Friend has posted this on FB

[Conkersareback]

Am I missing a double meaning with this? Or should I be concerned that my friend is feeling low and I should reach out to her? It's an
unusual type of thing for her to do if she is publicly saying how she feels.

"Anyone who is really struggling would never talk about it! People who talk about it are just attention seekers! Mental health problems are always silent if they're real!"

[unforeseen mental health crisis up to and including suicide]

"Why do people never talk about it? I'd do something if I knew they were in trouble! I'm such a compassionate person!"

No. That’s overly simplistic & dangerous statement. Lacks understanding and empathy
people experiencing mental health issues can and do tell,they do reveal on SM and to friends/family
just like people experiencing suicidal ideation, suicidal intent will reveal it too. So they old trope of suicidal people don’t reveal suicidal intention it isn’t true

I don't think people would have said it's attention seeking if someone had posted that they're not feeling great. It's the meme, the self indulgent hyperbole of the words, that provokes that sort of reaction.

You know those are words that some people have hear countless times throughout their childhoods, or in other abusive relationships. Nothing hyperbolic about it.

@Conkersareback

Why did you feel the need to post about it?

That seems extremely odd to me.

To see if I was misinterpreting the situation, missing something, it says that in the first couple of posts.

Do you have comprehension issues?

Do you ask the vast majority of posters, why they post?

Do you have firm for passive aggressive comments?

But it resonated with my friend, so unusually she posted it.

Maybe she had trouble with her own words?

If it’s out of character then give her a ring.

But plenty of people post this kind of self indulgent, attention seeking crap all the time. As a pp said, I unfollow people for posting this sort of thing.

The world needs more people like you OP and fewer people like those in the comments.

I grew up hearing the line “you’re just attention-seeking, you don’t have MH issues, you’ll grow out of it”: I made a serious sttenpt on my life at 17, and my parents said that it was just a phase I was going through, packed me off to uni and never asked about it again. I asked them about it 20 years later, having been diagnosed with MH conditions, and they said they just assumed because I was alive I was better.

People who say things like that probably do so because they can’t cope with the reality of it. But they are the first people to say they’d have been there had they known…

They wouldn’t. People like you would, OP.

Ive read my friends last words on fb. I can still see them imprinted on my eyelids when I close my eyes.

She was definitely one of those repeated attentions seeking/cry for help types

Autistic and not able to articulate in her real life she tried to reach out on fb and many of us tried to support her but it wasn’t enough and it never would have been.

I always think it’s so sad when people use the term cry for help as a derogatory.
As a teen 5 different friends used to cry for help regularly and publicly at school and in the streets.
None of them made it to 21.

They really needed that help

You sound like my family member who told me that if I had 'real' mental health issues I would have tried to kill myself or been sectioned.

This thread has been eye opening. No wonder there is still such a stigma around mental health and speaking up.

Whilst I don't disagree that some people are attention seekers, it's incredibly narrow minded to assume that this is a one size fits all situation at all.

You've done well, OP. The world needs more people like you. To recognise that something appeared out of character, and to assume that the post perfectly verbalised how they felt, then approach them in an open and non intrusive manner, is a perfect way of opening up the conversation around mental health.

It's a question of taste. And while it might not be to your taste, what you like is not the measure of what's genuine.

I always think:

people that talk about their mental health: labelled attention seekers

people that don’t talk about their mental health and die by suicide: oh I wish they’d come to me! I could have helped!

I hope your friend is ok, @Conkersareback x

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry

Wish I'd seen what @SkylightSkylight had posted.

Been deleted!

Nothing helpful I would guess. That's good your friend has someone with her. This thread has been quite sad to read. I'll definitely make an effort to contact friends if they do this.

You really don't want to know OP except they blamed you for talking about it here. I've been reporting these lowlife maggots over the last several hours. It's heartbreaking how immoral and evil and bullying these people are. Just be grateful you didn't read that maggot's hateful bs, and hold your head up high that you wanted to support someone who was/is going through a rough time. These horrible maggots are nothing but what they are, and you represent what is good and decent. Be glad you didn't read it's post.

She accused you of attention seeking and virtue signalling. It was a brainless, mean spirited comment and my own IQ has dropped two points just from recalling it.

Ah thanks at @ReneBumsWombats, not surprised.

Thank you 🙏 x

I hope your friend is ok, she's so lucky to have such wonderful friends!

The world needs more people like you OP

who uploads a FB post that her formed made one a hugely popular chat forum ie very identifying, and ask strangers whether she should be worried about her friend?