This is one of those areas where it can be difficult not to appear as if one is denigrating the experiences of others. And I think those who attention seek in the most destructive fashion rely upon that fear as a way to continue to control and gain undue favour from others, particularly as a way of removing accountability from ones actions.
What I have observed is that attention seeking through the proclamation of illness tends towards illnesses that are somewhat vague or struggle to be pinned down. This allows a safe level of doubt that one can fall back on if challenged.
A good example is something like Irlen's Syndrome, which, after nearly 30 years of research, has consistently evaded any settled definition or passed any rigorous testing with regards to empirical evidence.
There is a good article here on the subject:
Irlen Syndrome – Science-Based Medicine
Many of these medical treatments or systems, after being discarded by science because they failed in rigorous evaluation, continue on as scientific zombies – unkillable, immune to evidence and reason, going through the motions of life without actually being alive.
Irlen syndrome is yet another example of a medical diagnosis and treatment that was promoted prior to adequate scientific evidence to establish that it is real, and treatments based upon the diagnosis are effective. A quarter of a century later evidence is still lacking, and what evidence we do have that is reasonably rigorous is negative.
The most parsimonious interpretation is that Irlen syndrome is not real. The label is being applied to a heterogeneous group of patient who have many other conditions. Colored lens therapy does not appear to work.
Interestingly a colleague of mine at work had an ex he was dating for a short period of time who he broke up with because he felt she was using him as a crutch for her emotional and mental issues, most notably what appeared to be a mixture of borderline personality disorder and depressive tendencies. However I am reluctant to state this as a fact, hence 'appears', since I am not trained in the area of mental illness and so I am not qualified to make that diagnosis, merely suggest my opinion or impression after spending time with her.
And I'm not saying he necessarily dealt with it in the best way either, not to mention the bias of one person's experience over another, but parting ways did seem to be the only forthcoming outcome I could predict.
In any case, after a few months of breaking up, she started to post lots of pictures and announcements on Facebook, most notably that she had Irlens Syndrome. I normally only use Facebook for communication within my wargaming group, but these caught my eye as she became increasingly combative with others on the platform and ended up buying what can only be described as the biggest pair of coloured lens glasses I've ever seen, think of the kind normally used as a comedy prop. It was something that was obviously bound to garner attention. So I started to research the syndrome and found that the evidence for it's basis was shaky at best.
The interesting factor is that when I see something like this I can't say, too cynically, that the person doesn't indeed feel they have a genuine condition and the placebo effect can be remarkably powerful in that area of self-deception. But when the behaviour in day to day life has such an unbalanced element to it (in this case using any and every opportunity to discuss the syndrome as a way of currying sympathy) I think I detect a half-conscious need to attention whore, to the detriment of all involved.
Having said all this, though, I also recognise that many people have been dismissed in their search for diagnosis or help for issues they feel they have experienced. In particular the history of medicine has not exactly been kind to women, generally on grounds of hysteria, although there is a large amount of discussion (anecdotal and otherwise) that has discussed this problem, so I won't go into great detail about it.
I do also recognise (with a degree of apprehension from those who find the enlightenment mentality the only valid one) that a rigid empiricism is not necessarily always the best tool for truth, though it is certainly a very useful one and not to be discounted.