> but some go down the deep end and actually develop mental issues from faking having mental issues so long... Given the number of mental disorder that first s

> but some go down the deep end and actually develop mental issues from faking having mental issues so long... Given the number of mental disorder that first show major symptoms in later childhood, early teen years, I sometimes wonder how you would distinguish someone with a "real" disorder, and someone who "faked it til they made it". I also find it sort of weird how much as a society we're hung up on hunting down fakers. It's oddly pervasive once you start looking around, and I worry that in many cases we're doing more harm than good. Our obsession with finding people that are fakers about pain has led to immense pain and suffering for those that need pain treatment (and like my question above, it's amazing how many "signs of addiction" look exactly like "signs of someone in pain and being un(der)treated. Fears of fakers makes any government assistance program a nightmare to get into, and a nightmare to navigate, never mind the number that are held back. In the end, I wonder what is worse, for 100 teens to be over diagnosed, to go through life thinking they have a disorder and being medicated when they don't need it, but for 100 other teens to get the help and support they need for real problems. Or for those teens to be untreated. To go through life convinced they're just lazy, or stupid or just not trying hard enough. But at least their normal peers aren't being overmedicated or convinced they have something wrong with them that they don't. Sure in an ideal world, 100 teens would be treated as they need, and 100 others would not as they don't. But in the real world, it feels like we often lean towards preferring some suffer so that those that might be faking don't get their way. And I'm not convinced that's a good thing.