For many years now, there’s been the long-going conversation of whether self diagnosing is a valid thing to do. The opinions on this fairly half and half. A significant portion of people think that it is valid, and others argue that it’s not, and can do more harm than good. Both sides are valid, it’s just a matter of opinion.
To determine a view on self diagnosis, you first need to understand what it is. According to the University of Colorado Denver, “it occurs when we assert that we have a mental health condition without confirmation from a mental health professional.”
The thing that people who argue against self diagnosing tend to forget is one major thing: the amount of research that goes into it. It’s not like scrolling through social media and seeing a video about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and thinking, “Oh wow, I have a lot of those symptoms, I have ADHD!” It is not that easy and it can in fact take years of research. Even after all the research, sometimes it’s still hard to place a name to whatever disorder is thought to be. People continue researching, trying to find all possible answers, reading anecdotes from people who have lived their life with the disorder, taking BuzzFeed quizzes that pop up as advertisements on your YouTube recommendations, consulting family members with the disorder and getting their opinion on it or talking to people who have more professional opinions.
Trying to self diagnose can take somebody down a major rabbit hole of research, and sometimes, even all this research doesn’t help because maybe the symptoms only just started showing, so it’s hard to place a name.
The point is, on the road to self diagnosing, the more information found, the better you feel. Yet there’s still that remaining doubt deep inside of, “what if this isn’t it? What if it’s more than that?” To this day, I sometimes still doubt if I have ADHD because I don’t show the usual signs that most people who have it show, even after I finally got my formal diagnosis from the doctor. Five years later, I continue to do research.
Self diagnosing helps people understand themselves and feel more validated. By self diagnosing, you can also look into ways to cope with the disorder, be it short or long term coping mechanisms. It also becomes a starting point into looking for professional help, such as consulting a psychiatrist or getting a formal diagnosis.
In my opinion, self diagnosis is a valid option because getting a formal diagnosis can be incredibly painful. They cost a lot, the wait lists can be extremely long, there may also be a lack of specialists available and there’s always a chance of misdiagnosis. Self diagnosing a mental health disorder might cause feelings of relief, knowing there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just wired differently.
