stop glorifying anxiety. !! before we begin !! do not attack anyone mentioned in this message. do not go out of your way to find the account to send hate. that is uncalled for. this screenshotted comment is just an example. (press green flag) - - - tl;dr at the bottom. ~ part 1: comments like these need to stop. they're spreading misinformation about disorders. the commenter was someone with a big platform, so this comment could be seen by hundreds of people. first off, this comment is mostly inaccurate. for one, "feeling uncomfortable in public" is too vague of a description, to the point of which someone without social anxiety disorder could read this and decide to self-diagnose themselves. while having social anxiety disorder can make one feel extremely afraid and self-conscious in social situations, describing it as being "uncomfortable" would be inaccurate because of how the word dilutes the real experience. second off, adding something like "hehe" and "<:" to a comment about a mental disorder is not okay. it trivializes it by adding a little casual laugh and a cute smiley face. of course, it's good to be casual when talking about mental disorders because it de-stigmatizes the issue, but in the case of telling someone the symptoms, it's not okay. this context makes social anxiety disorder seen as something cutesy and not as bad as it really is. i don't think this was the commenter's intention, but as i said before, they have a large audience that is easily impressionable. most large audiences on scratch are young and can take things the wrong way. ~ part 1 tl;dr, stop making comments that make mental disorders look cutesy - - - part 2: uncovering this user. i am genuinely hoping for the best and i'm trying to stay positive and hope that this user isn't actually faking this disorder, but their comments make it look like they are. they said that their mom only noticed the panic attacks about a month ago, but they also said that they've had this disorder for 3 years. on their profile, they said that they are in middle school, so this timeframe of 3 years means that it probably started when they were 8-10. they said that they would have panic attacks in public spaces. kids those ages usually aren't in public spaces without their parents, so i'm wondering why their mom wouldn't have noticed a panic attack by then. again, i really wish that they aren't lying about this, but the evidence doesn't add up. i don't want to invalidate their experience in case they did actually have panic attacks. if the original commenter is here, i intend no harm to come from this, but i am only asking for your story to clear up and add up, or for you to reveal that you're faking. it's bad to trivialize a mental disorder as something cute that can be added to your bio, and if that's the case, please just live up to it. - - - part 2 tl;dr: the evidence doesn't add up. make it make sense. - - - part 3: why to never glorify mental illnesses. most people who falsely state they have a mental illness don't know any better. personally, irl, i have friends with diagnosed depression and anxiety. mental. illnesses. exist. they are not, in any way, a neurotypical person (or any person) to use as aesthetics, a personality trait, or anything of the sort. for example, faking anxiety. anxiety ive seen used as an uwu quirky or sad girl aesthetic sense- it is not to be joked around with. and yes, of course, people have anxiety. it's a real thing, and people need to acknowledge that. also, it's incredibly disrespectful to people with official and diagnosed anxiety/mental illnesses in general. it's obvious why. - - - part 3 tl;dr: faking mental illnesses is incredibly disrespecful. - - - thank you for reading. credits: - thumbnail - rant : written by another anonymous user - sources: national institute of mental health, my friend with social anxiety disorder (diagnosed for 4+ years)
