What will be the next armchair mental health diagnosis du jour?

So Trump ISN’T a narcissist?

Yeah, r1. That's really not what I said.

This has nothing to do with the diagnoses themselves being valid (except perhaps "multiple personalities," which has sorta been debunked).

Pop Psych was trying to make Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy happen, before trump and NPD/Sociopath. All the moron social workers were fake diagnosing everyone with this disorder.

Also, everyone is toxic. And did you know, there are secret micro-aggressions that cause social workers and SW students to have severe panic attacks? (haha)

Now that there are really serious problems, these type of students will not make it through university (hopefully). Or older nutters in the field will be terminated.

Interesting, r3. I knew a women I suspected of having factitious disorder (a kind of milder form of Munchhausen). Real Munchhausen is a severe disorder. Most of its victims are male and homeless, and they wander from city to city in search of hospitals that will treat them. They also develop what's called "gridiron abdomen" -- basically a mass of scar tissue from so many surgeries. One Munchhausen patient (who eventually committed suicide) kept reinfecting wounds. He had had almost all of his fingers and toes amputated as a result.

It's kind of fascinating -- in a very morbid way.

As an aside, there is a subtype of factitious disorder, Ganser's syndrome, in which patients pretend to be mentally ill. I remember reading some study that concluded Ganser patients who fake schizophrenia have a worse prognosis (after ten years I think) than actual schizophrenics.

Ooooo, I commend you, OP, for that illustration you appended to your post. A kind of Jackson Pollock illustrative addition that screams mental illness. Well done.

It will be mental illness related to use of technology. INCEL would be a current manifestation. And TROLL.

Twitter/facebook outrage and concern trolls. Their minds and emotions and identities enmeshed with discourse on media.

This will be labeled. Eventually governments will need to treat the dependency like tobacco and regulate it.

It's been at least 5 years I observe a good portion of people in my neighborhood to be completely glued to their gadgets. My apartment over looks a busy intersection and 3 bus stops and I see what people do out of habit.

You indeed, OP! Love me some Louis Wain!

Then here you go, R7.

I think it's going to have to be something related to people who find the world so distressing and cannot deal with conflict or disagreement.

I propose and new disorder:

Anxiety Conflict Disorder ("ACD"): People whose emotional and mental state is so fragile that they are unable to cope with simple day to day conflicts that most people ignore or address without incident. At the same time, people who suffer from ACD require that those around them acknowledge their disorder and provide attention and comfort. Unlike Narcissistic personality disorder that has a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration, ACD seeks to control those around them by insisting on personal weakness, rather than superiority, to manipulate those around them.

Satanic possession!

R9, we had that in the early 90s when "Environmental Illness" was all the rage.

EVERYTHING makes me sick!

R9, you’re onto something. I see this in teenagers now. “You should see Brian bitching about his depression on his IG. Like, he thinks HE has depression. Bruh. He doesn’t even KNOW. He’s not even DIAGNOSED” They’re all trying to outdo each other with their disorders.

It’s really fucked up.

r11

That's physical illness, I'm referring to a diagnosis that would be more commonly known as "Delicate Flower Syndrome."

r9 you're onto something

You think "Environmental Illness" was physical???

The chemicals in the paint make me sick, but the adhesive in the wall paper makes me sick, too, and I can't be exposed to paneling because of the bonding agent used in the wood, and I suppose you could cover the wall in tile, but the grout off-gasses as it dries and THE GLAZES ALL HAVE LEAD!

No, dear. 90s style Environmental Illness is as physical as Morgellons.

I will speculate that the diagnoses du jour are often correlated to pharmaceutical products and that even highly intelligent people will adopt a dubious diagnosis if it gives them access to drugs. For instance I have a friend in her late 50's who several years back was diagnosed with ADD, which gives her access to Adderall (speed). She claims to be "sober." I tried 1/2 an Adderall once and went flying off the walls and couldn't sleep the whole night. I was shocked at how powerful it is. A comprehensive study of out the U.K. a few years back essentially revealed that antidepressants don't work, yet look at how widespread their use is. I sometimes need to remind myself that I'm unwittingly interacting with people under the influence of drugs that are warping their perceptions. The cost to society is likely very, very high.

"Oppositional Defiant Disorder" is another good one - basically an excuse to drug a rowdy brat. St. Greta Thungberg and her sister were diagnosed with it.

the mental health field is in the dark ages still.

Schizoaffective disorder, obvi.

The spectrum of narcissistic disorders, including sociopathy and psychopathy at the extreme are a real thing with huge impacts on society. Except for those of us who grew up with NPD people, nobody understood these walking nightmares. Trump made the rest of you see the sickness.

R16, I’m going to agree with you.

I am dealing with a teenager who I secretly suspect is doing what OP/r4 describes. She’s extremely intelligent and owns a copy of the PDR. What *I* see is a smart kid going through the sucky teenage years who has figured out that if she’s diagnosed with something, she gets to try different drugs and be excused from academic expectations. She’s gaslighting everyone, but it’s the opposite of gaslighting.

The thing is, if a person is pretending to be mentally ill in order to gain something, isn’t that sick in itself? Or is that just a personality disorder?

r21 there is a significant overlap between factitious disorder and borderline personality disorder

DID is making a comeback with the Gen Z/tumblr crowd. They call their multiple selves “systems” and each one has a unique name, gender, sexuality, etc. Like writing fanfic about yourself x5.

[R23] You have to wonder what role frustrated creativity plays in such a scenario. People don't get to emote or play group games like they used to - and it fulfills deep needs for self-expression and camaraderie. Singing, dancing, charades, etc. - they've largely been replaced by mediated, solitary experiences shrunk down to smart phone size.

A lot of more serious problems are schizophrenia.

People spoiled as children can not cope as adults.

[quote]You think "Environmental Illness" was physical???

Obviously, I mean that the symptoms presented or at least claimed are physical vs. purely psychological mental disorders.

Louis Wain’s cats are fascinating:

r23 that doesn't surprise me

[quote] People don't get to emote or play group games like they used to - and it fulfills deep needs for self-expression and camaraderie.

I think they do get to explore those things r24, but now it’s through video games. You create your customized avatar, you put on your Bluetooth headset and chat with your unseen, online “friends”— but what’s getting lost on these kids is that the virtual world isn’t the real world. What happens in Minecraft or Overwatch (or Twitter) isn’t the same as reality. Too many of them don’t know or understand the difference.

I think our society has become too complex for anyone to bear. Especially since the institution of computers and online databases that can ferret out all our private information and blast it onto every desktop in the world.

Every bit of the compilation and management and deployment of digital information is in some way controlling. And how much or how long can we bear being silently coerced in this way. I'm glad I'm in my mid sixties and won't have to live with it all that much longer.

Fuck facial recognition software. And fuck everyone responsible for this intrusive mess. Profound psychological responses to this kind of massive intrusion should be looked on as healthy responses. The ones who are mentally ill are the ones who shrug and say "whatevs" and then publish their private information on the world wide web.

I think gender dysphoria has legs.

The term is "repressed memories."

My bad r32

There’s going to be a lot of Alzheimer’s when Dump loses in November. Just wait and see. His cult members won’t be so out and proud anymore. They have rocks to crawl back under.

[R34] Please stay on topic and stop making everything about Trump. Jesus. You people never quit.

[R34] If you dislike Trump so much why do you insert him in every thread? It's not as if you're persuading anyone to change their mind.

The glass delusion!

[quote]The glass delusion!

Well, the modern version would be that people are so delicate that they'd shatter if not called by the correct, made-up pronouns, so...

Hahaha -- actually, r38, that's rather brilliant.

The Ass Delusion -- People like the Kardashians think their enormous buttocks are attractive.

[R37] It is brilliant and a reminder of just how cultural/period based some beliefs are and how utter nonsense may be broadly accepted as received truth. Modern equivalents might be trigger warnings, the need for "safe spaces" and the notion that silence = violence. All fantasies elevated to truths.

Obesity-induced Narcissistic Rage Disorder. It is a disorder that mainly affects women. Ragen Chastain is an example.

[R42] That sounds fucking scary! "Watch out! Incoming Tub of Lard!!!!!"

Munchausen by Morgellons Syndrome.

OP = BORIS

And you can eat shit, Boris, because legions of qualified, medical experts agree: TRUMP AND PUTIN ARE BOTH MALIGNANT NARCISSIST SOCIOPATHS. And Trump is suffering from dementia.

What would the psychological terms for relating absolutely everything back to Trump be called? It's widespread on DL and extremely tedious after nearly 4 years. I thought gays were witty.

It's still autism, in my view. You can tell because, despite the fact that autism is by far diagnosed more frequently among men, women are the ones who post on Twitter about being #ActuallyAutistic; women always flock to trendy diagnoses. They take their mindless obsession with vogue to subjects no one could predict.

r45 / r46 / r47 seems a little limited.

Maybe that will be the next diagnosis du jour.

That everyone wants to be a tranny.

Not everyone, r51, but I find the trend of people having elective surgery to change their gender (which -- if gender is a social construct -- why change something physical? So confused) disturbing. A person I work with is getting an elective mastectomy soon. She's the second in the past couple of years. Both of them are, essentially, butch lesbians.

This trend is not normal and it makes me sad that these people feel self-mutilation is the only way they can "feel" ok.

[quote]Late 1990s it shifted to bipolar

It shifted to borderline personality, no? Because of that movie "Girl, Interrupted."

In the 2000s false claims of anorexia (ie, "wannarexia") became common, and the frequency of self-mutilation skyrocketed (the latter probably among women who believed themselves borderline).

Though transgenderism is not officially a mental disorder, I think the quick rise in its frequency (again, among girls) is a phenomenon related to the vogue for anorexia and borderline personality in past decades. And the same applies to the bisexuality chic among teen girls and young women - that's why bi women have such poor mental health, not because bisexuality is a disorder but because neurotic, suggestible women are flocking to the label.

[quote]All of a sudden everyone with Malignant Narcissist Sociopathology who gives us tax cuts, control of the government to foreign mafiarchs and anti-gay laws is just somebody we don't like.

There, fixed it for you.

And here is testimony from hundreds of doctors who say Donald Trump is a psycho, in contrast to Boris the Apologist.

How does OP serve as an apologist for Trump? Do tell, r55.

I predict that spoiled middle-class white kids will soon be claiming that they have PTSD due to systemic racism! Because it's all their parents fault that racism wasn't dealt with before they grew up, and they weren't prepared for the realities of systemic racism because their parents lived in white neighborhoods and it's their parents fault that they don't have enough black friends.

Actually, PTSD is the armchair dx du jour. Every spoiled twerp who is currently parroting BLM slogans is claiming PTSD, because a cop actually looked at them.

While it's not exactly a self diagnosis, every other American seems to have developed borderline personality disorder over the last 10 years. Everything is always good or bad, right or wrong. No shades of grey seem to exist anymore. And people will rip you to shreds if you point out any moral ambiguity.

I have noticed that too, r58. I think social media is largely to blame

R59 It's insane and leaves a lot of people reluctant to have honest conversation. The craziest is when you agree with 95 percent of what someone is saying but diverge ever so slightly and they treat you like you're their worst enemy.

I'm in academia and this thinking is bad in my field (and adjacent fields) r60. I feel it's kind of the antithesis of genuine intellectual inquiry.

r58 = r59.

Put a sock in it, sock puppet! And quit your bellyaching, crybaby routine because you can't hide that Donald Trump is a psychopath!

r58 is not r59

Also, posters as unhinged as r62 frighten me a little

It always seems to be wealthy white women who come up with all these problems like gluten, fructose sensitivity their kids always have ADHD or autism, multiple chemical sensitivity etc. If we could just burn them all to death we would be better off, they have far too much time on their hands.

Narcissists and Sociopath/Psychopaths give us no choice, we the laymen have to diagnose them with the information that is now readily available. They never seek help as they don't think they are the problem, YOU are the problem.

The only time they end up in therapy is when a spouse or significant other drags them there and even then all that really does is help them to hone their skills to be even more clever at what they do.

The statistics regarding what percentage of the population suffer from this are inaccurate and low because once again, these types don't seek help.

R58, I think that's because social media allows everyone to form their own echo chamber, and convince themselves that all right-thinking folk believe as they do. I mean, believing that is a natural human tendency, social media amplifies it tremendously, and allows a person to be genuinely shocked when they encounter people from different echo chambers.

Social media also encourages extreme self-absorption and a concern for appearances, and the illusion that being rude and arrogant is "activism". Social media is almost entirely toxic.

r67 nailed it

With the rise and popularity of Qanon I could see schizophrenia making a comeback.

I feel like schizophrenia is a pretty clear-cut diagnosis, r69. Unlike a lot of these other diagnoses du jours.

Itchy butt psychosis

OP's post is a passive-aggressive, Republican propaganda response to the several times I, myself, and news reports on DL have referred to President Trump as the Malignant Narcissist and megalomaniac he is, r56 / OP.

Playing dumb cannot alter reality, either.

Give it a rest, r72

Simmer down, R72.

r67 = r68

You're transparently Deplorable and there's nothing to stop you from talking to yourself through different accounts to make your right-wing propaganda FAILS seem popular.

Ffs, r75. You seriously need to give it a rest.

I am r68. I am NOT r67. Anyone is free to block one or the other to confirm.

If the OP isn't a troll, then why does she only have 25 COMMENTS across only 5 or 6 threads, all created within the last week or so?

If the OP is at the ripe, old age to have observed psychology trends since the 1980s, where was she the first 25 years Datalounge was around?

Where do you get off complaining about trends in a place you've only been to for a week? Psychological misdiagnoses are not a problem on Datalounge.

[quote]If the OP is at the ripe, old age to have observed psychology trends since the 1980s, where was she the first 25 years Datalounge was around?

Thanks for the laugh.

r77 sounds triggered.

I'll let Edward Gibbon know that since he wasn't around for it, his observations about the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire aren't valid.

I take dextroamphetamine for ADHD. I don't feel "high", just normal. I also take escitalopram and venlafaxine for severe depression/anxiety. Need them to function; have since I was fifteen.

I'm in my early thirties now. Mental health issues are serious. My psychiatrist is very cold and to the point. I appreciate him because before I had a psychiatrist, I was very lost. Every Summer I would become depressed to the point of not being able to leave my bed. Horrible way to live.

A lot of the very unhappy, heavily medicated of DL are obsessed with Trump and dismiss anyone who disagrees with them as "deplorables" - as if they were superior beings. Nah. Just medicated old queens with father issues that have taken on a political character. It's almost always unsolicited, out-of-context commentary when no one is talking or thinking of Trump. They are completely credulous when it comes to accepting exotic diagnoses from psychiatric orgs (a gateway to acquiring drugs), yet disdainful of all other types of authority - as if a state of anarchy would allow them to continue to consume their drugs. They are lotus eaters.

It will be Societal Withdrawal Syndrome.

The inability of long-term socially distanced individuals to re-enter normal daily life when it becomes safe to do so.

It’s inevitable.

[R82] I see your psychiatric star rising in the east.

Holy cow, I put some asshole on "ignore", and the last test or so posts vanished!

Is the current one transgenderism?

Specialitis.

Again, WHY IS THE OP'S ACCOUNT LESS THAN ONE WEEK OLD?

What do you have to gripe about if you've only been here a week?

Also, if the OP is not trying to discredit Donald Trump's detractors, let him tell us his assessment of our very, stable genius president.

How would you characterize Donald Trump's mental health, OP?

Oh my God, shut up.

I can't help but think that there's a a lot connected to social media and the internet - some already touched on. I don't know what to call it.

I often refer to the "feedback loop" - people are so used to simply getting content and feedback - comments and likes on social media and internet sites, texts, and the like - even old fashioned talking opn the phone. It's non-stop. People are constantly on their phones sometimes for good reasons, but often they're just craving feedback. They are completely tethered to tech and seem lost without the feedback it provides.

And then than leads to an obsession with self - since they're the subject of the feedback. I think about the "Karen" who posted that whole thing about the barrista not serving her unless she put on a mask and then enduring the blow back, but then commenting on the blowback, and then facing another round. NONE of that had to happen. It was the most mundane of everyday interactions. Yet she MUST post it and get feedback - positive or negative. It's like nothing is "real" unless someone gives feedback regarding it.

Where is this all going to lead people. I just get the feeling it's never enough - feedback is fleeting, so there must be NEW and MORE feedback. Which just leads to more obsession with self and distress at lack of feedback, the wrong feedback, etc.

You are very wise, r90.

I have noticed this with myself -- the longer I stay off social media (including DL), the less interesting it is to me when I log back in. It's hard to explain, but there is a little jolt with each like that becomes addicting, and I start to chase the dragon and become totally zoned out.

I don't have a smart phone and intend to hold out as long as possible. I know I would be addicted, and I don't want or need that in my life.

Quit talking to yourself, troll.

r92 is a DSM diagnosis unto itself.

OP, since you won't answer why your account is only a couple of weeks old, or give us your opinion of Donald Trump's mental health, maybe you can tell us why Trump's niece Mary is ALSO calling Trump's father a malignant narcissistic sociopath, a condition that is hereditary?

I think schizophrenia is interesting in this day & age... used to it was crazy to hear someone say “They’re Listening!”... well “they” really are listening and there are so many conspiracies floating. Some say schizophrenics have a certain level of ESP or psychic ability, a filter is missing that others have to reduce paranoia. I think many schizophrenics of the past we’re just ahead of their time. I had schizo patients in the 80s & 90s who could almost predict the way the world is now.

r94, you really need to give it a rest.

In other words, the OP surrenders.

As someone who has toes in this area..

Everyone has bipolar disorder, PTSD, anxiety and a personality disorder. Especially, under 40.

For the Munchies, their new diagnoses galore is Enhler Dahlos and Chiari malformation. I believe there is another one, but I can't remember it off top of my head.

Fibromyalgia r98?

I heard women’s pussies are drying up.

I have lately learned that daily inter-dose drug withdrawal can mimic mental as well as physical illness. Powerful drugs like klonopin and Xanax can make people feel all sort of ailments. And these drugs aren’t necessarily prescribed to them. When you are young and have access to huge amounts of pills is that going to make you more sane or less?

There are a lot of narcissists around these days, though. Just look at Instagram, Tiktok, You Tube, Twitter...all of the major social media platforms and you will soon figure out just how self engrossed many people are right now.

Reddit is to blame for the rise of narcissism - there's an extensive network of subs about narcissists, particularly raisedbynarcissists, so it's become the default for generally shitty people. See also cPTSD.

OP's a lying cunt.

Donald Trump's own niece Mary Trump is a clinical psychologist who is warning America that Donald is a psychopath and that it's hereditary, because she cites many ways that Donald's father Fred was also a psycho.

OP will never paint lipstick on this pig — the whole world knows that Trump is an Obvious Crazy Person.

And here's the documentary about Trump's mental illnesses that is taking the critics by storm:

Don't forget to vote for your favorite, provable mental illness afflicting Donald Trump here:

Don't think you're so clever. I've started repressed false memory therapy; I'll get something on you yet. You in a wood in a hood. It's all coming back to me.'

It's time to start F&Fing this thread for disinformation and Fake News.

Boris is spreading false claims that directly contradict overwhelming evidence. Libel and slander are not protected free speech and Donald Trump does NOT have a normal or sane mind.

I can't believe you haven't heard the people saying 5G wireless is going to kill us all. I hear it four or five times a day. It is spreading like wildfire.

PTSD that isn't from combat situations - that's from poverty, racism, abuse, etc - is going to have its day soon I think.

It already does: racism, sexism, abuse, bullying, homophobia, poverty, failed relationships, and on and on.

Many people on DL talk about PTSD from bullying or from living through the worst of the AIDS crisis.

OP, the difference between "repressed memories" and bipolar disease or depression is that "repressed memories" are bullshit while mental illnesses like depression and narcissistic personality disorder are not.

My ex really is a narcissist though.

[quote] Yeah, [R1]. That's really not what I said.

YOU LITERALLY DID YOU BIG DUMMYHEAD!

You said everyone’s a narcissist and Trump is everyone.

[quote] I have lately learned that daily inter-dose drug withdrawal can mimic mental as well as physical illness.

What is “inter-dose”? I was taking a small dose of Xanax daily for weeks (I have anxiety/panic disorder), and I recently stopped because I was getting to the bottom of the little bottle and wanted to conserve. I’ve been feeling depressed and awful ever since.

What is r108 blathering about?

It IS possible to have a DL thread that is not about the Fat Fuck, right?

[quote] Late 1990s it shifted to bipolar.

Nah. That was mid-2000s. Now it’s schizophrenia.

r117 I'm not an expert, but I don't think a lot of non-schizophrenics are diagnosed as schizophrenic. It's probably the most deliberating of mental illnesses. It's not particularly sexy either.

That said, here's an interesting stat. One study found that patients with Ganser syndrome who feign schizophrenia have a worse prognosis after something like ten years than actual schizophrenics.

*debilitating r118

Not a diagnosis, but I notice this trend of explaining all kinds of 'objectionable' or 'inappropriate' behavior with childhood trauma stemming from sexual abuse. A young celebrity is doing drugs, partying too hard, changing partners too quickly? No doubt, another case a of a child star who was taken advantage of! A middle-aged actor goes after much younger women? He must be emotionally stunted because of childhood sexual abuse!

And I'd say this started a few years before #MeToo.

I think that started in the 1970s/1980s r120

R115 inter-dose withdrawal happens when a person taking something like Xanax (which is short acting) has developed a dependency. The hours after taking a dose and the next dose are when the drug is weak or gone from your system, and your brain is complaining. Can produce anxiety and lots of physical symptoms. You sound like you are having withdrawal which should go away completely within a few weeks.

[quote] I'm not an expert, but I don't think a lot of non-schizophrenics are diagnosed as schizophrenic. It's probably the most deliberating of mental illnesses. It's not particularly sexy either.

They already have commercials for medication, babe.

They’re marketing schizoaffective disorder now, too.

r123 the commercials appear to be targeted at patients who are already diagnosed

I can't see someone going to their doctor and saying, "So I think I'm schizophrenic" and then the doctor writing a script for Seroquel. Bipolar disorder, yes. Schizophrenia, no.

I think there are schizophrenics who would rather be bipolar and accept that diagnosis.

Nobody want to be a schizo...

r126 I have bipolar disorder and I am grateful every day that I am not a schizophrenic. I think it must be one of the worst fates

Fucking greedy American psychiatrists/psychologists will always find a way to label people for profits. Yes, only in America where people take joy and revel in illnesses.

I'm interested in hearing what clinical diagnosis is the particular bee in OP's bonnet. Clearly a case of projection, and a kind of distracting maneuver from some unresolved something that is troubling you? H'mmmm?

There's a big problem with teens on TikTok pretending to have autism and epilepsy. I think Autism is overdiagnosed and ADHD is underdiagnosed.

R49. indeed. Autistic men outnumber autistic women 10:1 but when it comes to "autism activists" on social media it seems like half are female.

Enhler Dahlos Syndrome is the new Fibromyalgia.

CPTSD is the new PTSD.

r129 ???

Disorganized Schizophrenia—can’t they learn a few organization skills?

R30. I look at the world today and it seems profoundly "anti-human", like we're consciously prepping our world for an invasion of robot aliens for whom we will gladly supplicate.

The only poster on this thread with a bee in her bonnet was the poster obsessed with exposing me as a "Trump troll"

Of course Trump's refusal to leave the White House after losing the election, even after the Supreme Court, Mitch McConnell and Vladimir Putin have abandoned him, looks nothing like conclusive proof that Trump is a delusional psychopath.

This is perfectly sane, rational and healthy behavior that everyone would do.

R135 Don’t believe it if there’s an ‘alien invasion’. It’s just the US government again, which has been developing some pretty impressive secret technology.

Seriously.

Buzz buzz buzz

R135, I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.