Mom asks if she was wrong to out teen daughter's 'fake mental illness' on TikTok.
It's hard to be a parent to a teenager these days. Managing their experience with social media is darn near impossible. Most of the time it's considered an invasion of privacy if a parent gets too involved in their teenage kid's social media presence.
But when is it okay to insert yourself into your teenager's potentially troublesome online experience? When this mom discovers that her daughter is lying about being mentally ill on Tik Tok and decides to call her out, she takes to the popular Reddit forum to ask:
'AITA for outing my child (f16) as faking mental illness on social media?'
A family friend told me my daughter (16f) has been claiming to have dissociative identity disorder (DID) on TikTok. Apparently this community is quite a trend now and my daughter posts videos with her alters and about the trauma she suffered that caused DID.
Only I am 99.9% sure she does not have DID. She didn’t suffer any significant trauma as a child, she has two loving parents and a stable middle class home with no financial or social challenges. -confusedidmum
Okay, but is it okay to assume that your daughter is lying OP?
She has lived a fairly normal and privileged life. She has never displayed any symptoms of DID at home. She also has an alter with a tic disorder in some videos and I have also never seen any real-life evidence of tics.
I took her to CAMHS (NHS mental health service) when she had social anxiety but her team never mentioned anything like this. I decided to confront her, to which she initially denied any knowledge of this.
But what OP does after the confrontation is a bit unhinged...
So I made an account on TikTok and commented on some of the videos saying I was her mum, she doesn’t have DID and needs to stop. I don’t want universities or employers or even predatory people to see this account and it to ruin her life.I received some unpleasant responses from others in the community.
Wow...this mom straight up MADE AN ACCOUNT???
My daughter either deleted the account or blocked me, and has been furious ever since saying I’m invalidating her, that her experience is valid and I embarrassed her publicly. I don’t think indulging this is right but maybe I’m insensitive to what it’s like being a teenager these days. AITA?
What a bizarre parenting story. Let's see what Reddit had to say on this one.
NTA. You're not being insensitive to her, she's being insensitive to people who actually have DID and invalidating their experience by faking it. Like...holy projection batman. NTA. dont let her gaslight you into thinking what you did was wrong. If she feels she has it, take her to a doctor who can diagnose her. put it to bed. -thecumcatcher
Your daughter's TA. It's absolutely disgusting how she's using real disorders others live with to get likes on tiktok. That's offensive and degrading to others. -feruleofseven
NTA. I can't even imagine... I've been saying this for a while, but the people participating in this 'trend' are people who WANT a sad story. They WANT to be a martyr. They think it's cute and quirky to be 'beautifully broken'. -auntiefrydbread
So much of TikTok is just becoming Tumblr all over again. We’re doomed to repeat the same cycle of pretending that mental illness is cute and quirky instead of exhausting at best and life threatening at worst. -bequietbecky
NTA. As a mental health practitioner this tik tok trend is really causing issues. Lots of kids I see are now thinking they have mental illnesses that they don’t have because they saw it on tik tok. Take away her internet and take her to a doctor if she thinks she has this. A consequence for faking a mental illness should be issued once the doctor confirms nothing is wrong. This is a dangerous trend. -Hope1237