Opinion on `fake depression`

Alright well, just because somebody isn’t diagnosed with depression doesn’t mean they aren’t depressed. Many people hide their depression from their parents so they never see anybody about it. I’ve known very suicidal people who have never seen a doctor about it before since they don’t want their parents knowing. To call those people bad things just cause of that isn’t the best thing.

If people are truly, TRULY faking a depression, well then I’ve got an issue, but I think the majority of the time, there’s actually something going on.

OK maybe you're right, I will try to be supportive of those people who seem like they're faking depression. Although it's wrong for people to fake depression for attention, I guess it's better to support them as if they actually have depression just in case?

I realise I might be the problem here, or at least my attitude to fake depression, so thanks guys.

As egregious faking mental illness is, I think unless it's so painstakingly obvious that their claims of mental illness is being fabricated all cases should be taken as though they are real. I'm not saying you have to go out of your way to be the hero who drags the guy from the ground and out of the mental abyss, that's both unreasonable and implausible. But mental illness isn't necessarily something that can nor should be defined in black and white. It's not like having cancer or something where you can just pull out your little checklist and go like "hm yea...big bulge on your forehead, vomiting up green shit...yep u sick." Everyone reacts to and deals with it differently, and excluding the possibility of their affliction being true just based on circumstances we may not be entirely sure of isn't right.

Here's a little personal anecdote.

Throughout my four years of high school, I certainly can say with 95% certainty that I had depression. Now I don't know about what others define it as, but I think spending days sleepless, being unable to focus on anything school related and sometimes barely scrapping by passing some classes, randomly starting to tear up, thinking about suicidal thoughts almost all the time (which was also a contributor to the insomnia), spending almost 24/7 in isolation at home. Needless to say, I think there's MIGHT have been something wrong with my mental state back then.

What was probably the worst part was simply the idea that when I finally decided to bring it up, it was never taken seriously. The only response was: "what do you have to be depressed about? you don't ____, you don't ___," etc etc. And those words killed all hope left. If no one would even acknowledge the problem, then there's no hope of it getting solved. And at that point, that condition was something I thought would never end, so in essence the last remaining drops of hope had diminished into nothingness.

Despite the suicidal thoughts, I never did actually attempt anything and probably wouldn't have. Although I'm not sure I could say the same on behalf of others. People saying they're depressed and want to kill themselves isn't necessarily because they want to kill themselves at that moment, not to downplay the severity of such statements. It's a final plea for help, and if no one answers that plea at that point, that's what will eventually drive them to actually do it.

So basically, I think that like everyone else has said before, it's better to be safe than sorry. You can never truly know who someone truly is, their personalities, how they respond, etc. Even if it might seem like they are so obviously faking it, there might be more to the story than the surface level. And even if they are devoid of depression, the fact that they are faking it may be signifying something else gone awry, and that something else may need resolution as well.

alright that was depressing to read let's spam some happy faces now

People that fake it are disrespectful, but don’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve had friends that have almost killed themselves but pulled themselves away from it.

I personally don't like people who fake depression because I actually have it and I take anti-depressants everyday and I don't think those people actually understand what it's like

you have problems if enjoy acting like having fake depression
and if your depression is not fake, then you have problems

what a loophole