Self Diagnosis: Is it valid?

If you’ve spent time on social media, in particular Instagram or TikTok, you may have come across this topic, particularly with the millennial or gen z content creators. The theory is that self diagnosis can be helpful for individuals who want to understand their mental health and adapt to the challenges.

There has been a lot of talk in the therapist groups I’m in about the validity of it and I think I may be in a less than popular camp. I think that self diagnosis can be valid, particularly for things like ADHD or Autism. These two areas are known for not having enough access to providers who can help and if you can find them, there are often several barriers to getting an official diagnosis.

For both, it has been disproportionately diagnosed across the gender spectrum in favor of cisgender males. This is a problem for anyone outside of this narrow category. For example ADHD is often diagnosed because of the "hyperactive” symptoms, which we tend to see in males from a younger age. Those socialized as female are encouraged to hide any of the hyperactive symptoms, like restlessness or running around. This leaves those who tend to have more inattentive symptoms such as daydreaming or difficulty with task organization are looked at as “lazy”. This has caused an uptick in late diagnosed cases of those two areas (meaning in adulthood).

Self diagnosis can be a helpful tool in understanding the why when it comes to how your brain may be working. This allows people to use more adaptive tools and helps in turn make them more available for other people with different disabilities.

On the other hand, self diagnosis may cause people to ignore other possible reasons for their behavior, such as trauma or chronic anxiety. This is where a professional is most helpful when it comes to better understanding what is going on for a particular person.

A professional diagnosis can help a person navigate the challenges in life easier with things like accommodations or skill building and this should be the eventual goal.

In short, self diagnosis can be helpful, but if possible it should be confirmed by a professional before making any major changes.

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