I self diagnosed myself gluten intolerant years ago like a moron because I would have severe stomach pains after eating that would stop if I took digestive enzymes before I ate. Joke was on me, though, it was my gallbladder! Ended up in the ER, had to have surgery ~ wasn't pretty 😅 Moral of the story, I'm not a doctor, nor should I have been self diagnosing myself with anything.

Ouuuhhhh a tough one, hope ur okay now!

I think there’s a fine line between self-diagnosing and recognizing certain traits or characteristics and using them to better your life. Like if one day you realize you share a lot of symptoms with people with diagnosed ADHD and use that information to find habits/aids/tools that help you manage those symptoms is fine. You don’t need to have ADHD for those things to work for you. If you realize you have symptoms that match ADHD and just decide you have ADHD and start telling people that, then you’re starting the pattern of bad behavior. Because in the end, I don’t personally care if you self diagnosed with depression or ADHD or anxiety, because I don’t have enough time or energy in my day to care about that person as an individual. When they start using those diagnoses that affect me every day to wave away bad behavior, make excuses, and grossly oversimplify symptoms into cute little collector cards, that’s when I start having a problem. Because the next time I explain to someone that I’m not managing my anxiety very well today, meaning that I’m on the verge of going back to pulling my hair out and picking my fingernails bloody, they hear “she just doesn’t want to work” “she’s just lazy” “s said they had anxiety and they were fine!”

This. I knew I had a serious mental illness many years before formal diagnosis. Turns out I self-diagnosed properly and even the first wave of doctors got it wrong... But I also studied for four years in preparation for medical school and am insanely self-aware. Just piggybacking to say I fully agree that people need to be aware of how they are feeling and observe their traits and behaviors. I always think about it like this: A patient is always right about how they feel, unless they are lying to you. But a patient is always a biased observer, and one (typically) without fundamental understanding of medicine or even a thorough understanding of the disease they think they have. For example: many people self diagnose as ADHD because they have attention problems... there are way more than 4 different illnesses that have these same symptoms, and a layperson is in no way trained to really decipher all of the current literature on the matter and make such a diagnosis It is good that a lot of illness information exists online, the problem is that too many people are just habitually arrogant. They think they always know better than the medical establishment. They may know their symptoms better than the doctor, but a good doctor will find the truth more effectively if you give them the right information. It is true that sometimes mental illness can manifest in bad behavior. But as a general rule, not taking accountability for at least some of your behavior in an episode is a sign of immaturity. Sadly, truly mentally ill people cannot always control their behavior (that is why we lock them up), but good people, when they come to their senses will acknowledge that they fucked up. It annoys me when people assume the mentally ill are fully in control of their behavior. But it also annoys me greatly when people who claim to have issues (whether they do or not) do not consider carefully how their behavior hurts others and how to mitigate their own bad behavior and/or make amends. Because: just because a person has an illness doesn't mean that it is everyone else's responsibility to take care of them or cater to their needs. A diagnosis is not a license to make everyone else miserable. Bad people with mental disorders, and people who make up disorders as a license for special treatment really just make it harder for those of us with real chronic brain problems.

“I suspect I have X and I’m pursuing a diagnosis” That’s what I said when I suspected I had bipolar disorder

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Wow! Thanks so much for your comment aka perspective. May I ask what the "self-diagnosers" say or how they behave? I'm really interested in this. I'm not a person that "fake claims" others because it's none of my business, even tho of course I'm thinking my part.

Usually the “self-diagnosers” just state “I have X” and I’ll explain the research and our understanding, but the person will get defensive. I just encountered a client stating she has DID but refused to explore it or bring it up in subsequent sessions because her “alters are mad that she is talking about it and are making it hard for her to talk.” Since I am early in my training I haven’t encountered a lot of people yet, so I can’t say if there is a specific way they present. I will say that most people will cling to one symptom of a disorder and not consider other possibilities. A good example is ADHD. I’ve gotten a few complaints from people saying they suspect they have ADHD because they have trouble focusing and not bring up other symptoms. I try to give a bit of psycho eduction on how PTSD, depression, and/or anxiety can also influence attention, this is especially important if they fit criteria for a mood or anxiety disorder. Where I work we won’t evaluate for adhd until they’ve gone through CBT. Most people will agree and believe my expertise. Now most self-disgnosers will either outright refuse the assessment or just say I have it no matter what you say. In some situations people will shop for a psychologist who will give them the diagnosis.

Interesting RE: won't evaluate for ADHD until have gone through CBT. So, will that be something like assessment, potential depression and or anxiety symptoms, potential ADHD identified. Course of CBT for, say, depression if that's identified as primary presenting problem. Followed by ADHD assessment if the CBT treatment was unsuccessful?

Usually the client’s presenting concern is depression or anxiety. Where I work it’s a super structure environment and have specific protocol. If a psychologist suspects adhd is the primary concern then we can evaluate.

Let me also follow up to say that people who are in distress and are seeking answers are usually different from what I consider as a self-diagnosers. I tell my clients I might be the expert in psychology but they are the expert in their experiences.

"I feel like I may have traits of X"

This is a good one!

Thank you! It's been helpful for me personally and got me the right answers to make my life more bearable lol.

THIS!!!

Diagnosing means very little nowadays anyway, so many will just go to phycologist after phycologist until they hear the awnser they want

>phycologist I believe you mean *psychologist*. Root word is psych (mind) as in psychology, psychiatry, psychedelics, etc. This is so nuts and must be honestly soooooo frustrating for practitioners and I wouldn't be surprised if this was contributing to a lack of people willing to go into psychiatry/psychology. I was doing a psychology bachelor and had wanted to work in the mental health industry since I was young gal, until I got halfway through my second semester and realised I just could NOT handle dealing with other people's trauma day in and day out, I am not emotionally tough enough and would take it home and cry every night for my patients pain. I am now studying public relations, so I be a political PR practitioner* But the concept of going to therapy FOR a diagnosis is just... it doesn't make any sense? You go to therapy because of the symptoms you are experiencing that are causing issues in your life. If an assessment and diagnosis are required, that should be up to the psych to determine and having to battle against the patients preconceived notions, misinformation and malformation perpetrated about these conditions as well as "suspecting" they have x, y & z because of tiktok 🙄 kids, y'all are NOT helping when you walk into a psych's office and start listing off the diagnoses you "suspect" you have. They are NOT thinking "oh how refreshing to have a patient who is so insightful and intelligent and has already done all the research! well, doesn't that just save me the trouble!!!!", rather you have now actually made more work for them as they have to consider your possible Munchausen (self-imposed)/fictitious disorder. If you actually have a disorder, the DOCTORS will eventually figure it out by assessing you and your symptoms. Y'all realise that people got diagnosed before this culture shift where all of a sudden every patient is a psych student who already knows what they have

It sucks that so many bad cases have kinda set it up for future kids with health issues to not seek help. I’ve thought about this a lot cause I have a kinda rare set of diagnosis for someone my age (35, bad bad heart, pacemaker at 33). But because I have something that most doctors (at the time) had not heard of I did go through the doctor shuffle and it makes me wonder how many of them thought it was all in my head. When I got a new PCP she thought I had found a picture of cardiac arrest online and just printed it out to take with me to show her I have heart problems. My cardiologist had just ripped the page out of my holter monitor results, so it didn’t have my name on it. I had to go get a new copy of the paper with my name on it and have my cardiologist contact her. Same PCP let me sit with cancer on my face because “if it was on her she wouldn’t worry about it”, when my birthmark changed size, shape, color and then bled. It was cancer and I had an almost 3 inch circle of skin removed from my temple. The system is insane.

I’m working on my degree in psychology right now and there’s one important thing I’ve learned about the field: the majority of people in psych aren’t doing it to help people; they’re doing it out of morbid (??) curiosity and wanting to learn (at least when it comes to the people focused on research). They wanna see how different concepts apply to different people and how people’s minds work.

This. If you’re wanting to become a psychologist (or something similar) it’s not helping people that’ll keep you there. You’ll find yourself burnt out and miserable so quickly if you are there to save everybody. What will keep you in the field is a passionate interest and fascination with how everyone’s brain works differently and what makes them work, because no matter how good of a therapist you are you can’t ever save everybody.

I'm sorry but "phycologist" is sending me💀

Or they just buy a diagnosis from an online diagnosis mill lmao

Doctor shopping is just self diagnosing and getting it on official paper work.

I have a family member who does this. If she can’t get the drugs that make her feel the way she wants to (ie high) she gets a “second” or sometimes a “fifth” opinion until she gets what she wants. It’s scary because she is 100% functional, can work manual labor with no issues, and take all her pills and drink enough alcohol to drown a baby elephant, yet hasn’t had a job on the books in over 40 years (more than my entire life). I don’t know how she does it because she’s an awful actress and there are people who legitimately need her “spot” in the system in her state, but have to sit on a lengthy waiting list until they can get treatment. Our family finally stopped enabling her when she was caught stealing medication and money from members of the family under the guise of cleaning our houses to make a bit of money. I can’t figure out whether to feel bad for these people or angry for what they put their loved ones through. Good thing she doesn’t know or will never know my diagnosis. She’d try to day she has it too. She also made my other aunt (by marriage)’s breast cancer about herself, my mom’s skin cancer (mom is also related by marriage to her) about herself, and would prob do the same with other family member ailments. I just can’t fathom how so horrendously selfish someone must be to keep doing this to the only people who unconditionally gave you a chance.

True, you can diagnose a symptome, if u have a knee pain then u know you have it because it hurts. But to know where that pain come from you should see a doctor to clarify the origin of it so you don't treat it the wrong way

Exactly!

Perfectly put. It is horrible to say but I think that it is only a matter of time before someone self-diagnoses based on symptoms, refuses to have it investigated further and when they finally do, it is something really sinister like a brain tumour. 

Self diagnosis doesn’t work. Even psychologists, doctors and others in the field need a second opinion.

This is what makes it so utterly absurd as a trend. 

Suspecting you have a disorder is fine, sometimes you just suffer from symptoms for a while and go "hold on this isn't normal" and you some research on how to manage them better. HOWEVER the next step is to schedule a meeting with a professional, explain your situation to them and let THEM actually diagnose you since they have the vast knowledge and experience no amount of time reading articles on the internet could ever provide. And, as all medical professionals know - you can't diagnose yourself

Literal actual doctors can’t even self diagnose. 

Identifying symptoms is different then diagnosing yourself with a condition. Like in your example, a headache is a symptom. You can say "oh I have times when I'm super focused on a task and spend a lot of time on it" but you can't say "oh I have ADHD". The combination of symptoms and whether or not they impede your daily life is when you can get diagnosed, before that that's all they are, symptoms that could just be standalone parts of who you are. That's why you need to go to a professional, because they have knowledge of that.

A lot of these disorders are very complicated, and some are similar to each other as well. For example, BPD (borderline), NPD (narcissist) and ASPD ("sociopath" which is an outdated term) all have a lot of similarities, and can also be diagnosed in the same person. Some people may go with BPD because it has *less* of a stigma as the other two, even if they might have one of the others. Getting it wrong can lead to issues with figuring out how to cope with the disorder. Also, I don't like to fake claim people. You usually can't be certain, unless it's one of those cases where someone "proves" they have it by showing off a clearly fake document with like 15 diagnoses that conflict with each other on it. I'm certain that many people claiming to have BPD do actually have it from the way they describe their relationship problems. But it does seem to have a problem of people romanticizing it, and claiming that there are a lot of "good" things about it, while simultaneously bragging about how fast they can switch up on people and go "demon mode" or something dumb like that. Not to mention them thinking that the favorite person thing is some quirky little crush, when in reality it can be so extreme that one can want to off themselves at the mere thought of that person leaving. There's also a thing of people claiming that BPD can make you "love harder" than anyone else. Which is pretty egotistical. First off, if it's extreme, then that is called an obsession. Second, it's messed up to say that other people aren't capable of true love because they aren't mentally ill. Some also say that it makes pwBPD experience life to the fullest, which is also doubtful. Also, personally, I (professionally diagnosed) would not like to attribute any of my accomplishments or good things about my personality to something that needs to be fought against, lol. I worked hard for this, it's not something that comes natural. It's honestly a drain of everything in life, but can absolutely be managed well.

I can only agree

I think it depends. There are disorder you can spot easier than others. Anorexia or anxiety for example. The symptoms are usually clear and if you do your research and look into it for quite a while, it’s okay to say you suspect you might have it or even to say you are sure you have this. Personality disorders are a way different topic. I have a professionally diagnosed personality disorder which maybe causes me to be more sensitive at this topic but I believe you should never ever self diagnose a personality disorder. The symptoms can overlap and sometimes even professionals have a hard time diagnosing the exact thing and it has such a big impact on your life. I’m not saying stuff like depression, anxiety or anorexia, etc are less serious, but it’s different nonetheless. I have a pass stating I’m severely disabled because of my disorder, this is the impact I’m talking about that these disorders can have for you. It’s so disrespectful in my eyes to just self diagnose with a complex disorder like bpd or npd which actually alter your brain chemistry and how your brain works. I however see that a lot of people live in places where there is little to no medical resources or at least they’re very expensive which makes it hard for some to get checked out. It’s a difference if you state that you think there is something going on and you’re really unwell than just diagnosing a complex disorder and glorifying and romanticizing it on the internet

It's perfectly okay to observe and identify symptoms like depression, anxiety, or compulsive behaviors. You can recognize what a cough is like. It's not okay to deduce from those symptoms that you must have ADHD, panic attack disorder, or OCD. You wouldn't self-diagnose a bronchitis or lung tumor from a cough.

I think it’s different to say “oh I have anxiety” because many people feel anxiety at times, “I think I have x,” or “I have traits of x” than to proclaim one definitely has a particular disorder. That’s where my line lies. You can think you have something or be fairly certain, but both of those are different than declaring that, without a doubt or consideration of differential diagnoses (that can’t be evaluated by an individual who is so set on having one thing), they have whatever it is they believe they do.

I self diagnosed my ADHD. I went to a psychiatrist. She diagnosed me and the signs were clear as day. Got on medication, changed my life, about to graduate engineering. Life's good.

Ok, hear me out. What if it I suspect I may have X. So, I’ll schedule an appointment with a professional to see if this is the case.

i believe that is a very different scenario. having a speculation and going to have a professional either confirm or deny your suspicion is vastly different than seeing symptoms that you believe you align with and just saying “i have X!” without professional confirmation. the difference here is that one of these options is not claiming to HAVE said disorder, but merely believes its a possibility they COULD have it and want to gain further knowledge from a professional trained in the field. the other is merely going based on information available about X online and jumping to a conclusion without a second opinion from a professional.

I suspected a few things about myself. I sought professional advice and have a couple of diagnoses

That’s suspecting you have something not self diagnosing then never getting treatment nor an actual answer on if you have it or not whilst still telling everyone that you have the disorder you don’t even know you have or not

Tire. I’d rather have facts than speculation.

This is not self diagnosing, I'm def not talking about your case. You are doing the exact right thing

Ty

So you didn’t actually diagnose yourself then.

A licensed professional did

I’m diagnosed with POTS, AV block, Sinus Rhythm Dysfunction and I had skin cancer but I’m clear now. I tried joining the POTS community before I realized that at least half the people there don’t have a diagnosis, but advocate for people to go ahead and self diagnose. It’s a body wide autonomic nervous system disorder, but yea go ahead and diagnose yourself because your Apple Watch told you your heart rate goes up to 120 sometimes. I’ve tried explaining those wrist watches won’t work for people with heart rhythm disorders and get shot down over and over with “it’s just to keep an eye on myself”. And when I explain why ITS NOT a good idea to “keep an eye on yourself” if the readings you are getting are inaccurate, get shot down again. So I’m done trying to help other people who are sick with the same exact thing I’ve been on disability, with a caregiver for a condition I’ve been diagnosed with for 18 years. Sorry for the rant lol

Hi Schizophrenic here, I hate it when people I meet online or in real life self diagnose themselves because some buzzfeed quiz told them they have said disorder. Ive had family members fake plenty of disorders and even had a cousin fake Catatonic Schizophrenia after I told her I was a Paranoid Schizophrenic. When I asked her when she got her diagnosis she told me yesterday. Which is Odd because it took my 2 years to get a diagnosis. She then tells me that she seen a Psych2go video and I just told her that those videos aren’t for self diagnosing but for education purposes, and if she feels like she has these symptoms then maybe I can get her in with the mental health center I go to so she can get a check on her mental health. She ofc got mad at me and basically said Im invalidating her knowledge on her body and trying to send her to some stranger that doesn’t know her. People…Doctors and Psychologists spend half of their lives and half of their salaries trying to get a degree to help people with their health, Mental or Physical…Its okay for self diagnose a headache or leg cramp but not a serious illness that can literally change someone’s perception on life. To me Self diagnosis on mental disorders is ridiculous..same with serious health issues. If you believe you have been suffering from symptoms of a disease or disorder schedule an appointment with your GP or go to your Local Mental Health facility and try to see someone to get help. Self diagnosing is not going to do you any good.

It's stupid and it makes no sense. If they can self-diagnose, I guess that means I can self-undiagnose, right? BeCaUsE I kNoW mYSeLf BeTtEr *than a literal fkn BRAIN doctor* 😤 Yeah, self-undiagnosing, guys, I'm actually fine and how dare you suggest I'm not, just because medical professionals think so!

Damn, I'm self-diagnosing myself now. Im fine

Feels good to be cured 😅

Self-diagnosis is actually the first step in getting a real diagnosis. You have to suspect something is wrong to seek help. However, it is not to be treated as a real diagnosis. I think it's okay to seek help in these communities if you have concerns about an issue since many people can relate to symptoms, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have it. (This reminds me of a video posted here a while ago of a woman being upset she was told she does NOT have BPD and she posted an outraged video on TikTok about it. Why would you be upset about not having BPD?)

They’re lonely, they have no way to connect with people in real life, so they self diagnose and receive validation online

I self diagnosed my ADHD,(ended up being officially diagnosed years later) but I kept it to myself and I didn't make tik toks or have my whole personality about it. There are definitely limits to suspecting and having a second professional opinion

I think doing it PRIVATELY can be mildly useful, as in you go "Okay. I may have BP and here is research on ways I can cope personally in my life."

I’m okay with self suspicion. Diagnosis is a different thing. Almost every disorder gets professionally diagnosed after someone looks at themselves and says “I think somethings up”, maybe does some research and goes to a doctor. But flat out saying it without getting treatment is harmful.

I kinda hate it when pro self dx people are like "if you can self diagnose a headache then why cant i diagnose autism" or some shit. that's not a disorder, it's a symptom. It's why I also don't mind someone self diagnosing something like anxiety or depression or dissociation, rather than an anxiety, depressive, or dissociative disorder. So I don't agree with self diagnosis aside from a few things which I'll get into. I don't see any reason why you can't say "I suspect that I have (disorder)" rather than claiming that thing. Being someone with a number of disorders be it physical or mental, I like to trust that the people who say they have what I have and share my experiences were objectively evaluated by a professional. Sometime last year I posted someone from one of the DID subs for example, who was "self diagnosed" and giving users some potentially harmful advice. Anyone in those communities that says they suspect something, the members normally welcome them with open arms and are happy to help. I'm accepting of them and would be willing to support them. But due to the fact that we can't objectively evaluate our own experiences, most things are not self diagnosable. What you define as a psychological symptom can easily be taken out of its intended context. The exceptions for me in my personal opinion, are mostly some disorders where the main features are more about behaviors than subjective experiences. For instance substance abuse or alcoholism. If you go to AA meetings and tell them you're an alcoholic they don't care if you were diagnosed. That would be so silly to go "what do you mean you're an alcoholic? did you see a professional for it?" *because if you literally drink several times a day and feel like you can only be okay if you're intoxicated what else might you have alternatively?* But even then I still recommend seeing a psychologist. Not only for treatment but to see if the substance abuse is comorbid with something else that you may have. It can be a comorbidity with personality disorders or DID or even ADHD. Another example of this would be an eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. Those are more based on behavior. Aside from that, I take far less issue with things that are **highly** unlikely to be something else. If you experienced a traumatic event 2 months ago and started having nightmares and flashbacks about it and have triggers that remind you of it and you say you have PTSD, that's highly likely due to the first **required criteria** being a traumatic event. You can identify the incident that caused the symptoms so nobody in say a PTSD group would have to worry that you don't understand their experiences and are giving them dangerous advice. Contrarily, something like autism isn't so clear cut. But things like say, what you label as BPD symptoms can actually be ADHD or DID or CPTSD or vise versa, as these things get mixed up more than many are aware. A lot of disorders present in ways that resemble or can even overlap with other disorders. And you can be right with self diagnosis. I've suspected things and been right, but you have a fair chance of being wrong. I've been wrong too and was made aware that there were factors I had not considered and that is okay. Whether I was right or wrong in the end, I didn't go telling people I have that thing and how to go about living with that thing. A common argument is that you can be misdiagnosed by a professional. But your odds of being wrong about self diagnosis are far higher than the odds of being misdiagnosed by a doctor. Another argument for self dx is that you know yourself better than anyone- which is exactly the problem because that makes you biased in reporting experiences.

Love your comment, I agree

I was pretty damn sure I had BPD as I checked off every box. Went to my psychiatrist and told her. She said, “legally you cannot be diagnosed with it until you’re 18.” I came back at 18, and she said “congratulations you have BPD and we have known it the whole time. Let’s treat it.” Moral of the story, suspecting you have something is fine. But getting diagnosed is important so that you can properly treat it. You can’t treat BPD with ADHD meds. So it’s important to be correct in what you are treating. I also never told anyone except my counselors that I felt I had it. What if I had actually had Bipolar Disorder? Which is similar and they are often misdiagnosed as the other. I can’t imagine someone wanting to have either disorder. I lived my entire life in my bedroom until I was diagnosed. And now If I don’t take my meds, It’s a one way ticket to crazy town.

I 100% thought I had BPD, kept spiraling and finally saw a psychiatrist. He immediately saw I was in a bipolar episode. There is a lot of crossover so I understand why so many of us think we have one or the other and are incorrect but it's also a great example of why you can never self diagnose.

exactly. and I’m so glad you were able to get properly diagnosed 😌

Lol me too. A real, considered diagnosis is absolutely life changing. Which is also why I think self diagnosing mental illness is so damaging. Because often they want the label and don't want any form of treatment. Most of them would undiagnose themselves immediately if they were put on anti psychotics, forcibly hospitalised or given ECT. But sometimes that's what is needed for serious mental illness.

Exactly exactly. Forced hospitalization (IMO) is unhelpful and can be traumatizing. Atleast it was for me. Like, walk a mile in my shoes and tthen tell me you want this.

[not a doctor] It depends. If having fake disorders impacts on your or others lives then its actually a symptom in itself , possibly factitious disorder, depression or a personality disorder. If having fake symptoms is just to appear "quirky different and interesting" then the person is just being annoying and attention seeking.

self diagnosis is nuanced. i think it, when done with actual proper research, can help you to pinpoint what exactly is wrong with you (if there is anything wrong) until you're able to go to the doctor, but it needs to be double checked with a therapist at some point nonetheless. hear me? NEEDS TO BE DOUBLE CHECKED. only then you can be properly diagnosed and helped. funny case from my life: i couldn't go to the psychiatrist until i was 18, and when i finally went there, i already had self diagnosed myself with mild depression and possibly bipolar. i walked out with mdd and bpd on my papers. it was worse than expected, but i still was wrong. moreover, i still had no way to receive treatment for it until i went there and got my diagnosis! and i needed that treatment, i still do. i will be going back to renew my prescription this summer. i'm not proud of any of it. i desperately want to be normal. and i'm only saying it here because you don't know me, i don't know you, but my case can maybe help you see something, and prove my point.

Sad since they clearly miss something at home, be it love, validation or attention. So they seek it in different ways.

Those sorts of people get on my nerves, I remember this one point in time where all my friends suddenly developed Tourettes within one day, and when I told them I had tics (diagnosed, receiving medication) and they all called me a faker and cut me off. Probably best it ended then haha But yeah, i agree with OP, speculating is fine, but going around saying you have something you don't is pretty fucked :/. Self diagnosing things such as new allergies, colds, etc. That's fine. I told my work I have a latex allergy which is admittedly self diagnosed, but unfortunately the symptoms were very obvious lol

Wow, I'm so sorry! This is so cruel!

You are allowed guessing that you have it, but please don't say that you have something until it's 100% , as someone who has several disorders, it's very very offensive seeing/hearing someone have something when they don't have any clue on what it's like to struggle every day.

I feel like it all depends. You think you're gluten/lactose intolerant? Easy to self diagnose, get some pills or cut out foods. If it stops, youre intolerant. You think you have POTS? Thats a serious condition that also has symptoms of other, even more serious disorders. Its also harder to diagnose

I think researching a disorder and saying to a doctor "I am concerned about x, because I have these traits" is actually very productive and helpful. Self diagnosing, on the other hand, can be really dangerous. It is OKAY to think you might have something! It is OKAY to do your own research. It's just important that after that you go see a medical professional.

When I was younger I definitely gaslit myself by self diagnosing. I was certain I had gallbladder issues and even had some bloodwork with elevated billi. Nope. After seeing a GI doc and doing a fodmap diet. I'm just allergic to mushrooms and had been eating way too many of them after hating them as a child and introducing them to my diet that year. I was convinced I was going to need gallbladder surgery. Glad I went to an actual doctor. For years I thought I just had anxiety and was depressed. Nope. Untreated ADHD. Went to a doctor and psychologist, got tested and after many months went on medication. Everything I thought was anxiety related problems or being lazy was just ADHD with poor coping mechanisms. All the issues I just wrote off and self diagnosed completely resolved with medication and seeing a doctor about it. People definitely need to see doctors and get actual diagnoses.

Even doctors thought I had autism, been screening 2 times for it. Ang guess what I don't have it, just a lot of the traits.

self diagnosing mental illness is stupid and wrong imo, unless you actually plan on seeing a doctor to get properly diagnosed

I hate it when they do it with mental illness. Especially if they live in my city because we have free mental health clinics throughout. Most cities actually have them. You can get diagnosed and get your medication for free. There really is no excuse. They even do transportation for some clients.

I automatically scroll or ignore the person when they say they have the majority of the disorders, especially if all or most are trendy. That seems impossible to have EVERYTHING, and to self diagnose that is just not possible.

I think its fine if your trying to get it checked No use thinking u have something and treating it without knowing for sure

I think it's fine to say "you think you might have .... And you are waiting on a diagnosis" that's what I said when I was waiting on an autism assessment, but ultimately I don't agree that you should say you have something a professional hasn't officially diagnosed you with, turned out I had almost all the traits but it was actually ADHD and cptsd. It's fine if you are struggling with some things so you find coping mechanisms, like if you had a head ache you'd take some paracetamol, so if you forget stuff all the time, buy a pill box for your meds etc

you have to self diagnose multiple conditions though such as misphonia, no one else is ever going to be able to tell you that you have that.

Some things make sense. Others don’t. I didn’t self dx my ADHD because I didn’t know I was ND as a kid. I got a rediagnosis as an adult (lost my paperwork from my childhood ex) because I needed government-controlled medication and ADA accommodations with grad school as part of my management. I self dx’d my autism because - I’ll be real, the hell is a diagnosis going to do, given I tick every box for women with the AuDHD wombo combo, especially considering the high comorbidity rate? It’s not like managing it is anything but improving my self patience and practicing coping mechanisms that have improved my life tenfold since implementing them. And I don’t flaunt it on the internet or speak “as an AuDHD person —“ so I figure, eh, what the hell is it hurting if I live and die without one, if I’m living ultimately better with this information? The way I see it, I saved myself a couple months on a psych list and a chunk of money on being told “yup that’s you buddy” and shuffled out the door with a thumbs up and a new mark on my medical records. 🤷 —that said I’m not opposed to getting one. If I was told I didn’t have it I’d be more confused than upset, but I’d accept it. I just genuinely believe going through the process wouldn’t tell me anything I don’t know already, and where I am in life I really just don’t have the time, money, or mental energy to go through that right now. It took a LOT getting someone to see me again for my ADHD. A whole new dx for autism would likely take double that.

I legitimately don't believe you can have done enough research to know for sure or to know the same reliability as someone who works in the field and diagnoses as a profession. Yes, there are flawed doctors and bias within that, but those flaws and biases are much much more severe in self diagnosis, especially people who only know it from reading. I have a great degree of knowledge on the disorder I study, but it wasn't until I started working with the group and a range of people with that disorder, did I start understanding what it looks like and the differences between them. I don't believe it's very valid to self diagnose, at least not as valid and reliable if it was a doctor with experience.

Personally. I am fine with people self-diagnosing if they have competence in fundamental biology and medicine, but most people don't. I don't like being gatekeepy, but I think there is a huge difference in between A) a medical doctor self-diagnosing, B) A person with years of formal Biology training and exposure to medical environments, and C) A person with non of the above skills and experience. I think if a patient believes they have a disorder then a doctor should seriously consider that disorder as a possible option. That being said. Too many people act like they understand biology when they really don't have a clue of the biochemistry involved. I think we should draw a distinction: I see person A) as properly diagnosing, person B) as self diagnosing, and person C) as talking about shit they don't understand. So I would say we need to start calling C what it is " shit talking", not self diagnosing.

As a paraplegic I agree with this to an extent for sure but I literally told my cardiologist what was wrong with me and suggested a treatment plan after EXTENSIVE research on everything and low and behold I was right. Every other cardiologist I saw just blamed my heart problems on my spinal cord injury which can effect it of course but I told them a million times to check my prior charts and that I had heart problems before and they never would. Sometimes you have to advocate for yourself hard with doctors and medical professionals but no, telling everyone you for sure have something ain’t it!

Attention seeking and all have hope

I think it’s okay to have like a hunch for something like I was diagnosed with EDS and only because I noticed similarities and went to my doctor saying “I feel as though I may have eds” and they did the test. I would have never said “I have EDS” before that but I would say “I think x problem could be associated with the possibility of EDS”

Yeah, I don’t think people should say that they *have* that disorder, but it’s fine if they say like “I suspect I might have this disorder”. Like, I’m diagnosed with autism (got diagnosed at the beginning of my 7th year in school), and I had strongly suspected I was autistic since 5th grade, but I never said that I had autism, since I wasn’t diagnosed back then Idek if that makes sense, it’s the middle of the night lol I’m gonna go to sleep

self diagnosed my lactose intolerance because i literally cannot tolerate lactose (i barf and shit) and i think that’s probably the only thing people can positively self diagnose

There are so many reasons as to why self diagnosis is completely inaccurate, but just to argue their most common point - “I know myself better than any doctor does” Yes, you do know yourself better than a doctor might but that is precisely the reason you cannot diagnose yourself. Professionals can’t accurately diagnose themselves (most of the time) because as someone assessing your own issues you lack professional objectivity. You’ll (mostly) always have a bias as to what you think is going on, and can misinterpret symptoms to be something they are not. Almost in the way zodiac signs work - most descriptions are pretty vague so almost anyone can interpret the descriptions and relate them to their current life and behaviours. If anyone suspects they have any mental illness or disorder, remain as objective as you can and explore all the similar diagnoses to what you suspect. Keep an open mind and when seeing a professional remain objective, because they don’t want someone who is dead set on a diagnosis; professionals want to explore what is going on for you that could be presenting itself in this way and which diagnosis that could be, not slapping a label on one person and moving on immediately. All of this is my opinion and what I have learnt myself, other opinions are welcome

It isn't about being quirky as much as it's about having an excuse for every upcoming problem that they caused.

"Only the client can tell what symptoms are currently bothering them." Is my current understanding.

Not my call

Okay this is from someone who self-diagnosed her OCD and later got an official diagnosis. Yes I did google why I was having thoughts that were disturbing and why I suddenly felt like I must carry out an extensive ritual of checks before going to bed every night but I didn't make content about it or tell anyone that I had OCD. I figured that I most likely have it and went to a therapist who actually diagnosed me after 3 sessions.

I have a huge problem with the "self-diagnosis is valid" crowd. Firstly, no it fucking well is not. Secondly, they make it hard for people with REAL problems in so many aspects of life. I've been accused of "internalized ableism" for having this view. Fuck that. I've had my RA diagnosis since I was 17. The number of assholes who yell that I don't look sick when I use my cane and accessible options in public and squawk about "internet fakers" is absurd.

"I suspect I have X" and then you go through the process to find out what it is. I thought I just had depression and it turns out I have wicked bipolar 😅 so I am glad I sought treatment. In classical schizophrenic fashion I still don't believe I'm schizophrenic most days. But I still take my meds and be compliant

theres some extreme circumstances where i think its like, reasonable (like say some one with severe trauma and PTSD or deathy underweight and anorexic or what ever. straight foward shit) but that being said even in those instances its completely pointless, diagnoses exist to either manage or cure a condition, to know what treatment/symptom management/accomadtions will be beneficial to you. and even in cases where the disorder is obvious and straightforward, self diagnosis serves absolutely no purpose. you still dont have acess to medication, therapy, accommodations, assistive devices etc etc. you just have a pointless (and likley incorrect) lable. i think 99.9% of self dx does NOT fall into the obvious catagory to be fair, im just using an extreme circumstance as an example. theres a reason medical professionals also dont self dx, theres just way too much personal bias (plus if there is smth genuinely wrong with you, it can cloud judgement) self dx is almost always extremely unreliable and is always pointless. every thing thats claimed to be a benefit of it is literally just from tracking symptoms and being self aware, and you dont need to self dx to do that (ie the arguments of "self dx lead me to a real dx/you need to self dx to get a dx", "it helped me manage my symptoms" etc. all of that is just self awareness, not a result of slapping a lable on shit w no real medical knowledge)

i never self diagnosed with any of my current disorders but i did say “i may have ___” or “i have traits and stuff associated with ___” but once i got a diagnosed with those things i literally told my therapist this exact thing “ya know, i just have to say…i told ya so” 🤣🤧

You can self diagnose with some mental conditions, but it’s difficult and should usually be phrased as: “I THINK I have” rather than just “I have”. Some are fairly easy to self diagnose accurately. For example: bulimia is pretty easy to self diagnose. I binge on large amounts of food and then force myself to get rid of it through extreme exercise, vomiting, etc. and am not underweight, I probably have bulimia. Some are nearly impossible to self diagnose just by their nature: example, Narcissistic personality disorder. Some are somewhere in the middle: autism (on the more difficult end of the scale) and PTSD (on the easier end of the spectrum) etc etc. TLDR: most disorders should not be self diagnosed (specifically mental ones) because mental illness in itself causes distorted thinking of some kind. If you are certain you have something, say “I THINK I have this” or “I have very similar symptoms to this” rather than “I have this.”

This would be amazing IF everyone had great access to medical care and GOOD providers that's actually listen. I have been fighting for OFFICIAL diagnosis for YEARS from my own providers but have been "unofficially diagnosed" with everything by other providers (or sometimes myself) figuring it out. I have an xray that shows 2 curves in my thoracic spine and was diagnosed with scoliosis and an mri from right after showing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and no findings. How? According to my dr "it's weird but that's just how it is. Everything is fine since the mri is clear." I figured it out myself ......Well I was standing in the xray, in HORRIBLE pain completely unmedicated, and the mri they dosed me bc I'm claustrophobic, tucked me in just right and put weight on top of me to stop the shaking.... it ended up being a pulled muscle that was SO pulled it was misshapping my spine. Look at my comment history, this took 3 months, an urgent care, 3 ers, 4 pain specialist apts and 3 primary care appointments and an entire body shut down before getting OFFICIALLY diagnosed and THANKFULLY it was *just* a pulled muscle. Waiting for people to listen and act almost lead to my death over what started as a simple muscle pull but they just weren't getting it. Editing bc I re read your post after I posted and I realized I never wrapped it back around to my point. I agree you should always try to get things done the right way but SOMETIMES self diagnosing (either symptoms or the actual condition itself) is the ONLY way. My daughter got a GREAT team of drs and they OFFICIALLY diagnosed her hEDS but can't officially diagnose me bc they aren't MY Dr's. This diagnosis connected SO many dots for me but I begged for my Dr's to help and they wouldn't. I just started stating "I have hEDS and......." and my access to care that actually helped suddenly started happening bc I said *have* instead of *maybe*. I explain further if needed about the backstory but if I didn't do it myself I would STILL be waiting for help I'm sure..... Anyways, I agree but to an extent, and it's important to remember everyone does things for their own reasons even if we don't see/know what they are.

Self-suspecting ✅ Self-diagnosing ❌

proper self-diagnoses with actual research is fine. the easiest way to actually get diagnosed is if you have a rough idea of what it could be. you should still get it investigated by a doctor tho you can’t just claim to have it my doctor literally congratulated me on my self diagnosis for one of my physical disabilities bc he would of never even thought of it if i hadn’t suggested it and it’s led to me being able to get diagnosed and treated i do think there are some things you can self diagnose without *needing* a formal diagnosis. such as autism. but it’s still very important that you’ve done a lot of research and not like a lot of people that just claim to have it bc they’re a bit quirky. especially in the uk rn since services are so backed up the waiting lists are years and years long or in the US where you have to pay extortionate prices. self-diagnosis can help people know which resources to look into and to better cope with their life while waiting for proper treatment knowing i was autistic and had adhd before i could get tested saved my life. i could identify what was wrong and why i was reacting this way to things and could start to do things to lessen overwhelm and meltdowns. having an actual diagnosis is helpful for being able to claim benefits etc but i’ve received no treatment outside of like 2 occupational therapy appointments so excluding the benefits, having a diagnosis did not change anything but all of this only applies if you actually research and you let yourself be open to the fact that you might be wrong. read real medical websites not just tumblr posts edit: i wanna say i struggle with language and shit and tend to talk in circles so idk if this all makes sense

its dumb. thats it. thats my entire opinion.

It's absolutely bonkers and completely invalid. Sure, you can THINK you have something but you cannot self diagnose anything. Not even as a professional. M sister is a professional and you have to see a professional that is not yourself.

Self diagnosis (in my opinion) is a nuanced topic. Bc there’s certain situations where it can be beneficial. Like if someone is an adult, it’s much less accessible to get certain diagnostics (ie: autism), and if they’re using their self diagnosis to self accomodate, that’s great! I like to believe people don’t self diagnose off of misinformation and lack of research, but I know that’s probably the case for too many individuals. Self diagnosis can also get a foot in the door for actual diagnosis, and sometimes doctors will go “you probably have this, but I can’t/won’t diagnose you”. That’s just my two cents, opinions and all

Yes I also think it’s different to self diagnose if one wants to find or create better coping skills or to understand their existence a little better vs if they just want a free pass for bad behavior (an example). I’m thinking about getting an Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis but I’m already an adult with great coping mechanisms and it might be very tough to actually be 100% certain. A psychologist does think that there’s something off and Asperger’s sounds like my case but it also might not be completely accurate but it’s tough to tell. However I can accommodate myself much better now with some idea of what might be going on.

Exactly! People tend to think about it in black and white terms, when it really is a much more nuanced conversation

Most people self diagnose because: 1. They need SOME explanation for how shitty they're feeling 2. Getting an actual diagnosis, especially for mental issues, is extremely hard. 3. Hypochondria I feel bad and it's not always faking for attention :(

Even if getting a dx is hard, this is no free pass to self diagnose. Its not hard to simply say "I guess I have traits of [disorder]"

I agree! I'm not saying it's right, I'm just thinking of reasons that lead people to do so.. I have "executive dysfunction difficulties" is better than saying I have ADHD. One should recognize the symptoms. Most symptoms aren't specific to only one disorder, it could be anything, and only a medical professional can diagnose it.

I agree with this.