person is a living human being just like all of us, with a wish to live the best life possible

Possibly? I don't know. I choose to believe someone if they say they have a mental illness unless they give me a really strong reason not to, and then yeah they have a whole other problem.

It's like in school, when there were kids who would cut 'because they were sick' and others who would cut 'for attention' it's like.... okay but cutting open your flesh for attention is still pretty disturbing behavior lol I was in the 'would cut and would hide it' camp and would judge those that had it on open display, but now I understand it's just a different kind of problem. Doesn't make them any less sick.

I don't think you can tell if someone is faking or not. Everyone deals in a different way so it would be hard to tell unless maybe you were close to them.

I feel that I would be hard to tell if people were faking mental illness. Personally for awhile I was misdiagnosed as bipolar and would post down in the bipolar forum, then stopped posting and when my diagnosis changed last year I was afraid to come back to this site for fear that I'd be called out on "faking illness" when really it was just a misdiagnosis. I've been in intensive treatment from January of 2016 through now, just ended 20 months of intensive individual therapy and a DBT program (stage 1 skills group, stage 2 trauma), and am still in a depression and anxiety group. Now that I'm doing better I feel like noone will believe that I have mental illness (only those closest to me know and one friend). My family thought I was taking until I made an attempt on my life twice, now they know it's real. Even though I had depression diagnosed at the age of 12 my family still thought it wasn't real until I was 24. I try to be careful of who I tell so I don't get accused of faking or become a pariah. So I give people benefit of the doubt when it comes to mental illness and whether or not it's faked.

Sadly, some people say things like "I am so OCD" just because they washed their hands twice or say "I'm so depressed" when they just mean they're sad. Is this what we're referring to in this thread? Sorry I may be missing something

No one can really tell if someone is faking MI. I have personally seen it working in the ER. Even the Doctors are fooled a lot of times. But for someone to intentionally fake a MI, or a physical illness, is a MI in it's self. It is called Munchousing. Sorry, I have never been a good speller, but you all can figure it out. My thoughts on it are this, I have medical illnesses that people could see, I never tell anyone about my MI. Sure I talk with you all, I get help, And I try to give it in return. The only others that know about my MI are my H, my Doctors, and that is about it, and none of any of these people know all of my issues. I have enough on my plate, I don't need people to be any way different to me than they are at this minute. The way I see it, if I need help, I will ask for it, or seek help. You all , if you have read all of my posts know some, but no one knows it all, but me!!! This site has been so helpful for me to even be able to talk about it, because before I found you all I held everything in, and it is so good to be able to get some things out sometimes. Also, I don't know you all personally, I don't see you all every day, ect... But I am extreemly glad you all are my internet friends!!!!!!!

I actually worry about being accused of this - especially as I am going from assessment to assessment and being judged now that I have entered the (Canadian) Veterans' Affairs system. I worry that I won't be able to demonstrate I am sick enough to receive benefits. I worry they will judge me unworthy. I have made a habit of the opposite - of pretending there is nothing wrong with me. I have made a habit of trying to appear normal. As such it is difficult to be entirely honest with my practitioners. Will the therapist and case worker see through this facade and recognize the very frightened 'actor' within?

Honestly, at least from my personal experience, no they will not. You downplaying your problems is just going to get you misdiagnosed, undermedicated, a lack of help in general, and it's really just going to screw you over. You HAVE to be completely open and honest with them no matter how scary it is, this is how I ended up in inpatient care and with a DUI because I kept downplaying my problems and pretending I had things under control. Now that I've been more open with all my issues they are taking everything a lot more seriously. Don't expect them to be mind-readers just because they're in the field, they're not mind readers and they can only help you with the problems that you admit you have.

Your comments are appreciated.

Wow, I live in a bubble. I can't believe someone can be so cruel as to think someone is faking it. I struggle daily with real thoughts of SI. It is horrible, I wish I could learn skills to cope with these thoughts. I am trying to get into a DBT program to help me, but I fear the waiting

My opinion, which I tend to voice when I hear "fake" in this context, is that unless the person accusing is a licensed psychiatrist and has the authority to diagnose the person in question (usually me), and has conducted lengthy study into (my) particular issues, then they are not qualified to make such diagnosis and are therefore most likely liable for malpractice. Well, probably not, but they generally don't know that and it shuts them up.

I've had extensive issues with my extended family claiming I'm "just trying to get attention" or "faking to get out of ..." and such. It took a long time to realize that there is no way I will ever convince them, stacks of proof in hand, of the truth. More to the point, I don't have the strength and energy, and now, the desire, to waste my time with such people. I know the truth, my doctors know the truth, and my very supportive husband and teenager know the truth.

I learned, after much head-against-wall-banging, that I can't change the opinion of ignorant people. If they don't have the presence of mind to understand and accept, then they have their own issues to deal with.

That being said, I do believe there are "fakers" out there. As another said here, it's most likely they have a mental illness that causes such behavior, just not whatever they are claiming. That's not for me to judge. That's for them to work out on their own.

Just my 2 cents.