this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2024
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Self-diagnosis is not valid. By definition. Not even a psychiatrist can diagnose themselves. What you're talking about is either 1) advocating for your own diagnosis or 2) self-treatment.
Both of these things are valid.
Advocate for yourself for a diagnosis from a health professional if it will unlock new treatment options. But also just look into how others with similar problems have successfully managed their problems. Consider how you could implement similar things. That's what's at the heart of therapy for ADHD anyway.
But diagnosis itself is only useful as a tool for describing symptoms and informing treatment. If a collection of symptoms speaks to your experience, then the only point in putting a diagnostic label on it is to say "Maybe these things that helped others with similar symptoms will also help you." But in order to do that effectively, there also needs to be a differential diagnosis to ascertain what it is not. This is why healthcare providers need to be involved in the process. Two different things can look very similar but have very different etiologies and different treatments.
Social media needs to quit putting so much emphasis on diagnosis and more emphasis on treatment. This post should be removed for medical misinfo, but I hope people at least read the comments to see why this person seems to be such a snakeoil influencer.
For a purely semantic sake, you're probably right. But for a colloquial sake, the term "valid" here, doesn't mean "legally valid" or "medically valid", but instead means "emotionally valid." For some people, confirmation is therapeutic enough to help. Also "diagnosis" doesn't exclusively mean "medical diagnosis". There are many definitions to the word, and in a medical sense, it usually means what you're describing. But "I think I have ADHD" is a diagnosis. Not a medically valid one, but something that might help me get through the day sometimes. And if that's all I need, then it's emotionally valid.
Being told "your self diagnosis is not valid" to some people is the same as being told "There's nothing wrong with you." (Because most people aren't working on a strict legal medical definition of "diagnosis") Emotionally validating your assessment that something is wrong can very well be what drives people to advocate for a medically valid diagnosis.
Also, saying "You don't have ADHD unless it's diagnosed ADHD" is wrong regardless of stance on self diagnosis. If my arm is broken, it is in fact broken, even if it hasn't been diagnosed. Undiagnosed issues are still issues. Too many anti-self diagnosis claims come across as saying that if you don't have a diagnosis it doesn't exist. At most you can claim "You don't know for sure you have ADHD unless it's medically diagnosed"
As with all things, a self evaluation is a useful "what do I do next" step.
All emotions are valid. Even ones arising from psychosis. That doesn't mean the experiences that create the emotions are based in reality. Stop with the wordplay. You aren't as smart as you think you are. What you described is NOT a diagnosis - not any more than the burn marks on my toast are Jesus. Calling it so does not make it so.
If you want to take this as "There's nothing wrong with you" then that's on you. Maybe we will revisit the phrase, "You're not as smart as you think you are" as evidenced by this interpretation. Funny how self-diagnosers are so willing to engage in wordplay but cannot see any other meaning here than "There's nothing wrong with you."
As far as the broken arm bit, WHY NOT REREAD WHAT I SAID ABOUT TREATMENT?! And let me reiterate for the self-diagnosers in the back, You aren't as smart as you think you are. See a fuckin doctor, get a ddx, try techniques that work for you, don't claim to have a diagnosis without one.
If this feels bad, GOOD, it should. This is hard news. But I won't lie to you to make you feel good and sell you products like OP.
I agree with most of what you're saying, but the way you're presenting it is almost confrontational.
True, self-diagnostic in a strict sense isn't a thing, but as you point out after, a collection of symptoms can speak to one's experience. Finding this insight, in my case, was an eye opening moment because so many things in my past and in my day to day suddenly started to make sense.
Coming to terms with this realization is especially useful for people who have strong negative views on mental health issues, and driving people to "self-diagnostic", as in recognizing that they may be neuro divergent, is a worthy effort.
It doesn't replace actual professional help and diagnosis, but it's a first step that needs to be encouraged.
Damn right I'm confrontational because this is literally medical misinfo being peddled by a grifter and you're eating it right out of her hand.
The differential is what matters. We go to a professional to figure out what it's NOT.
I think it's ego. People probably can't handle the fact that they aren't as smart as they think they are and don't want to admit that maybe they're wrong about their """diagnosis""". But that's just a generalization. Go to a doctor. Fuck OP.
Suppose someone was on the fence here, and willing to hear you out instead of believing OP.
Because, as I said, while I agree with most of what you said, you're doing a big disservice to spreading your message.
Self diagnosis is fine. There's coping mechanisms one can use without an medical diagnosis. If they see not enough one can try for an official diagnosis.
There's no such thing as self-diagnosis. That's my point. What you said about coping mechanisms is exactly what I said in my response: that diagnosis informs treatment, so just try different behavioral applications that help you without worrying about the diagnosis.
Holy shit, I just realized that you're one of the mods. This is absolutely embarrassing. I can't believe you're spreading this garbage. STOP telling people to diagnose themselves! You're contributing to genuine harm of the TikTok Diagnosis era.
"Diagnosing" yourself is a step along the way to finding behavioural applications that help you. I would never have even begun to start pursuing half the things that have helped me if I didn't see a bunch of people sharing their experience as autistic and go "oh shit, might I be autistic?".
What you are referring to as "telling people to diagnose themselves" is actually just encouraging people to look inward and outward, find common themes between themselves and others, and use those findings to inform what they can do to help themselves and those around them.
If, in fact, you don't take any issue with that and its instead just the word "diagnosis" that you take issue with, then I have no right to stop you from being that pedantic but there are better hills to die on.
That's actually what I am saying you do. Why would you call that "diagnosis"? Why not call it "pizza-stomping"? Why not call it winning a nobel prize? Words mean something. The fact that so many people cannot understand why this is frustrating is exactly why it is frustrating. I actually like the nobel prize comparison. That's not too far off from what's going on here lol.
What it leads to is communities of people who increasingly have little relation to people who are actually diagnosed with the condition. "hey i like pizza do i have adhd" "yeah man totally! i have adhd and i love pizza" "yeah it's totally a major symptom" and then when someone comes along saying "uhh that's not actually diagnostic of adhd" they get told to fuck off
these words mean something. these conditions mean something. the treatments mean something. we have boards and licenses and ethics surrounding all of this. if you want to go wild wild west at it, im sure you'll have a lot of fun and make great friends along the way, but all of this contributes to the undermining of our society's understanding of mental health
So to be clear you take issue with the text in the quoted paragraph? Or is the act of doing what's in the quoted paragraph cool but calling it diagnosis isn't?
If the former, what do you propose people should do who don't have the means to pursue a formal diagnosis, or are on a waiting list and suffering in the interim?
A couple things are wrong with the image. To be clear, the image doesn't actually describe an act of doing anything. The image describes a barrier to diagnosis. It's a real problem and one worth discussing - but I'm not sure if the conclusion should be "lol just do it yourself." The image also says you're just saying someone to "say what you've already known" which is a blatant attempt to flatter the reader's intellect and skips over the most important part of diagnosis, the DDX. Which leads to the biggest issue, the implied conclusion, represented in this post's title: "Self-diagnosis is valid".
As for what to do: I'm just saying that you can make behavioral changes without having to name your behavioral patterns. Or name them whatever you want, call it Fred. For ADHD behavioral interventions alone wont be as effective as it would if combined with medication, but if there's no other option then by all means. See what others have done to manage ADHD and try it out for yourselves. That doesn't necessarily mean you have ADHD - but the name doesn't matter! If you're forgetting appointments, keeping an appointment book is just a generally good practice. Keeping a schedule, adjusting how your space is organized to cue your attention instead of relying on executive function, and utilizing post-it notes to stay on track - these are all good practices! And so on. You don't need a diagnosis to do this. Why must we insist on "self-diagnosing"?
I just want people to shift from this horoscope-esque idea of "diagnosis" and focus more on "treatment". I think a lot of the emphasis on the name and not the action comes down to a desire to fit in and finding liberation in a lack of agency. Like if we look at a false dichotomy: Would you rather be officially labeled ADHD and not have to work on yourself at all, or would you not get the label but be in charge of making the changes you want in your life? Both sound pretty scary, but the latter sounds far more difficult.
Thanks for the thoughtful response!
I don't think you understood my reply (or you chose to ignore my question) but I got the answer regardless. I don't agree with you but the way you've approached the conversation here is much less callous than it was initially so I'm happy to accept that we disagree and move on. Have a good one.
Oh fuck off
This is a pretty poor reply from a moderator. The user you're replying to is correct. Not only that, it is staggering that someone who mods a sub of this type is advocating for self diagnosis. Sharing coping mechanisms is one thing but advocating what amounts to circumventing mental health help is frankly irresponsible. I don’t see how anyone could find it even rational to advocate to the potentially mental ill to diagnose themselves.
Nobody said to circumvent official diagnosis. Stop putting words in my mouth.
It is a logical conclusion to advocating for self diagnosis mate. Given your position within this comm you should seriously consider talking to medical professionals about your view and what they think of it.
Don't put mods on a pedestal.
Actually a fair reply but ~~I think~~ my reply is as well given their potential reach. Anyway consider it either way, never hurts to inform ourselves more.
...what? I agree with you?
I even shared an anecdote about my own self diagnosis? I'm genuinely baffled that you just lash out at someone who agrees with you.
they probably meant me
Sorry I replied to the wrong post
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