Here's How to Respond to Someone Who Thinks You're Faking Your Mental Illness

[facebook ]https://www.facebook.com/annaspargoryan.writer/photos/a.391353894260005.89550.385600741501987/975538665841522/?type=3&theater" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share">​

After the Sydney Morning Herald published an article called "Mental illness: who's faking it?" on Jan. 22, Australian writer Anna Spargo-Ryan decided to respond … with selfies.

"These photos of me were taken three days apart," she begins. "In the first one [where she is crying], I have a mental illness. And in the second one [where she is smiling], I have a mental illness." She goes on to discuss why articles like the Herald's are so damaging:

Garbage "people-management thinkers" who choose to perpetuate the myth that mental illness is probably a fakery do so to broad societal detriment. Good people have mental illnesses. We need them to feel supported and empowered in their places, whether that's work or home or school or somewhere else. Not that someone is waiting to "catch them out". Not that their illness is not legitimate. Not that the time they take away from work to seek treatment is bogus.

Spargo-Ryan told BuzzFeed she's been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. She felt the need to hit back at the author of the article because "[w]e're still at the beginning of understanding how to support mental health in the workplace, and the idea of 'catching people out' is the antithesis of that."

The Herald's article published an update today with a note from the author stating "an enormous amount of feedback on social media has made me realize [the article] was poorly written and insensitive" and the content of the article "has been unfair on those with a mental illness and their loved ones. This was never my intention. My intention was to achieve the opposite. At this I clearly failed. I'm genuinely sorry."

Follow Tess on Twitter.​