People do fake PTSD and DID
@Bkinder, and that’s not to say your children are or are not doing this. That’s important to keep in mind. You react to the someone stating reality that some do fake PTSD as if it is an accusation or judgement against you or those you love when it’s not.
I think PTSD may attract fakers more than other mental health conditions because of the nature of one of the criterion for the diagnosis includes a history of a certain severity of trauma. People use the diagnosis of PTSD or DID and a badge of validation for their traumatic history really being that bad all the time.
Very few people proudly claim a diagnosis of schizophrenia, or a whole handful of other mental health disorders, in the same way that they do with PTSD. Most diagnosis are not seen as validation of a past traumatic event really being that bad. There is general less “benefit” in a false claim of those disorders. People are not as sympathetic.
But with PTSD, some do treat it the diagnosis as s badge that life was that bad for things outside of what actually contributes to PTSD.
It happens here on the forums all the time. People seek a self proclaimed PTSD diagnosis to validate the suffering from everything from a break up to PMS to a stubbed toe to a bad trip. When that’s not needed to validate pain, and frankly, the vast majority of people who go through severe trauma do not end up with the mental health disorder of PTSD in the first place. You claim that someone’s history and scars prove PTSD, and that’s simply not true. Traumatic history does not equal PTSD.
Plus, treating something like grief or the mental health symptoms of a bad high, or etc, as PTSD, when it’s another mental health condition - could lead people away from effective treatment and recovery. It’s harmful to people to be misdiagnosed.
Contrary to your claim that fakers do not impact those with a valid diagnosis, they actually do. In fact, it increases the suspicion of those with valid PTSD that they might be faking. Example in a different but related setting: the more people that fake a PTSD service dog, the harder my life becomes as someone with a legit service dog. More people suspect I’m faking too, when I’m not, and I’m under greater scrutiny and headache. I deal with it daily.
There are plenty of people and therapists who overly pathologize themselves or their clients for gain. There are also those with legit PTSD or DID that seek attention for their pathology or stay in a state of learned helplessness when it comes to recovery. That does exist.
DID is more complex than PTSD alone, but I do believe DID is at times over diagnosed. To the detriment of those with legit DID. Again, this is not a comment on any specific person with DID.
I speak from personal experience. I was diagnosed as having DID when I did not and do not have DID. A trauma “expert” declared I had DID, one declared I simply was not in touch with my parts having names and thought that over time I would finally tell her the name of my angry part as Mary and stuff like that. All she had was a hammer and she was determined to confront me that I was a nail. She went on to say “there is no hope for you outside of treatment with me.” I was sent to her as an outside requirement by others early in my recovery, and I quickly had that requirement lifted... She was wack. I can speak from personal experience there are screwy therapists out there. Does that mean they are all bad? Nope. Of course not.
Being wrongly diagnosed with DID cost me money, time, damaged my physical and mental health, and shut doors to the treatment I actually needed for what I was actually struggling with. Even accessing medical care was a mess. A doctor would see the diagnosis of DID and everything I said and did was under greater suspicion and stigma. It took time, but my life got a lot easier when that diagnosis was off my chart, and nothing else changed. Now my care providers are extremely careful even when they mention a PTSD diagnosis and they leave off dissociative symptoms, just so that I’m treated better when trying to acces care and other things I need and any mental health diagnosis comes up.
In the US there is also a culture of therapy lasting years and years, sometimes decades. I think the US is a society hungry for connection and some therapists get into a habit of creating over dependence on the therapist because both therapist and client are hungry for connection and relationship — Rather than doing the harder work of building up natural supports and connections. Therapists should be trying to work themselves out of a job.
Back to the original topic. Do some people have legit DID? Of course. For those that do, working on reducing symptoms and increasing functioning is a beneficial thing. Therapy can help considerably, and in that context, a diagnosis may be a very helpful tool for the relatively rare condition of DID.
Not having DID symptoms, or symptoms of any mental health disorder, is beneficial.
