# Anxiety Disorders > Unsure and Other Mental Health Issues >  >  Phantom Mental Illness

## Cuchculan

Is it possible? Person might assume they have a mental illness, although they don't. They might begin to play the part. Find symptoms from other people. Use those symptoms as their own? I suppose they would be creating a life that is simply not true. Not saying on purpose. In their minds it could all be true. But in reality none of what they write and tell people actually did happen to them. Something I have always wondered about.

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## kevinjoseph

I would say that that kind of behavior qualifies one for a mental illness designation on its own, so the person would only be fooling themselves.

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## Cuchculan

A film I once watched, I forget the name, had a bloke, who had one addiction. Going along to group meetings. For alcoholics, people who have lost loved ones, people who had cancer and the likes. He loved the sympathy. That was his whole thing. His main problem was he kept seeing this same woman at every meeting he went to. She was doing exactly what he was doing. It was ruining it for him. He wanted to be the only fake there. So they made an arrangement. What meetings each would go to. Was actually a good film. To see the lengths that some people are willing to go to. You attend such meetings for so long it begins to effect you. You start by just playing the part. But then it can become you. Take over your life. Thus you have created a phantom illness. Which in turn brings about mental health issues. Munchausen's syndrome is the word I am looking for. At least I think that is what it is called. To pretend you have psychological symptoms.

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## InvisibleGuy

Lol, well, my dad seems to think a lot of these psychiatric disorders are in me and my mom's head. My dad is a pretty fucking tough old man. He doesn't even take aspirin or Tylenol. He thinks your body will mostly heal itself, he's not crazy enough to think you don't need a doctor, but he thinks everyone is over-medicated. And I think he thinks that people who take all these anti-anxiety meds and antidepressants could probably go without. Even though his wife, my mom, who has a PhD in psychology and graduated Magna Cum Laude from two different universities, would tell him different.

I think     
@Cuchculan
 you're treading a veeeery slippery slope here. I almost wonder if your post was just meant to get a reaction. And here's why. (aside from the fact that what you're suggesting is just pretty fucking ludicrous to me and makes no sense imo ).

I'm an alcoholic. Ask anyone, any family member or any friend I have and they will tell you that I dread going to meetings (AA meetings) more than anything else on the planet. I would rather go to the dentist, and I'm dead serious about that. What you have are 50 (maybe 100) of the most dysfunctional people on the planet, all in a room together, trying to help one another cope and live with their disease. It doesn't work. But it works better than anything else so people go to the meetings. To suggest that anyone, anyone would go to a meeting for sympathy is to me just insane. And maybe that's what you were suggesting.

You know what, now that I think about it lmao, I don't get sympathy for any of my psychiatric disorders. I'm looked at as crazy if I mention any of them. I'm looked at as crazy if I mention a couple of them on THIS site.

I don't get sympathy for the trauma I went through when I lost my girlfriend to suicide. I witnessed her suicide. She died in my arms. I get zero sympathy and that's fine with me tbh. I don't go to therapy looking for sympathy. I don't see my grief counselor for sympathy. I have never, ever gone to a grief, loss and ptsd session for sympathy.

You won't find sympathy in any of those rooms.

What you will find is a whole lot of tough love, a lot of shoulders to cry on, and a lot of help for trying to move forward.

So again, anyone willing to do that for sympathy has got to be a one in a million seriously crazy person, who has lost the ability to think rationally imo, so why would it be brought up at all lol.

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## Cuchculan

I remember the last site we were on. There were a few people that I doubted a lot. Some used the site to pick up females. That would be the only aim, as far as I could see. These would be the same people who would tell you they could not leave their house. Within a month they are flying halfway across the world to meet a person from the site. Sudden miracle? You can make your own mind up on that one. 

Had another member with a few accounts. Not all the same sex. But the same person. His only goal on that site was to make people think medication was bad for them. He never used the chatroom on the site. Just stayed on the forum. You wrote anything up about medication and he would latch onto it in seconds. I did ban all of his accounts. He seemed only to be there to put people down. Make them feel bad about themselves. Tell them their medication could harm and even kill them. Why would a person like that want to use a site aimed at people with mental health issues? If not to get a good kick out of been a keyboard warrior. I saw him as having no mental issues at all. His main issue was the fact that he was a d!ckhead. You do get them on such sites. They like to go on to make people feel even worse about themselves. 

The whole group session thing was just a bad example from a film. But the more I read up on the condition, the more I found out it did exist. People really do that sh!t. Then I remembered the name I was trying to think of. Munchausen's syndrome. Which can begin with people faking conditions. Thinking it won't do them any harm at all. Long term it can really effect them. I am sure you can look the name up. 

The bulk of the people out there want help only. Not sympathy. But you do get a few sympathy huggers. That is all they are looking for. Be that good or bad, you can make your own mind up. I am not saying this is the site I am talking about. I am talking about sites in general. Millions of similar sites out there. You going to tell me that all the users on those sites are for real? Lot to learn if that is what you think. I have had people tell me they have sent money to people before. Felt sorry for them. It is easy to think you will find people low on confidence and lacking a bit of self esteem on sites like this. So you get some people who are fully aware of this fact. They join up. Hit people with a big story. Then target some of them for cash. All just a game to them. Think about it. They hit over 100 sites and get about 50 bucks from ten people off most sites. People have no idea others are sending them cash. They will make it out like you are the special one to them. Make you feel good. 

Food for thought. Others do exist out there that are not as real as you might imagine.

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## InvisibleGuy

Yeah....uhm, I don't want to get into too many details. This really depresses me to be honest. I know of a guy on that other site that used to be on there just to pick up women. Believe it or not. I mean, I met someone on that site and we started talking but I wasn't there to just pick up women lmao. But this guy was. Yeah. And he didn't fly out to meet them. Idk. Maybe once. I don't want to get any more specific I really don't. He was a fucking scumbag. I had a pretty good friend on there that he used. He used her.

And like you said Cuch I'm not one to judge I can't diagnose anyone in any way but this guy....Idk. Sure seems like he thought it was a dating app.

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