People pretending to have sz

I seriously wonder how many people here are really suffering from sz this realization just hit me.

If its not my imagination… SHAME ON THEE…

I ponder this but it doesn’t help oneself to think this way. I have been mistaken in the past and accused others of not being schizophrenic. I believe that trolls come on here pretending to be schizophrenic just because it’s the only way we will talk to them. but trolls eventually tell on themselves because of their own behavior, so I don’t worry about it anymore.

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I’ve been visiting this site for 3 years and it has changed a lot. There are a lot more disagreements that seem to stem from blatant attacks on people for their views which was hardly the cast 2-3 years ago. This makes me suspicious because the tone has always been so supportive.

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Doesnt it piss you off though?

I know you’re not replying to me, but I thought I’d jump in here and say that it pisses ME off. I know of at least 3 people on here who do not have sz, but masquerade as such. Not paranoid or anything, but I can cut through the ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  pretty quick, and I’m not stupid, as they would have you believe. Not naming names. You know who you are.

Here we go again :frowning: . Out of the hundreds/thousands of posters here I doubt there’s even a handful pretending to have sz. I’ve certainly not come across any dubious posters recently.
If you have definite proof then report it to sz admin or the mods. Otherwise stop stirring up paranoia.

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When I start to feel that way I end up leaving sometime for years

I wonder that too.

I can’t imagine the benefit to pretending you have Sz. Its not like the police treat people with Sz well or anything…

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I feel like I’m not to be here sometimes. Think when I lose insight. Now I’m between insight and not. But why would someone fake this illness. What do they gain from it? Sympathy?

when i first joined this site it was to get insight and to see if other experienced the same psychosis issues i had experienced/experiencing at the time, I wasn’t sure if i belonged here or not because i didn’t have an official diagnosis. but my symptoms would have said otherwise. regardless this site has been a blessing and helped me through the worst of times so far.

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My opinion, ignore it and monitor yourself on what topics you participate in. If you feel uncomfortable try to avoid if all possible those that make you feel this way. It’s a public site open to everyone, so don’t let it get to you, because your here for support so get the support from topics that help you and from those that help you and ignore and avoid the rest. I would think it would be impossible to fully monitor a public forum. Maybe there are safety tips on here like disclosing your information. In all fairness ā€œthat is lifeā€ also, there is a message button where you can always message those that are legit with schizophrenia and ask them questions. I don’t mind at all. It separates the mess on here on who’s who

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Because they seem so sensible? Most here have this condition a long time. And most take their medicine , the ones that aren’t , you can usually tell.

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Isn’t it a bit arrogant to believe that one is able to decide who has what illness over an internet forum? It must take Mad Skillz to be able to that… just sayin’

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But yeah, there’s probably a couple of frustrated teens who may try and ā€œbeā€ schizophrenic, for some sick reason, cous nobody should wanna suffer from this ā– ā– ā– ā– ,and maybe someone on here thinks that i might be faking, cos i’ve been acting out ever since joining.,but i dont care bout that, lolz.

I think that there are a handful of people that were not officially diagnosed - but they admit to this, they suffer from SZ symptoms.
I doubt that anyone would pretend to have SZ - why?
I do think that this thread stirs up paranoia - it is not productive

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Some people do…especially in the legal system…can be to get meds…Seroquel is known as ā€˜prison heroin’ or it may be in order to go in a mental hospital that some might consider more comfortable than jail.

Here is but one example…

He read up on paranoid schizophrenia in the prison library so he could mimic the symptoms, according to psychologist Dr Chris Cowley who corresponded with Brady for eight years.
ā€œHe told me that he had faked mental illness to get into hospital, thinking that it would be better than being in prison,ā€ said Dr Cowley.
ā€œHe claimed he went to the prison library, looked up the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and mimicked them. He said he would talk to himself in his cell, sing songs and act weirdly.ā€
Brady, serving life after a reign of terror that left five children dead, claims he deliberately behaved as though he was insane so he could be transferred to hospital and dodge the tougher conditions in jail.

Other than that I’m not sure why anyone else would, except maybe if they just didn’t want to work and faked it to try and get disability. It may not be much, but $700 something a month, food stamps, free medical, and housing assistance might be inviting for some people enough to try and fake it…

Here is another article on it, and it mentions the disability angle.

http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/home/article/faking-it-how-to-detect-malingered-psychosis/1f0b6df2e4bfb2d0683acd01d26a07d0.html

It might be really hard to detect, and some examples of this may not be entirely true, such as
ā€˜Alleges having active auditory and visual hallucinations yet shows no evidence of being distracted’
there are people who can hear things and still carry on, keeping the auditory or visual to themselves and going about their business as if nothing is happening. i would imagine seeing something would distract though enough to be noticeable, but hearing voices, maybe not…I experienced that one time, doing regular shopping while a voice talked to me…but hearing things is so rare with me, and I was honest with the doctors …didn’t try to say it happened all the time, so level of occurance was not enough for Sz diagnosis, just barely got SZA and that was borderline, because I didn’t try to fake having more symptoms that I had.

Oh yeah I’ve totally been pretending. Im a 62 year old psychologist posting pictures and videos of my son on here.

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I doubt anyone wants this illness… I have not had a psychosis in 5 years and I do not believe I have schiz but the pros believe I do and I guess it’s their word against mine.