This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this.
I cannot even begin to emphasize just how difficult it can be sometimes as someone who does have a mental disorder. Faking it either for attention or because you tried to self-diagnose a serious issue instead of seeing a medical professional drives me
completely bonkers. Even if you mean well by it, it's not helping yourself, or me, or others like me. All it does is further screw up public perception of mental disorders through confusion. For example: One of my friends has bipolar disorder, and goes to a therapist for it. Meanwhile, my dad's met enough people who have "depression" (IE: Teenagers self-diagnosing) that he sincerely believes to cure bipolar disorder you just have to choose
not to have it. No amount of arguing has changed his mind. It doesn't change the mind of most people I end up seeing that mindset from, which is now alarmingly high as the news media helps to propagate misinformation about mental disorders.
Plus, if you
do have a disorder, you might need medication. I take medication for mine--it's not nearly as evil as Hollywood and those batty "all drugs are evil" groups say it is. At the very least, even if you don't end up taking medication, you'll have a medical professional who spent eight years in post-secondary specializing in helping people just like you, right at your fingertips.
"But, Brovo, I heard that therapists just want to put me on drugs for moniez!1!" Seriously? Who'd you hear that from, the eminently trustworthy
news media? The same news media that constantly portrays all clinically psychotic people as school shooters and depressed people as instantly extremely suicidal madmen? From the anti-drug groups that would prefer that Polio spread throughout the population and kill thousands of children yearly instead of just taking a
fucking vaccine?
Yeah, no, go see the therapist. You're not legally obligated to take the medications they prescribe you if you don't want them, though I'd recommend at least trying them, experimenting, and finding the appropriate dosage of whatever medications you take.
tl;dr: Don't fake mental disorders and don't self-diagnose for any fucking reason, it hurts you, and it hurts others. If you want to learn more though--and I welcome that--you can ask me questions. You can go
here to the American Psychiatric Association's website where they go over loads of disorders and age groups. Want to know more about medications?
Start here.
Also, as a personal note, while I'm alright with people portraying characters with mental disorders, I'd at least ask for a little research to be done before you go about potentially portraying me as an evil monstrous thing instead of a human being. Just a... Personal request. It's always discomforting to read someone's portrayal of my mental disorder being "EVERYBODY DIES MWAHAHAHAHAHA~ *Explosions, murder, genocide*"