can I be really honest and probably a bit annoying about something, I think the self diagnosis conversation is way more nuanced than just "some people don't have access to getting a professional diagnosis therefore self diagnosis is valid inherently based off of need for a diagnosis/label".
because while I completely agree that having a professional diagnosis can (emphasis on 'can') make accommodations easier to an extent at least in my experience being diagnosed very young with severe/stigmatized mental health disorders it has only made life harder for me. I understand and agree with the point about a professional diagnosis being hard to obtain, but ive noticed a pattern of what I personally see being considered for a self diagnosis amongst people more than other conditions, there's more of a focus on more specific and severe disorders like Dissociative Identity disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder (Which I am diagnosed with now as an adult), Personality disorders, etc.
it's also not just those disorders but i've seen those be self diagnosed the most often. I think my reluctance to self diagnosis as a widespread thing is that a clinical evaluation is crucial for all of those disorders, it's critical to observe affect and how someone behaves, and while self reported symptoms are important, if you suspect you have a mood disorder or a psychotic disorder you need an in person evaluation because those disorders directly impaire thought processes.
This is not to say that self diagnosis is criminal or to advocate for fake claiming because i do not believe in that as you genuinely do not know someone by seeing what they post online, this is more so to point out that I think the conversation is watered down into two teams of self diagnosis invalid vs self diagnosis valid, when it is so much more nuanced than that.
Because yes I have privilege that I got inpatient treatment and got a diagnosis young, but I feel like the importance is in daily life and quality of life. Because having a professional diagnosis doesn't mean people or medical professionals automatically believe me or treat me kindly in fact it's often the opposite and I get treated very poorly.
I've been a victim to many things because of being mentally ill and I can empathize with wanting an answer to what's wrong, but at least in the case of these more severe and specific mental health disorders I really don't think you can self diagnose yourself with them as accurately and you need to have some kind of a medical or psychiatric evaluation, because a lot of these disorders need medication management, therapy, possibly inpatient or outpatient hospital treatments and if it isn't mental health related it could also be health related so it's important to rule out health issues before a mental health diagnosis.
and that's not to say that people who self diagnose are faking because that's not what I believe but I think a lot of people see these conditions online and in media and relate to some symptoms or feelings that an individual might experience who has the condition and don't realize that there is a system to how these things are diagnosed and reporting symptoms alone isn't enough for a diagnosis sometimes. There is a criteria for most of these disorders, that you also need to have an in person evaluation or possibly medical testing to rule out anything physical as well before a diagnosis. and this isn't just for no reason it does serve a purpose.
This isn't my thoughts on the mental health or treatment system as a whole because I have a lot of very strong opinions on the mental health and psychiatric system but I will also mention that im not a staunch supporter of the mental health system I think its very flawed and often times misdiagnoses or underdiagnoses patients sometimes intentionally, especially for black women and women of color but for a large majority of marginalized communities as well. This isn't so much a post about that specifically because this would get a bit long and would deserve specific care, but I wanted to mention that as medical racism is very important to this conversation as well since racism and ableism gets black and brown disabled people killed often due to medical malpractice or abuse in the medical and psychiatric field.
Closing thoughts: Self diagnosis is a way more nuanced conversation than just if it's valid or not because I don't really think that's the right way to talk about this topic, however fake claiming and bullying are not and will never be a solution to people faking conditions because you genuinely will never know from behind a screen what someone is dealing with. I also believe people when they say they have or are diagnosed with something unless they say otherwise. I do not believe in ever targeting individuals as this post is more so talking about how I feel as someone who has suffered a lot being professionally diagnosed and going over how i personally feel about the topic and why I think there needs to be some kind of evaluation for more specific/severe mental disorders. Also this is just my opinion it's not fact and I am very open to being corrected on anything since I'm not a doctor just someone who has extensive history in the psychiatric system.
