Teenage girls with “invisible illnesses” are posting disturbing videos of themselves online, which are generating thousands of likes as part of a new community called “Spoonies”.
Thousands of teenagers are joining forces on social media as part of the movement, which also encourages them to lie to doctors to get the diagnosis they want.
Posting videos of them crying or lying listlessly in hospital beds garners hundreds of thousands of likes in some cases, with dozens of comments supporting the “spoon theory.”
Experts say that while “functional disorders are a real and chronic problem,” they often aren’t “what young people think they have.”
dr Katie Kompoliti, a neurologist at Rush University Medical Center, told Commonsense News, “It’s generated by fear or some other comorbidity in most cases, and then spread through the ease of TikTok.”
A blogger coined the term “spoonie” in 2003 and nicknamed his “Spoon Theory” by claiming that a spoon is energy.
Sections of the community also accuse doctors of doing “medical gaslighting” by claiming they dismiss or belittle their patients’ pain
Posting videos of them crying or lying listlessly in hospital beds garners hundreds of thousands of likes in some cases, with dozens of comments supporting the “spoon theory.”
Experts say that while “functional disorders are a real and chronic problem,” they often aren’t “what young people think they have.” Many of the teens post footage of themselves crying or in the hospital, which garner thousands of likes
Healthy people have unlimited spoons, while sick people, the spoonies, have few and need to be “strategic” about how they use them – often by completing mundane tasks.
Some spoonies suffer from MS and Crohn’s disease, while others suffer from rarer conditions that are more difficult to diagnose, such as:
Others suffer from “dysfunctions” that have no physical cause, cured by a series of medical diagnostic tests.
Many of the women have complained about being ignored or misdiagnosed by doctors on the app, and are sharing their worst moments to give others “a peek” at life with their illnesses.
Others claim they are suffering from “medical gaslighting,” which involves their doctor telling them to lose weight to improve their condition.
Some of them also make money from their platforms, some of which have hundreds of thousands of followers, by using it to promote deals on glasses or dietary supplements.
Healthy people have unlimited spoons, while sick people, the spoonies, have few and need to be “strategic” about how they use them – often by completing mundane tasks. Many of the girls will be posting their lowest moments on social media to show them fighting
Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly teenagers and young women, have joined online groups to feel “supported” by the community
Others join groups to discuss the negative side effects of their illnesses, often ending up competing with each other over who is the “sickest.”
dr Mark Sullivan, a psychiatrist at the University of Washington Medical Center, is concerned that the internet has created “grievance communities” that have prompted patients to adopt “victim mentalities.”
One woman posted on social media that her psychiatrist had told her to lose weight to “feel better” and complained it made her feel “in shambles”.
Members of the group rallied, and one even offered to anonymously email the doctor to explain the damage caused by claims that a person’s weight is causing their mental or physical problems.
Morgan Cooper was diagnosed with median arch ligament syndrome when she found the community and described feeling “less alone” with them.
She told Commonsense: “I just had a video called ‘I’m Sick’ and the thumbnail was how I cried.
“If I posted a picture of myself on Instagram looking sad, or holding pills, or in a wheelchair, it would get about 2,000 likes.”
Cooper even joined a Snapchat group called “Sick B****s,” where they shared the negative things in their lives.
dr Mark Sullivan, a psychiatrist at the University of Washington Medical Center, is concerned that the Internet has created “grievance communities” that have led patients to adopt a “victim mentality” about their illnesses
Many of the women have complained about being ignored or misdiagnosed by doctors on the app, and are sharing their worst moments to give others “a peek” at life with their illnesses
She claims she felt like she had to fill her own pills with supplements to make her own situation appear worse on social media and admitted to being “jealous” of a girl who looked “sicker” than she was you.
One of the girls she followed promoted salt pills, which can help with the drowsiness caused by POTS.
A few others snapped up brand deals with probiotic-filled snack bars marketed under the slogan “Hot Girls have IBS.”
Marybeth Marshal, 27, of St. Petersburg, Fla., dropped out of college to focus on curing fibromyalgia and then Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
She said: “You can get addicted to being sad and sick and the attention you get. The “misery loves company” makes you sicker.
“There might be something you gain from this diagnosis, such as it keeping you from a job you hate or responsibilities you don’t want to take on.”
