It was weird, up until recently no-one had Aspergers Syndrome. Then all of a sudden it came out in the public eye, possibly because of the Boston Legal character Jerry Espensen or the film Adam, I don't know, either way suddenly everyone had Aspergers. I mean it's damn convenient right, especially for people who are a bit socially withdrawn, say, those who hang out on Internet forums a lot.
Not calling bullshit on anyone here since I don't know any of you, I'm thinking about a friend of mine. He's like a mental illness hypochondriac. He started with anxiety and depression which he probably has. I do feel that his anxiety is his own doing rather than an actual mental illness but whatever, he definitely has depression which he would have inherited from his mother's side.
Thing is he keeps adding new ones. A year or two ago he decided he has OCD and even though he showed no previous signs of it suddenly he seemed to be trying to show signs of it. Then he decided he had Aspergers which is when I started calling bullshit, mostly because Aspergers is an inherited condition and no-one in his family history has ever had anything resembling autism. Now he's decided he's a Hypochondirac which is probably the most annoying thing because he's convinced himself he has gum disease called peredontitis and keeps saying things like "my gums hurt", "my teeth feel like they're about to fall out," "man I hope I don't have peredontitis it would ruin my life," etc. etc. ad nauseum.
I've got nothing against people with mental illnesses, in fact it's been suggested on numerous occasions that I have depression as my grandfather on my mother's side has it as does my mother and I have shown signs of it on numerous occasions. I don't want to give it much attention though - I find that your troubles don't really seem so bad if you don't pay attention to them.
My mate though, he uses the fact that he has a few issues as an excuse for every single thing in his life and the more illnesses he adds to his repetoir to happier he seems. Thing is he's incredibly intelligent, a good looking tall bloke who's incredibly interesting and funny. He has his passions which is great and he has the ability to follow them - basically he has the world going for him but instead he's chosen to be this big pile of neurosies which pisses me off.
My point is I understand mental illness but I HATE seeing it be used an excuse. I mean it can be a burdan but so many people push through it and so many people even use it to their advantage; realising that they have this "disability" and using it to make themselves try even harder.