Any thoughts on Self-Diagnosing?

[Holdek]

Self-Diagnosing, in my views, can be a great thing- only if you are willing to put the initiative into actually finding a doctor to get you actual help. If its a physical disorder (like, in my case, IBD), it can aid you.

I mean, in a sense that it can prevent further harm onto you while you do get help in diagnosing by using legit doctors. It too my about a month and a half to actually get diagnosed with IBD, but I did research that proved helpful because, again, one wrong move and you can induce pain onto yourself.

However, I can't see the benefit of it in mental disorders. Anyone can fit the symptoms of a mental disorder. That's normal.

Then you have the people that get overshadowed because some jerk takes advantage of this idea and they diagnose themselves with things, degrading those that have it, legit. It bothers me that many people never see that aspect. I saw someone on a show (a judge show, sort of like Judge Judy) say they had Crohn's disease to gain sympathy and money, when someone with that disease can see through it completely. Its a topic that has its good points and bad points as well. Any thoughts?

There's no such thing as legitimate self-diagnosis. But you're right, it can be helpful to "guess" what you have until you can see a professional. But even be careful with that because you can inadvertently take steps to make your condition worse in the interim if it turns out your guess was wrong.

 

[Pinkamena Diane Pie]

There's no such thing as legitimate self-diagnosis. But you're right, it can be helpful to "guess" what you have until you can see a professional. But even be careful with that because you can inadvertently take steps to make your condition worse in the interim if it turns out your guess was wrong.

True on that part. For me, I was out of options that that point. I was getting little help. while my tip was not very helpful in terms of other reasons (at that time, I only found things to avoid doing, not things to help when you accidentally do something that wasn't supposed to happen. )

 

[Holdek]

Psychologists generally have either a master's or an academic doctoral degree (Ph.D.). Psychiatrists are, by definition, medical doctors with an M.D. degree and then further specialization in psychiatry.

Psychologists must have a doctoral degrees and ones practicing clinically are required to have gone through the internship/supervision/certification process like other health practitioners.

 

[AnOminous]

Psychologists must have a doctoral degrees and ones practicing clinically are required to have gone through the internship/supervision/certification process like other health practitioners.

Depends where you are. In Alberta, a master's degree is sufficient. There may be other similar jurisdictions.

 

[Datiko]

Self-diagnosis is idiotic and should never be encouraged. Somehow people seem to think that access to the internet is on par with 8+ years of medical school. I block a new website from my Facebook everyday because the headlines are "look how a ____ outsmarted a doctor" or " ____ trick doctors don't want you to know about".

 

[BILLY MAYS]

It's good to determine SYMPTOMS, full stop. Any more than that (ie. indentifying your disease) is no go.

 

[Pinkamena Diane Pie]

Self-diagnosis is idiotic and should never be encouraged. Somehow people seem to think that access to the internet is on par with 8+ years of medical school. I block a new website from my Facebook everyday because the headlines are "look how a ____ outsmarted a doctor" or " ____ trick doctors don't want you to know about".

Yeah, hate that. Someone started a lie that SOMEHOW managed to continue on. It hurts so many people. Someone thought it was okay to grant advice to a person with IBD. They thought it was wise to make them eat chia seeds. It hurt the few that believed it. (Maybe it works for normal people but it clogs a sick person)

 

[Pikonic]

It all depends on what you think you have.
The big thing this time of year is if you start to feel sick, do you have a cold or flu? You can do some research on the symptoms of both and learn you have a cold and take care of it yourself without paying a doctor. In this case self diagnoses is good because it saved you time and money, because a doctor might give you some ibuprofen and tell you to rest. Think of how many times you got a cold and were better in a few days, doctor or not.
A lot of physical injuries work the same too, I was a competing swimmer for years and I know the various pains, the difference between "I just need to take it easy." and "I need to go see the trainer."
You can do the same with some mental disorders, is your depression real or is it from diet and lack of exercise, why not try diet and exercise first before going to a doctor.

The problem is when we hear "self diagnose" we think of some lolcow who self diagnosed themselves with autism and should be given a free pass on everything.

 

[Wallace]

Not with mental problems. It's really, really hard to be objective when it comes to things which screw with your perception like psychological disorders do. But yes, there are plenty of lolcows who use mental disorders, self-diagnosed or not, as a universal "get out of jail free" card.

 

[Pinkamena Diane Pie]

Not with mental problems. It's really, really hard to be objective when it comes to things which screw with your perception like psychological disorders do. But yes, there are plenty of lolcows who use mental disorders, self-diagnosed or not, as a universal "get out of jail free" card.

I think it is best used in physical elements for that reason. It's hard not being objective with certain things. (Especially things that make you bleed)

 

[YI 457]

At best, naive and harmless. Most of the time is stupid as fuck.

 

[chimpburgers]

Except in extreme cases where the doctors you go to can't find the answer themselves and its some rare disease that you have to do some research on and then go see a specific doctor for that disease and get tested for it, I'd say it's normally a shitty idea to play doctor and that it should be left up to those who have been through the rigorous medical training and have extensive knowledge of these issues.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Only two types of people self diagnose; hypochondriacs & losers panhandling for asspats.

 

[Cosmos]

I think that self-diagnosing is only good in one case, which is if you research different disorders that you feel you might have and then take your findings to a professional who knows what they're doing. I don't think there's anything bad about going to a doctor and saying "I've been doing some research and I think I might have bipolar disorder, but I could be wrong; I want to hear your professional opinion." If your doctor says you don't have bipolar disorder and you keep trying to argue that you do because you've already set your mind on it, then you just look like an idiot.

By and large, though, I think that self-diagnosis is both extremely stupid and offensive. The biggest problem with self-diagnosers is that they don't take that crucial next step and go in for a professional evaluation; they just slap a label on themselves and call it a day. And then they use that label to argue with or claim to speak for people who are actually suffering from the disorder.

That's really what I don't get about self-DXers. Why would you bother looking up an illness if you aren't planning on treating it? It's pretty much universally accepted that most mental illnesses can only be cured (or at least diminished until they can be dealt with) through therapy and/or medication, both of which are meant to be taken under the supervision of a professional. If you're not planning on seeing a therapist or a psychiatrist, then what the fuck is the point of saying you have bipolar disorder or generalized anxiety disorder?

And that's where the offensive part comes in. These people wear labels- labels that describe actual mental illnesses- like they're accessories that can be taken off or exchanged whenever they feel like it. Self-DXers get to wear mental illnesses and get all of the perks associated with them (attention, uniqueness, etc) without having to deal with the bad parts (read: literally everything else). At the end of the day, they can cast these labels away when they no longer have use for them. But people who are genuinely afflicted with things like anxiety, depression, or PTSD have to struggle with them for the rest of their lives.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I think that self diagnosing a cold and taking a tylenol is OK

 

[DangerousGas]

I self-diagnose with work-related stress, and administer rum on a semi-regular basis. Am I now Tumblr?

 

[NeverHappened]

With ASDs, I feel the entire thing is a big ass gray area. Even the professionals don't have any idea. Because of my job, I had to get professionally diagnosed as an adult and what did that get me? Nothing! The psychologist referred me to wrongplanet.whatever and luckily, I found complaining about it to other aspies too boring. The best thing to do is to be less autistic. It's mental so it's not set in stone.

I do have one self-diagnosis, which I try my best to keep it out of sight. It's one that can't be treated so why even bother?

 

[Pinkamena Diane Pie]

Like this?

It all depends on what you think you have.
The big thing this time of year is if you start to feel sick, do you have a cold or flu? You can do some research on the symptoms of both and learn you have a cold and take care of it yourself without paying a doctor. In this case self diagnoses is good because it saved you time and money, because a doctor might give you some ibuprofen and tell you to rest. Think of how many times you got a cold and were better in a few days, doctor or not.
A lot of physical injuries work the same too, I was a competing swimmer for years and I know the various pains, the difference between "I just need to take it easy." and "I need to go see the trainer."
You can do the same with some mental disorders, is your depression real or is it from diet and lack of exercise, why not try diet and exercise first before going to a doctor.

The problem is when we hear "self diagnose" we think of some lolcow who self diagnosed themselves with autism and should be given a free pass on everything.

 

[AnOminous]

I think the major issue with self-diagnosing anything mental is if you are, in fact, mentally ill, why do you think the fucked up brain you're using is in any shape to diagnose itself?

 

[caffeinated_wench]

Self-diagnosing is very, very dangerous. Aside from risking becoming like the standard tumblrite who self-diagnoses as a speshul snowflake with different personalities because that's soooo cooooool, there's also the danger of diagnosing yourself and attempting to get medication that would hurt yourself or worse.

Besides, correct me if I'm wrong but you generally can't get medication to help what you think you have unless you're officially diagnosed. Even if you were right about, say, having depression, how can you get the medication for it unless you actually go to someone who is trained in that field to give you the prescription? You could also be completely wrong, especially given that -- for example, in the physical sense -- most symptoms turn up some form of cancer in online symptom checkers. It's not accurate and you don't have the technology or means of doing things like scans. As @AnOminous pointed out, there's also the fact that if you think you have a mental disorder (especially if you actually have something like health-related anxiety or hypochondria) you REALLY shouldn't be trying to diagnose yourself.

Of course, either way you look at it, while it's good to realize there might be something wrong, you should never try to diagnose yourself. Leave that to the people who are trained in that field.