Dear Tumblr
WHAT
ARE
YOU
DOING???
This trend is not ok. It needs to stop. End of story.
This isnât going to be one of those, âI hate people who self-dx! Youâre evil!â posts that illogically rants about it or attacks people. They typically have poor arguments and attack the person instead of logically explain why it is wrong, which is known in philosophy as âad hominem.â Itâs either that, or they often minimize everyoneâs struggles and make it sound like theyâre discouraging people to open up or become aware of their mental health, out of an attempt to explain why self-dx is wrong. In this post, I will not take that approach. If you send me hate, thatâs on you, and I will delete it. I am not writing this in an insensitive or rude manner. Many of the individuals on tumblr will flip out when rightfully challenged about all of their âself-diagnosiesâ and tell me to kill myself, that I am automatically ableist, and that I âjust donât understannddd!â and so on (once again, ad hominem). Letâs show some maturity and intelligence. If you dislike what it is I am saying, perhaps you are guilty of this. I am not attacking you. It just clearly needs to be pointed out.
To start off: I understand, and here is my story.
There are people who do this who are confused, hurting, and canât get help, so sometimes they self-dx as a defense mechanism and as means of coping. I know this, because I did it. At one point in my life, I was immensely distressed and confused by my feelings and symptoms. I self-diagnosed myself with dissociative identity disorder (DID) when I was 14. I did not post about it, but I convinced myself I had it. My dissociative state, which I now know was an entirely different disorder and cause, was so severe. I turned to self-dx to help with my fears, confusion, and anxiety about it. Nothing made sense, and I needed to make sense of it. I see now how my experience wasnât remotely similar to DID. To someone untrained at the time, yes, I can see how it can be confused. But that is the pointâ I had no idea. I would have been better off trying to help myself and manage it than attaching myself to some sort of label to feel âcomfortable.â It did not help, but rather, made me preoccupied with symptoms I was afraid of having or thought I had. With this said, I understand each self-dx case is different and some are because they are so distressed and turn to it. I entirely understand that. That does not make it OK or healthy, however. That does not mean when you start to realize you may be doing this, you have some kind of excuse or right to continue to do so. When I understood how it was so harmful, ignorant, and biased, I stopped. In fact you will find a majority of the people who are so against self-diagnosis are those who may have done it in the past. They now realize just how much stress it caused them, how wrong they were, and how it is a major problem towards the mentally ill.
The problem:
As mentioned, each case is different. Sometimes they are confused, other times, they are scared. Sometimes, itâs a mixture of many reasons. Sometimes, there are some people really not taking it seriously. You cannot deny there are clearly people who add all of these illnesses as some sort of âabout meâ trait, pull out a list of disorders on their blog, clone other blogs, and cling to the labels. Many people may want to attach all these labels to themselves and draw attention to it. No matter the reason, even if with good intentions like mine, it is still not ok, and is still a major mockery to the mentally ill. Most blogs are now: âIâm [name], self-diagnosed aspergerâs, bpd, aspd, ptsd, ocd, bi-polar, depressionâŚâŚâ âIâm [name] and I have antisocial personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, anger manifested depression, and (lists a bunch of illnesses that arenât even diagnosable) âŚâ âI am self-diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, ptsd, and bipolar disorder. I also might have dyslexia, adhd, and eating disorders.â People will seriously diagnose people over anons/asks or say whether or not what they are experiencing is a symptom of a certain disorder or not:
Seriously, people? I know these may not be the two best examples, but basically, people often now âdiagnoseâ others over anons/asks or say whether or not what they are experiencing is a symptom of a certain disorder or not. It doesnât matter how self-dx is done. Reading articles on google or databases does not make you qualified or educated enough. Reading books does not mean you know whether or not you have a disorder. It really doesnât. Itâs even worse when people tell me they self-dx and havenât even done more than look over a list of symptoms. Doctors are not allowed to self-dx, so why would you? This leads to a HUGE release of misinformation and mockery on Tumblr. Apparently *everything* is a symptom now because someone on here randomly says it is, as you can see in the pictures above. The behaviors of some people on here make me ashamed of my actual mental illnesses, and I know I am not the only one. I am happy to see many others speaking up against this self-dx trend. Many people on here will freak out if anyone asks them about their self-diagnosies, and then they will blame it on their *disorders. * Someone I came across listed about 10 mental illnesses on their blog, and when I nicely messaged them about it, they harassed me. And I mean belittling, profanity, and death threats. Later, they messaged me and said it was because of their disordersâ they told me they truly do have major depression, anxiety, borderline, ocd, and so on, because them harassing me proves that. So, on top of everything, many of them have perpetuated stigma. This happens OFTEN. All it takes is for someone to see it in all the tags and millions of blogs on here. It happens more often than many realize. I have seen it, others have, and if you havenât seen it, that doesnât mean it doesnât happen or that you can try to say those who have experienced it are just wrong. The arguments for self-diagnosis are typically weak ones. They generally consist of: -You are ABLEIST because you discourage people from learning about and expressing their mental health. You should not discourage someone to look into their struggles. -You just DONâT UNDERSTAND because some people canât afford help, are in abusive homes, and so on. Except this doesnât excuse self-dx, as mentioned. So letâs address each of these throughout the post.
Medical student syndrome.
As a soon to be psych grad student, here is a well-known term used to describe students who self-dx and worry about whether or not they have the disorders they learn about. This is not something unheard of. Psychologically, we may very well naturally try to put ourselves into the shapes and patterns of what we read and learn about. Â When we read a book or watch a movie, we may put our life experiences into it. What we learn and experience is seen from our own perception. With the rise of technology, people tend to think they have the entire world in their hands and can suddenly diagnose themselves. You have to remember that while it is true for someone who has a disorder to become more aware of their symptoms the more they learn, someone is also highly likely to put themselves into what they learn about, worry about it, or misinterpret it as a symptom. You cannot only pay attention to the information that is biased to your point. I saw an argument going around describing how self-dx is valid because itâs not that you start to attribute the symptoms to yourself, itâs that you become more aware of them the more you learn. Except that is less than half the story about how our brain works and goes against entirely how our selective perceptions naturally work, especially if someone actually has an anxiety disorder or phobia and out of worry, ends up actually diagnosing themselves with a bunch of other disorders instead. This can cause extreme distress upon them. It is far more likely to be biased with your perception. If I did not know what disorder I actually have, I can see how it can be placed into many others if I were unaware of it. As I mentioned, I did that, and most do. Mental illnesses are notorious for having overlapsâthis is a clinical fact. If I was completely focused on bipolar disorder instead of what I actually have, I can see how I can put my symptoms into that, too. Quite frankly, I can put my symptoms into any mental disorder, and I can confidently say that even though I already know what disorder I really have.
Differential diagnosis:
Differential diagnosis is more complicated than anyone can conjure up until they have completed grad school. People go to medical school and spend years in graduate school for this. The more I go through school, the more I realize how little I knowâand I have been studying psychology for years. The more I learn, the more I realize how realistically complicated it is. I have come to humble myself even more throughout school, and honestly, part of realizing self-dx is wrong is humbling yourself to this understanding. In some sense, every mental illness can seem like another at some point in time. When I was diagnosed, I saw three psychologists, a psychiatrist, had blood work, and ruled out brain injuries and seizures. Differential diagnosis is not just to differentiate between mental illnesses; it is to ensure nothing physical is causing it. Literally every mental illness has an overlap, and I donât say that lightly. This is because mental illness is basically a spectrum of various emotions, behaviors, perceptions, and so on.
Autism to some extent can seem like: depression, borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, ocd, another developmental disorder, adhd, and so on. I could say the same about all those disorders listed. Some symptoms from one thing can really be caused by another or seem to be caused by another, when in all reality, it isnât. In all reality, it could be one, two, or none, of those disorders. Differential diagnosis is such a complex process, I would have to make a separate post about it to avoid making this post too long.
Diagnoses are hard to determineÂ
Arguments I sometimes hear are: (1) I saw my doctor and they diagnosed me the first day after some questions, so self-dx is okay. (2) After seeing my doctor for some time, they pulled out a checklist and diagnosed me. So it is ok to use the checklist yourself because that is how I was diagnosed by a doctor. This is just completely absurd; it assumes oneâs own perception and experience must be universally accurate. In other words, it is stating, âI was diagnosed a certain way by a doctor; therefore, everyone can be diagnosed that certain way.â It assumes multiple things: First, if someone has received a diagnosis within a few minutes, then itâs most likely wrong. It doesnât take into account anything at all except for the conversation and analysis they had right then and right now, nor does it mean they looked into other causes and differential diagnosis. I am sorry to say the mental health field has its many problems, and a doctor who does that really should do a better job. It makes me cringe. I do realize some disorders can be more obvious than others, but it does not change the fact that the professional was the one who determined it. Second, if you were seeing a doctor for some time and they suddenly showed you a list of symptoms and asked if you âthink you fit them,â they are not diagnosing you because of whether or not you think you do. Evidently, it is important for a patient to explain if it describes their self-reported symptoms, and why it may not, for analysis. But they do not ask you to determine the diagnosis entirely, no. Not at all. It may also show them exactly how aware you are of your symptoms if you go and deny the presence of it. I hate this argument because it goes to show how people assume they know whatever it is their doctor is doing and thinking. Another occurrence is the doctor is bringing up the diagnosis in the form of a discussion/question, and including the patient in the diagnostic process, instead of directly telling them before the patient even knows what it is their talking about. I would personally give a brief description of the symptoms and disorder to the patient, before dropping an overwhelming diagnosis on them that they may not have even heard of.
The DSM is not a checklist.
The American Psychiatric Association admitted right on their website in 2012 that the DSM should not be used in a cookbook manner and that it is often misused. For those of you who donât know, they created the DSM. The main purpose is to provide lawful proof that an illness exists and causes x, y, and z main symptoms. Â Before this, people could claim anyone was mentally ill or needed to be hospitalized based on word of mouth. People were abusing what âmentally illâ really was, or they kept trying to excuse people or berate them by saying they were mentally ill. Back then, there were no laws and criteria for explaining mental illness at all. What is âmentally ill?â What defines x, y, and z disorder, and what are x, y, and z symptoms? Absolutely nothing did. What the DSM provides is a convenient shorthand to the court, law, insurance companies, and other professionals. This does not mean it determines strictly in itself whether or not someone has a mental illness. This brings me up to my next pointâits purpose is for convenient shorthand. Its purpose is for doctors to know the names and main symptoms of criteria so they know what they come to agreement about disorders. It is a brief overview and reference guide for professionals and does not cover their actual knowledge of these disorders. The DSM never intended, nor claimed, to be something in which both professionals and laypersons can just look at check off of a list. The DSM has disclaimers right inside claiming the purpose for shorthand. And if professionals intentionally did not set it up so that it can be used in a checklist manner, then what makes you think you can accurately use it that way? Even if they tried to make some sort of restrictive criteria that is made to be a checklist and ultimately determine no matter what if someone has a disorder, that is quite clinically impossible. Disorders, behaviors, emotions, and so on,are on a spectrum with way too many overlaps, environmental influences, various etiologies, and prognoses. Additionally, The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the World Health Organization (WHO) is another diagnostic shorthand criteria, used almost as often as the DSM to assist the diagnosing of mental illness. The criteria in these books and descriptions are not identical. They are similar enough for clinical purposes, and so there are no major controversies, yes (imagine just how much that can screw things up!), but it is not identical nevertheless. In the DSM, there is one type of Borderline Personality Disorder. In the ICD, there are two. In the DSM, they combined Aspergerâs, Autism, and so on, into one spectrum a few years ago. In the ICD, they did not. (No, itâs not that âAspergerâsâ no longer exists. Aspergerâs was always considered to be a spectrum of Autism. The just simply wrote it differently as one spectrum now). These books, at best, are arbitrary and resources to doctors and professionals for shorthand, rather than something that is some ultimate determinator of diagnosing illnesses. Research reveals this is actually a very arbitrary book with controversies. No seriously, in research, they have tried to test the accuracy of going off the DSM alone, and it has been shown to lack validity. Itâs not to say the disorders donât exist, but that there is no magic book that tells you if you have it. No, those online tests arenât accurate checklists either for the same or similar reasons, nor are they typically professionally constructed.
Most of what people diagnose themselves with on here is not a diagnosable condition, or it is clinically inaccurate/controversial.
Now this is a major point.
People will put disorders on their blog that cannot co-occur, is not a diagnosable condition, or is somehow clinically controversial, uncommon, impossible, or inaccurate. It really proves how they donât know what they are talking about. Bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder together? OR Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder together? Schizoaffective disorder is a mood/affective disorder with schizophrenia. Youâd be saying you have the same thing twice, and this is not how it is diagnosed. Major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder? Bipolar disorder is already saying you have major depression (with mania/hypomania). It is not possible for someone to have major depression twice, for the depression in bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder have the same criteria, symptoms, and name. Psychosis? This is typically diagnosed as a symptom of a disorder and not as a diagnosis in itself. Manic depression and bipolar disorder? They are clinically the same disorder. A bunch of personality disorders at the age of 15? They are not typically diagnosed until adulthood. While it is CRUCIAL to realize the importance of detecting disorders early, and to realize personality disorders are in some instances diagnosed before adulthood, diagnosing an adolescent with one is approached VERY cautiously in a clinical setting. The reason for this is the personality development completely alters throughout life and the psychosocial stages of development alter, which I explain more in this post somewhere. Histrionic and avoidant personality disorder? Extremely clinically controversial. Schizophrenia at 12 years old? Except this is clinically uncommon and does not typically occur. The phases of schizophrenia do not typically appear in this manner. You have both PTSD and Acute Stress disorder? Not possible. I really could go on 10000 pages about this point and most of what I see on tumblr.
Self-diagnosis is not the same as self-help, self-awareness, self-assessment, and self-advocacy.
There is a clear line between these two. You can look into your symptoms with the intent to help yourself and not self-dx. You can express yourself and become more aware of your struggles, without self-dxing all over a blog and without posting everywhere about self-dx. You can look into what might help make sense of your experiences, without self-dxing. You can explain how you feel (angry, depressed) and find tools to analyze what struggles you have from these feelings, without self-dx. You can even open up to your doctor about a concern you had about relating to a disorder, without self-dxing! There is a difference between, âI get angry a lot and I am going to try to recognize my triggers and find ways to cope with it, maybe even open up to someone about it.â Compared to, âI get angry a lotâ I have BPD.â In fact, even those diagnosed really shouldnât give the impression their diagnosis are trends and such. Itâs just the fact that this isnât ok AT ALL!! I am not saying that it isnât ok to post on your about me or that you should jump to conclusions about peopleâs about me page (sucks I even have to clarify that, because I never did state so)!!!!! Society should never make someone feel like they have hide their mental disorders, but even to those who have a diagnosis, it still would not be appropriate to present it as a trend, excuse, or the like. For example, although I have BPD, it is still possible for me to be mean to someone and simply say âit is because of my disorder,â or to self-dx with other disorders, just to name two examples. These are not appropriate with or without a diagnosis. As discussed, I deeply encourage people to stay mindful of their mental health. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Self-help books have immensely helpful toolsâI recommend checking out New Harbinger Publications, as they have many self-help books. Moreover, online resources can prove helpful, whether it is a discussion or online community to avoid isolation and feeling alone, a website about coping, self-help, and/or how to become more aware of our struggles. Some look for validation in an unhealthy way. Validation is a necessary part of coping and self help, but itâs crossed a line when it turns into telling people which mental illnesses they might have and encouraging unhealthy coping. Identifying coping skills, recognizing your triggers, journaling, providing yourself closure with validation, self-evaluation, and so much more, are helpful and healthy ways to handle distress. Self-dxing all over a blog, making excuses, telling people which mental illnesses they might have, minimizing symptoms, jumping to conclusions, and so on, is not in itself helpful or necessary.Â
It is not good for you.
Simply, it is very well possible that if someone is chasing and clinging to a diagnosis, theyâre not accepting themselves. Theyâre not going to feel better, and it wonât give them treatment. They are not going to move forward, they could focus on the possibility of a ton of disorders, possibly exaggerate, cause anxiety, preoccupations, and more. I did exactly this, and I know others do, too. There is a huge aspect of denial to some who self-dx, too. Rather than dealing with the reality of the situation (something in life may be going on and causing difficulties, or maybe there is the presence of a mental disorder they are missing and pushing aside because of their own preoccupations) they put all their focus to a label they determine.
Furthermore, the fact is it is very much possible the developmental phase of someone to cause much of the distress. Adolescents aged about 12-19 years are currently in a psychosocial developmental phase in their life called âidentity vs. confusion.â This is the adolescent stage of Ericsonâs Psychosocial Theory of Development. Adolescents reach a stage in life where they need to establish themselves, their independence, and find their âgroup/where they belong.â This clearly can make someone more likely to search for a cause for their issues. It is simply a fact that many individuals who self-dx are in this phase. No, itâs not to say you need to write difficulties off as, âbeing a teenager.â This is a stigma against mental health in itself. Regardless of what it is connected to, it is still hurting you and still something that needs to be dealt with. What this doesnât guarantee, however, is the presence of a certain mental illness. Puberty, hormones, and stages of development, can tremendously take a toll on someone in various ways, but you donât need a certain mental illness to admit you have struggled in your life before. If you deny this fact, you really donât know much about human biology and psychology. It is a fact that physically, one is undergoing dramatic changes at this phase, and multiple psychological changes are occurring. Any sort of event, situation, or perception, that seems to threaten this identity stage of development, naturally causes intense distress and confusion. It is called âidentity vs. confusionâ to explain the psychological development individuals go through. It is a complex process. Adolescents try to find harmony, they start to accept or reject parts of themselves to establish who they are, and so on. They may establish a false self out of an attempt to develop who they are, feeling as if they act like one person in some settings, but not in another. Sounds a little bit like a personality disorder to some of you, doesnât it? It isnât. Itâs entirely different. This is a stage of development, and it is a requirement to differentiate a personality disorder from someoneâs developmental factors, environment, and so on. I donât want to hear any, âOh, so youâre saying Iâm unhappy because Iâm a teenager?? Because of hormones!! Youâre INVALIDATING ME!â or âOh so youâre saying a mental illness only exists when diagnosed?????â No, no. Although some people may make these poor and stigmatizing points, I did not ever bring up or claim these points, and you will be minimizing my actual point into a different point that is easier for you to refuteâthis is known as the straw man logical fallacy in philosophy. It is a fact, as mentioned, that your distress and confusion doesnât guarantee a certain mental illness, and whatever the cause, it needs to be dealt with. Itâs not any less important without a certain mental illness present. Do not waste time messaging me, claiming I said something that I did not, which seems to be a tumblr favorite.
Now, what I wonât say is, âYou just have a case of Hypochondriasis and/or Munchausen syndrome!â I get extremely annoyed when people argue against self-dx say those who self-dx must just really have a case of these disorders. First, it seems to mock those who really have it. It can be very severe, especially when someone who has it puts themselves in life-threatening situations or self-harm. Second, it is doing just thatâassuming someone has an illness that they very well might not have (just like self-dx). It is a weak argument, defeats the point, and is hypocritical. It attacks the person and not the argument (ad hominem). I donât blame some of the people who self-dx on here for freaking out at times, because sometimes, the people who confront them about their self-dx are completely rude or belittling. Stop it. Youâre not showing how self-dx is wrong. Youâre just making us look like bad and illogically expressing your position, even if they did have hypochondriasis.
It is a smack in the face to those with mental illnesses and disabilities.
Self-dx very much spreads mockery, and it is insensitive to the mentally ill. I already mentioned a bit about how it can give us a bad name. Iâm sorry to say by the looks of many blogs, their posts, as you can see by the pictures, it appears to be another internet trend. What would you think just by a glance? This is not okay. It does not matter which side of the argument you lean towardsâyou have to at least see how this is not okay. Statistically rare or uncommon mental illnesses arenât *rare* anymore on here. Itâs all over blogs. Imagine living with a severe mental illness and everyone on a website claims *this* and *that* is a symptom, when itâs not, uses the disorder as an excuse to treat people like shit, or continuously posts about the trend, totally invalidating, minimizing, and remaining ignorant to the struggle. Suddenly their experience is assumed to be symptoms of a certain mental disorder, totally making light on and minimizing that disorder. Additionally, it shapes the way mental illness is viewed and the way we are treated and addressed. We are minimized, not taken seriously, mocked, and many of them treat us like a fashion statement they can go and clone on their âabout me page.â I realize my self-dx of DID is harmful to those with DID. I realize it was not accurate. Am I a âbadâ person? No. Had they known my situation, Iâm sure theyâd be understanding, as I am towards many of you. Does this suddenly not make it hurtful or harmful? No. It does not provide some excuse to continue to do so, and it would still not be accurate to claim that it wasnât still harmful and wrong in some way at the time. So, yes, you have a right to be upset if someone comes at you harassing you about it, calling you a hypochondria patient, etc. I can totally see how that doesnât help the case. But seriously, when educated people try to tell you how problematic it is on all sorts of levels and how it affects the mentally ill, listen. Obviously itâs not like someone will read this and suddenly completely change their mind. Thatâs not the way the brain works actually, so give it a chance.
âYou donât understand and some people cannot afford it/grew up abused/have no access:â
This is said with the assumption that those who are against self-dx (me in this instance) did not grow up in an abusive home and that I actually have access to treatment, which is an assumption you cannot logically make. How do you know I must not understand what being in that situation is like? I already covered this point in the difference between self-dx and self-awareness/advocacy and described how it is possible for one to actually help themselves, self-assess, and so on, without self-dxing everywhere. And if I must, this might be helpful in some instances, and because Iâm highly aware the mental health system sucks: (X, X,  X) Disclaimer: I already wrote a few disclaimers throughout the post, but just to remind you: Do not waste your time telling me to kill myself over this post, that I just secretly hate the mentally ill, and whatever illogical claim people on tumblr go off about now. Additionally, I am not attacking anyone in any way. I never said anyone was âbadddâ for doing so, and I firstly acknowledged the different reasons people do soâ I really donât want to hear any false claim. Whatâs not ableist is asking for people to respect the mentally ill. What is ableist is completely disrespecting and seemingly fetishizing, romanticizing, and displaying them in this manner.
