Medscape Article: Munchausen by Internet

by Scully 27 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  xjw_b12

  Amazing how much of that information applies to situations that have happened here.

  Thanks Scully
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  Big Tex

  as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know

  I think it just means that Simon is well read.

  "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be: and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

  From Through the Looking-Glass , by Lewis Carroll
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  Scully

  Hi Panda:

  sometimes I want to believe ppls tragedies and give them support, but then WHAM I find out they are phony... I think the caution of posting too many tragedies at one time is a good clue and one to remember

  I understand where you're coming from. This isn't to say that everyone who has multiple tragedies over a short period of time is a phony. I'm sure many of us (myself included) have gone through periods of time where bad news and hard times piled on us one thing after the next, but that doesn't mean we are fakes. I'm the kind of person who tends to keep these kinds of things to myself and only share them with my circle of close friends rather than broadcast them on a discussion board. But that's me, and what works for me may not work for someone else. But, as the article describes, it is a red flag when someone that nobody really knows well reports one tragedy after another.

  The main thing that I took away from this article was the motivation for the fabrications: The individual concocting these stories and various personae achieves emotional gratification by

  • garnering attention, nurturance and sympathy from an unsuspecting audience
  • acting out anger
  • manipulating and controlling others

  As a group of people who have been emotionally harmed by an abusive belief system, we want to help and support others who have gone through similar experiences to our own. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing that, and it's vastly to our credit that we do it. However, when we encounter someone who abuses that trust, it makes us doubt ourselves. Ultimately, though, we do find a way to achieve a balance and still extend support and trust to those who need it.

  Love, Scully
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  Brummie

  Very good Scully, timely too!

  Brummie
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  Scully

  Here's a current, related story, from today's Dr. Phil show:

• When you look at it from an objective standpoint, as much as you can, does it seem odd to you?
• Do family members not support this relationship? Listen to what the people closest to you are saying. They have your best interests at heart and you should weigh what they have to say about it
  .
• Have repeated attempts to meet failed? Do you find yourself making all the efforts to meet and he has yet to show up? Ask yourself if you want to invest in someone who doesn't follow through with their word.
• Somebody that loves you, cares about you and is your "soul mate" would not waste five years of your life. Dr. Phil says, "Take it from a guy: If you're in love with somebody, you will swim the stream, you will climb the mountain, you will slay the dragon. You're going to get to her somehow, some way, and you're going to do in something under five years."
• Dr. Phil tells Nikki what he thinks: "This guy is married or something. And he may be 12 years old or he may be 62 years old. It could be some woman with a sick sense of humor, you don't know. There are some sick people in this world."
• Dr. Phil hired a private investigator to find out more information about the man Nikki was communicating with. The results: The man he claimed to be didn't exist. The address he gave was a mobile home where an older couple resided. The number he gave was registered to a woman who was married. The place of employment he gave didn't exist.
• Dr. Phil tells Nikki, "You're getting used. And it's time to shut this down and get back to your life."
• The online environment is the perfect breeding ground for fantasies because it allows us to ascribe all the wonderful qualities we want in a partner to someone we've never met. Dr. Phil has said that you shouldn't get married until your partner has seen you with the flu ... so falling in love with someone you've never met is basing a relationship on superficial experiences. You really don't know much about that person other than whatever it is he/she has told you ? and you have no proof to back it up. He/she could be very different in person.

Falling in Love Online Dr. Phil's guest, Nikki, has been madly in love for five years with a man she met on the Internet. The only problem ? she had yet to meet him face to face. Several times they've planned to meet, and he never showed. Her parents are concerned that she's wasting her life, waiting for a man who isn't who he portrays himself to be. (See her story.) Dr. Phil offers some advice to consider if you're investing time with someone you've never met:

From the show:	True Love