00:31 Mar 03 2019
Times Read: 1,342
The lying Disease:
It's really sad this is thing. I find it sad people have to for attention develop this. I also think people on the internet, involved in communities should know the signs of Munchausen syndrome by internet. In the past, well the almost 6 years I have been here there have been a few who clearly had this. I think everyone should read up on this:
Quote:
Since Munchausen syndrome by internet isn't in the DSM-IV, the best way to detect it is to know the signs, says Dr. Feldman.
Like other forms of the disorder, Feldman explains that Munchausen by internet usually manifests in the late teens or early 20s. It's often preempted or accompanied by other psychological issues, most commonly personality disorders. And it predominantly affects women. "I'm not clear on all the reasons for that, but it's a pretty consistent finding," Feldman explains. "And many of them have medical or nursing training... Their fascination with medical issues is expressed in their career choices."
The lies escalate slowly, which makes them harder to detect. Someone might sound like a walking textbook when talking about their symptoms, or they may be quick to duplicate the symptoms of other people around them. The lies are intricate, detailed, engrossing. Terrible setbacks are followed by miraculous recoveries. And if someone else becomes the center of attention, their condition will dramatically worsen or they will become the victim of a sudden tragic event.
"A death in the family is common," Feldman adds. "They're usually gruesome deaths or multiple deaths—like a motor accident that kills the entire family. Either that or they're surprisingly vivid, like someone describing a decapitation in vivid detail."
Some people even invent tertiary characters—friends, siblings, a concerned mother—to jump into internet threads and corroborate their stories.
The lies slowly escalate, pile up, and create an improbable whole. Then one day, you realize you're friends with a 15-year-old chronic migraine sufferer online who also happens to be a fourth-year medical school student who plays drums in a band at night—despite those crippling migraines—to pay his med school tuition because his deaf mother and alcoholic stepfather have no interest in his baby-genius education. Oh, and since he's not yet old enough to drive, he skateboards three miles a day to get to class.
And on that day, you feel like a total schmuck.
This schmucky feeling is a byproduct of the internet. Our natural bullshit detectors are muted online; we can't rely on facial expressions and other physical cues for sensing lies, and studies suggest that without those cues, we're prone to generously fill in the blanks.
"People fill in the missing pieces in the picture of others they meet online, not fully aware that the picture they are forming is based partly on their own unconscious desires regarding who they want that person to be and how they want them to act," explains an August 2012 study of the disease titled "Munchausen by Internet: Current Research and Future Directions," conducted by Bournemouth University's School of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. "This occurs at the same time as the person is taking advantage of the anonymity inherent in text-only communications to present their best possible face."
Even lacking any medical experience, the internet makes it simple enough for people to become experts on any illness or injury—if not enough to fool a doctor, at least savvy enough to fool other people online. A survey by the Pew Research Center published in 2011 found that 8 in 10 people use the internet to access health information, making it the third most popular online activity (after checking e-mail and using search engines). The Pew survey also found that 65 percent of adults who used the internet for health research reported suffering from a medical crisis in the past six months, which helps explain the internet's robust niche of medical support groups.
"What we're seeing is people spending just 15 minutes researching an illness on Wikipedia and then jumping from support group to support group online," Feldman says.
Think of it: You're anonymous—you can manifest any symptoms you want, like puking pints of blood, without having to actually puke pints of blood. And instead of being examined by the trained eyes of a doctor, you're welcomed unconditionally by flocks of people who stand on-call, ready to shower you with attention and emotional support 24 hours a day. For weeks or months or years, you can live out your deception without the fear of having your lies challenged in person. And if someone does eventually doubt your story, you can simply log out. Change your name or your illness. Find a fresh group of sympathizers.
This accessibility makes Munchausen by internet "way, way more common than Munchausen ever was or could have been," Dr. Feldman says. "Unfortunately, a lot of therapists have no clue what Munchausen is, let alone Munchausen by internet."
Which is dangerous, not only for the sufferers who feed their very real psychological illnesses online, but for the people they prey on. People who seek virtual companionship because their immune systems are truly shot, their days are truly numbered, and they're desperate to pour their trust, love, and dwindling energy into the few people out there—people they can't otherwise reach—who know exactly what they're going through. It's these people, who are already battling the betrayal of their bodies, whose worlds have essentially been reduced to bedrooms and hospital rooms, that Munchausen by internet hurts the most.
https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content?oid=15337239
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