OCD & Twitter

[hetty]

I have seen more and more awful takes on Twitter about OCD. Particularly people admitting to paedophilic/racist/bigoted intrusive thoughts, and everyone piles on going 'Why would you admit to that??', 'nobody needs to know', 'why would you admit that in public?'

Because I thought we were supposed to be in the time where mental illness is talked about  Apparently you can only talk about your severe mental illness if it makes other people comfortable to read about.

I'm not upset, I know these people just don't know about OCD, but it does infuriate me because I know full well there will be people with OCD who do internalize these messages and decide never to talk about their thoughts again. It is so angering to me that people preach 'mental health awareness!' but the moment your mental illness gets scary or disturbing you're meant to shut up about it. People are free to find discussions on OCD disturbing or upsetting, of course they are, and they don't have to understand it, because it's confusing and difficult to understand! But you can also just accept you don't understand whatever's going on in this person's head, that they are clearly very ill, and just scroll past. Not grab your online therapist diploma and start telling them how to deal with their severe illness.

[PolarBear]

People should never seek psychological help on social media. 

[dksea]

I understand your frustration, but I don’t think the issue is mental health awareness or acceptance, it’s that with some exceptions Twitter is a pretty toxic environment these days filled with awful takes on a lot of stuff.
 

I’m perfectly comfortable talking about my OCD in general to people I know and I’ve even had some good discussions on Facebook about it, but I wouldn’t talk about it on Twitter because it’s waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too easy for some random jackass to chime In and make it an issue.
 

There are seldom real consequences for bad behavior on Twitter plus the anonymous nature means it’s easy for people to get away with their worst behavior. Tack on to that Twitters abysmal record on responding to serious issues like bullying and harassment and, well, it’s not much different than your average internet comments section. 
 

I believe Obi Wan Kenobi put it best:

”Twitter*, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”
 

*Not entirely true, there ARE worse places like 4-chan, Parler, Q-anon forums, etc, but Twitters up there. 

[hetty]

12 hours ago, dksea said:

I understand your frustration, but I don’t think the issue is mental health awareness or acceptance, it’s that with some exceptions Twitter is a pretty toxic environment these days filled with awful takes on a lot of stuff.
 

I’m perfectly comfortable talking about my OCD in general to people I know and I’ve even had some good discussions on Facebook about it, but I wouldn’t talk about it on Twitter because it’s waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too easy for some random jackass to chime In and make it an issue.
 

There are seldom real consequences for bad behavior on Twitter plus the anonymous nature means it’s easy for people to get away with their worst behavior. Tack on to that Twitters abysmal record on responding to serious issues like bullying and harassment and, well, it’s not much different than your average internet comments section. 
 

I believe Obi Wan Kenobi put it best:

”Twitter*, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”
 

*Not entirely true, there ARE worse places like 4-chan, Parler, Q-anon forums, etc, but Twitters up there. 

Yeah, you're right. Lots of social media is toxic but there's just something particularly bad about Twitter. I suppose places like 4chan, Parler, etc, there's kind of a general understanding that those websites are really bad? So lots of people avoid them, and it's just quite a handful of people who actually use them. Whereas Twitter is just kind of a part of life now.

[Precontemplative]

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Oh, such a nail-on-the head post!

'dksea': yes, you are right that there are toxic people polluting social media, but 'hetty' is right anyway too.

I think Twitter is now more toxic than Facebook, but back in 2009 I was with my first therapist, and I had decided to shun Facebook as not a very private and understanding place then. I told her about this, as an example of my growing doubts about security, privacy and confidentiality on things internet: "I think there are serious problems with Facebook's privacy policies. The 'real name policy' for one, the poor control over 'friending' for another." She 'challenged' me, dismissed my concerns as unfounded, and added "Facebook has done so many positive things for so many people!" I didn't get far with her, so the next year in 2010 when Facebook got into the news over its privacy failings, I wasn't able to show her how wrong she was. And where is Facebook now? Continual grumblings about abuse and terrorism, let alone the privacy failings and data breaches: Cambridge Analytica, anyone?

But, yes, 'hetty', for mental illness awareness (especially OCD): stigma is alive and well; incomprehension is alive and well; ridicule is alive and well, even within the healthcare profession!

I used to read a few select people I regarded as 'voices of reason' on Twitter, until it abolished its 'legacy' version on 15 Dec 2020, the version which did not require enabling javascript. Since then, I've been cut off. I miss it slightly, but the quiet in my mind is lovely.

One voice of reason I'd really recommend on mental illness: @maradydd. Meredith L Patterson, autistic, bisexual, grieved over the loss of her first husband to suicide, a Texan who relocated to Brussels to set up her own software company employing autists and other neuro-divergents. She fights hard. She calls out this stuff. If things are largely the same form her as when I read her timeline, I think you'll find she posts interesting stuff. (I'm recommending to 'read-only' her timeline, not make contact.)

I've already been queried here for my desire for strong anonymity so that I can feel comfortable admitting my OCD failings on this forum. Strange, isn't it, that people expect us to stand up and wash our dirty laundry in public, with glee. And then, as you say, when someone has the courage to say: "Actually, I have these strange thoughts that I don't ask for that are really bad, apparently it's OCD ..." the virtue-signallers on Twitter leap in to get their social capital tokens with bleats of "bigot!". You used the word 'internalize'. Did you mean that or 'hide'? I understand 'internalize' to mean 'comes to accept an idea as fundamentally true'. Imagine, Twitter virtue-signallers who claim to be so aware of mental health issues turning OCD sufferers into racists! Glad I use Tor, and evaded Google's reCaptcha javascript for the account registration!


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[malina]

I hate social media in general. When I was younger I had all the accounts and was obsessed with it, like a lot of young people, but now I just think it's a waste of time at best and toxic at worst. Keep in mind that it's a platform where everyone can voice their opinions and there are a lot of ignorant people out there.

[BigDave]

I used to use Twitter a lot because of loneliness but I realised that actually it just stoked my anxiety. I am really glad I don’t use it anymore and I would never ever recommend anyone look to the Twitterverse to get medical help. 

[Precontemplative]

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Edited April 25, 2021 by Precontemplative