Self-Diagnosis: Helpful or Harmful?
/I frequently have clients come to me with questions about diagnoses they think might apply to them. Most of the time, the information they have questions on comes from videos they’ve seen on TikTok or other social media platforms. Usually these questions start like this: “I know self-diagnosing is bad, but…”. The thing is, I don’t think self-diagnosis is all bad, and usually this question leads to really helpful and important conversations. All of this being said, there are some serious risks associated with self-diagnosing. So, is self-diagnosing helpful or harmful?
What’s helpful?
1. It can help you view yourself more compassionately. Some people struggling with mental health challenges before having a diagnosis have a feeling that something’s wrong with them. They think they should just be able to do things better and more easily. There can be a feeling of shame around finding things to be extremely difficult that appear to be so easy for others. For people who experience this, a diagnosis can provide a feeling of relief, self-compassion, and hope. Diagnoses can give a little more understanding of why certain things are more challenging and how to overcome them, cope with them, and/or accept them instead of feeling incompetent and ashamed.
2. It can start helpful conversations with your doctor or mental health provider. Remember the conversations with clients that I mentioned at the start of this post where people were asking me about diagnoses they think they might have that they learned about online? The reason those conversations are often so helpful is because I usually end up learning about experiences I had no idea my client was having. That’s helpful and important for how I work with them most effectively moving forward. It’s not that the person was trying to hide things from me. Usually, they just didn’t realize it was relevant or important to share, or maybe they weren’t even aware of it until they saw a TikTok on it. I believe a lot of this information may have never been shared or known if that person didn’t entertain that they may meet the criteria of a diagnosis they just learned about. Whether they’re right about that diagnosis or not, it’s always been a helpful conversation for our work together moving forward.
3. Lack of access to mental healthcare. It’s easy to say, “don’t self-diagnose without a medical or mental health professional”, but not everybody has that option. There is a huge list of reasons people might not have access to mental or medical healthcare. Cost, lack of health insurance, transportation barriers, and lack of access to childcare are just a few of those barriers. If someone doesn’t have access to mental healthcare, then self-diagnosis might be the most effective way to validate their experiences and find community and support that is essential to mental well-being.
What’s harmful?
1. Missing nuances of diagnoses. Diagnosing accurately and effectively can be complicated and challenging, and that’s even for people who have been trained, educated, and practicing in these specialties for years. There are a lot of small but important distinctions between diagnoses that are essential for a person to get the proper support and care they need. For example, people who experience frequent and intense mood swings sometimes assume they have bipolar disorder, but there are a number of other diagnoses that may contribute to these fluctuations in mood. This requires the nuanced understanding of a professional to accurately diagnose and then treat. Pursuing the wrong diagnosis could prevent a person from making progress they want to make, or in worst case scenarios could make things worse.
2. Pathologizes things that aren’t pathological (for yourself and others). Pathologizing is defined by the Meriam-Webster Dictionary as “regarding or treating (someone or something) as psychologically abnormal or unhealthy.” How many times have you heard a friend (or maybe you yourself) refer to an ex as a narcissist? Certainly, this can be true, but the thing people are often citing as narcissism is selfishness. It’s a human thing to be selfish, and selfishness is sometimes an important and healthy thing. Another common experience is feelings of anxiety and depression. Everyone experiences the emotions of anxiety and depression. Having these feelings doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has a mental health disorder. It’s sometimes just an ordinary human experience and labelling these emotions and others that may be unpleasant as “pathological” can do a lot of harm.
3. You could miss a medical diagnosis that has psychological symptoms. There are several medical conditions that can present very similarly to mental health disorders. Consider some symptoms of depression, including things like fatigue, changes in sleep, changes in appetite, and low mood or agitation. Now consider some symptoms that occur with some anxiety disorders, like racing heart and shallow breathing. Each of these symptoms can occur with these mental health diagnoses, but they can also be signs or symptoms of a medical health issue. Things like Lyme disease, thyroid disorders, and brain injuries are just a few diagnoses that can often be mistaken for mental health disorders by the untrained eye.
There is so much to consider when talking about self-diagnosis. I had a hard time writing this blog because it was hard to narrow down the points I was trying to make. This post just kept getting longer! And I edited a lot!!! It felt like every piece of information on this topic was important.
As is often the case with questions asking for a black and white answer, the answer to the question “is self-diagnosing helpful or harmful” is complex and is grayer than it is black and white. There are both helpful and harmful consequences of self-diagnosing. Be conscientious about where you’re getting your information. If you connect with information you’re hearing about a mental health diagnosis on the internet, don’t dismiss your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences automatically because “self-diagnosing is bad”. You know your experiences better than anyone. Spend some time reflecting on the specifics of what it is you relate to, how you specifically experience it, and some examples from your own life if you can think of them. From there, if possible, it’s important take that information to a doctor or a mental health professional you trust so you can be effectively diagnosed and treated if necessary. As a therapist, in addition to being a support for you, I’m also a resource. Therapists welcome these kinds of questions, and even if we don’t have the answers, we can often point you in the direction of a resource so we can best support you and you can best care for yourself.
If you have questions about a possible diagnosis, possible mental health challenges, or are just looking for some support regardless of diagnosis, talk to your doctor or mental healthcare provider. If you don’t have a doctor or mental healthcare provider, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a great a place to start looking for resources. They are not just a space for people in crisis or thinking of suicide. Their resources on their website can help you find local therapists, support groups, and information. Their resource page is linked here: https://988lifeline.org/help-yourself/
The mental health therapists at our office offer counseling for a variety of issues including trauma using EMDR, depression, anxiety, grief, and couples counseling. We work with kids, teens, adults, and couples. We also offer online counseling services which can be great for people with busy schedules or for people who live in parts of Pennsylvania with limited counseling options. You can check out our website to see the full list of counseling services that we offer. Or, Request An Appointment here.