It bother’s me that the mainstream opinion of self-diagnosis (particularly of mental health issues, personality disorders and neurodivergency) is that it’s problematic and it means you’re lying or aren’t taking it seriously.
Here are some points to argue against that, and please do actually argue about it! It’s a harmful mindset and needs to die. It holds people back and diminishes their experiences and capability.
1 – Self-diagnosis is not a quick impulse decision or a lie (usually)
Most people are not just self-diagnosing on impulse. It’s something they asses by living as themselves over time. It’s usually not a fast decision, unless you mean “yeah maybe I could have that” when hearing about symptoms. Over time people naturally learn more about themselves and they look into the information. If they don’t do that then that is a problem, but this isn’t a problem with self-diagnosis as a concept.
2 – Therapists are prone to human error
Professional treatment is not always necessary. Not every therapist is going to do a good job, some have biases, some aren’t willing to learn with the human mind and instead think the books made the rules – rather than the books being written by humans who had less access to information than we have access to now. Time means we learn more, but if doctors aren’t willing to learn… Then we end up with people who care more about ease of work and getting paid than learning and helping people truly change for the better. Therapists are prone to human error just like anyone else, some of them don’t even practice what they preach.
3 – Information is more accessible now than ever
You don’t need professional education (meant to build a career out of) to have access to all the same information as long as you have an internet connection or some books. This is one of the best things about our species. We’ve analyzed and collected data over time. Our flaw in this is we think we’re done, we’ll never be done learning (even about ourselves!)
4 – An individual is best suited to analyzing themselves (with few exceptions)
Even if someone has delusions or psychosis that isn’t a constant experience. Symptoms will get worse if a person is under high amounts of stress – and even when a person is stressed they have access to all the internal information linked to their distress. If they don’t than that’s amnesia, and they’ll at some point realize they’re missing gaps of time. A person witnesses all the symptoms (which are warning signs) before anybody else. A person doing proper self-diagnosis will be critical of themselves. A person will always have access to themselves, they wont always have access to professional help.
5 – The language is very useful for conveying experiences and symptoms
For example, I will say say I have borderline personality disorder so that people can know what to expect. They can look it up if they haven’t heard of it before. They’ve been given the warning that my symptoms may end up affecting me and how I act around them. This doesn’t remove my personal responsibility though, self control is always possible and accountability has to happen even if a disorder plays a part in how someone acts. I can communicate my struggles, the trauma that led to those struggles, and let someone know whether or not they want to be involved with that all at once.
6 – Very long wait times to get assessed and sometimes very expensive
All of that said, if you’ve never self-diagnosed before I think you should explore the world of psychology, mental health and neurodivergence! Study yourself over time. Be your own doctor – just make sure you’re a good one.