Lived Experience Forum

[Eden1919]

So I am not sure what types of social media people use but i have noticed that it is getting quite common on some platforms for younger people espceially to "self diagnose" with mental health issues. I know not everyone in the world has access to medical care or can even obtain a professional diagnosis for multiple reasons and that psych diagnoses are kind of touchy anyway because they are very subjective and are often not fixed or able to be objectively proven as there is currently no menthod to test for them and also so many disorders have overlapping symptoms so there is some issue there but it does make me wonder why people think it is valid to self diagnose with MH but not with physical health if they consider both to be valid and objectively evidenced based conditions. I am not saying it is or isnt ok more why would you do one and not the other which everway you decided was ok....

I also am aware that there is somewhat of a trend going around where it is "edgy/cool/romantic" to have a MI and i am NOT saying everyone does this but i guess i find it strange that people feel very attached to these lables they have given themselves when those very lables are regualrly used to dicriminate against people who bear them. idk i feel very conflicted about self diagnosis and wondered where others stand on the issue? do you think it is ok to claim to have a mental health issue if you havent seen someone about it? 

also again not saying anything is right or wrong just looking to see what others think and how the issue makes them feel. 

[Ali11]

It is a topic full of conflicting feelings, isn't it @Eden1919? Although there is a long way to go, what a time we are in that people can feel comfortable to talk openly about mental health. Are there any specific situations or social media discussions that you find particularly conflicting?

[greenpea]

@Eden1919  Hi Eden1919 interesting how you bring up the topic of having a mental illness as being cool. I remember reading a book in my youth (one of my favourite's actually) called Wuthering Heights (if you havent read it yet can thoroughly recommend it) by Emily Bronte. Both of the main characters had not only flawed characters but definite mental illness now that I look back particularly the male Heathcliffe. 

This novel dates back to the late 1800's and was quite well received at the time. It does make you think of what people would be drawn to such a novel. Is it like attracting like maybe. Btw there was nothing wonderful about their tortured lives and deaths but still for young people or those who are romantic at heart there would be a definite attraction imho.

Anyway.... to answer your question I think everyone should have a proper diagnosis from a professional or two for that matter. Some mental illnesses like bipolar 1 and scizoaffective disorder are so similar in the way they present only a professional can tell the difference (and even they get it wrong sometimes).

Hope you are doing a bit better atm. gpxxx

[Eden1919]

@Ali11  well it is mostly that i find it hard to know how to relate to people who say they have X MI but then also say they are self diagnosed not because i think they have done anything wrong but it makes me wonder how they know and also if they have done enough research to make a reasonable judgment on the matter. also i am not sure how to describe this but it is like to me people with certain issues have a certain experience and to say that you understand their exprience when you dont actually know with reasonable certainty that you have actually also exprienced that is like a bit not very nice i feel. like it is to me (and i am not saying this is intended at all) but it is like people who are caucasian saying they have experienced the same types of discrimination as people of colour they havent and because they have not had the lable (being of colour) tied to their experience it is like kind of like not comfortable. idk it is mostly also that i feel like particularly with BPD(borderline PD) I like many people with that diagnosis have been treated like garbage by health professionals because of it and i wonder why on earth you would assign that to yourself unless you had not had to suffer that experience. idk i am not explaining this well at all.

@greenpea  yes it is a book i have heard of but not sure if i am game to read it lol. as for the not being able to distinguish that is a fair point and while i am not doubting anyones experience on their lives i do think that you would have to have done a lot of independant studies to be able to make the distinction which i dont frankly know that many of these people have. also the other issue is that a lot of people doing this seem to be very young like maybe 13-16 and that is fine but i feel like there is no way you can know yourself well enough at that age to be able to confidently say you have bipolar or schizoaffective disorder. like i am in my 20's and i dont even know myself cause i am so different by the end of each year.... 

[Ali11]

Thanks for sharing that @Eden1919, and can understand the wariness of people who are self diagnosed. We once heard someone say that we all have our own experiences and it's impossible to compare because of the amount of variables, that it's subjective and personal for each person, and if the feelings take us to the same places then it's just different flavours of the same icecream (or something like that). Your feelings on people not experiencing the added trauma of diagnosis and the MH system.are valid, it must feel unfair. 

[Eden1919]

@Ali11  yeah i guess it is not so much that i doubt they are having the feelings they claim i guess it is just hard for me to seperate those feelings and the bad stuff that happened to me becaue of those feelings. like it just makes me think but why would you do that if anyone finds out you will get hurt. and i know that not everyone get hurt by the mental health system but i just honestly find it so hard to not think it that first because honestly i can say out of the maybe 200 different professionals i have had contact with in the mental health system i can count on my 2 hands the ones that didnt hurt me. so it is like so much of my experience was bad that when i see people essentially like asking to get into said system it makes me feel uncomfortable and kind of panicked tbh. idk like i feel like they are in danger but maybe it was just me being in danger idk i cant explain it well. 

[Ali11]

That is a really bad run of unhelpful or even hurtful MH professionals @Eden1919  Can understand the distrust of the system, absolutely. It's like you want to save these people from that same experience, and you're surprised anyone would willingly put themself at risk of harm by that same system? Does that sound more like what you feel?

[Eden1919]

@Ali11  yeah that is kind of it. 

[Former-Member]

Hi @Eden1919 

I personnally am not to keen on people self-diagnosing because they need a diagnosis to get the right help and I believe asking for help with a mental illness is the bravest thing I've ever done. Self-diagnosing with mental health has usually caused me great distress and I stopped looking into it a long time ago.

But I have 2 conditions I 'self-diagnosed'

One is a rare genetical disorder that cannot  be determined by a blood test or x-rays and I initially self-diagnosed and discussed it with my GP. My GP sent me to Clinical Genetics where I was interviewed and examined by a medical team and the diagnosis was confirmed. There are no medications to treat the condition. But I am now able to share my diagnosis with allied health so they can adapt treatment for me.

The second one is being on the autism spectrum, high functioning. It has been suggested and losely confirmed by my psych team, but a full diagnosis costs a couple of thousands. I looked into it and couldn't see the benefit of an official diagnosis, as there are no interventions for adults on the autism spectrum. I can't see what difference it would make, I've lived with myself all my life, it's nice to know that some traits I have are probably from being on the autism spectrum and it's good my psych team can notice it, so they understand, why I dont understand them sometimes.

I limit my exposure to social media so I don't know if people think it's cool to have MI.

[Former-Member]

The other issue I found with self-diagnosis and online tests is that I actually don't understand a lot of the terminology in depth. Like I thought I hallucinate, but when I went through the nitty gritty with my psych, I understood that what I experience is not classified as a hallucination, but something else and I forgot what it's called.