• Replies 62 replies
  • Subscribers 14 subscribers
  • Views 8285 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

“Trendy” diagnoses

Alien0n3arth

I’ve got some negative experience and also some thoughts. It’s about the self diagnosis in mental health conditions being not accepted mostly by professionals. 
There are various online tests - screening tools. AQ50, AQ10, RAADS, and many others. There are also tests for ADHD. These are screening tools, not designed to diagnose. When you fill out the test, you get the result. If your result is significantly high, you get a message- you might have xyz condition, it’s better to contact a mental health professional. What is the reality? If you fill out the test or even few of them and their results together point to this condition and you go to the professional, there is a high chance, that they will not take you seriously, there high risk of hearing the stupid  “trendy” comments about diagnoses that everyone wants to have, that you just want attention, you’re just lazy not willing to work on yourself, or laugh and question if you know it from TikTok. 
There is a huge ocean of information and also misinformation out there, we as non professionals often lack the ability to differentiate what is true, what is not, but it also depends on where do we look for the information. Social media is more likely to deliver us more misinformation than books, but it’s not all black and white. 
the truth is that we ourselves know best what we experience and a professional who questions that, who tells us “you are exaggerating, creating your problems yourself, or that “this is not a problem” erode our trust and make us more cautious about contacting them. I heard from a psychotherapist (psychiatrist and psychologist, with long experience, doctor, lecturer at a university) that lack of friends is not a problem when I told her it is. When I was a teenager, I was suicidal because of this. And then I heard such a thing. 
So I feel it like - if you think that xyz condition describes your problems and explains the why’s, better stay as you are and don’t dare self diagnosing or reaching out to professionals with your insignificant problems. I hope I will finally find someone treating me seriously. I hope others here have better experience. In my case I was told by few professionals that Im probably autistic, the first one - the lecturer gave me her “trendy” comment after I described her my problems. I haven’t even mentioned anything about autism. I will see if it leads me anywhere or I stay as I am trying to cope. At least the self dx helped me manage my life in a way that is a bit easier for me and recognize how to name actually my struggles and strength and weaknesses. I’m not sure why I’m sharing this, just want to share some thoughts and experience. Can anyone relate? Sorry for a long post

Parents
  • Paper said:
    I don't believe there is such a thing as self-diagnosis. It's a a logical impossibility, the nature and definition of diagnosis means you can't do it to yourself, particularly since you are not a trained qualified professional who is able to make diagnoses.

    I think that's semantics.

    I agree re the use of the word 'diagnosis'.  It's a medical term.

    I've used 'self recognised or realised' before.

    Paper said:

    This is in fact one of the negative consequences of the self-diagnosis crowd - it means autism doesn't get taken seriously any more.

    Self-diagnosis and over-diagnosis from paid diagnosis mills has real world harms to people with autism, in terms of diluting the limited help available and making it less likely for autistic people to get the help they need - this already happened recently in Australia. It means people with autism don't get taken seriously and it's one of the reasons I don't tell people I'm autistic, because they'll just think I'm part of the trendy crowd jumping on the bandwagon. It won't be taken seriously.

    There are enormous communities now on TikTok and Reddit and YouTube and other social media, of mostly self-diagnosed people who all have convinced themselves they have autism because of online questionnaires which have very high rates of false positives, and research shows are unreliable for diagnosing autism

    I don't think that anyone here is a member of a 'crowd'.

    With regard to the 'online questionnaires ... research shows are unreliable for diagnosing autism' can you direct me to that research please.

    I was given some of those tests to get to my diagnosis by medical professionals so I'm surprised.

    I've had a discussion here once before with a member of the forum and I'll say what I said then, and I hope I don't trigger anyone.

    If we have two groups of people - those diagnosed by 'professionals' and those self-recognised, the main thing that concerns me is the criteria.

    I believe that if we talk about autistic people generally, then both should be using the same criteria, and in the conversation I had before, I believe that wasn't the case.

    With regard to professional diagnosis, that can be incorrect anyway.

    I've lost count of the number of times members of the forum were denied a diagnosis partly because they 'made eye contact' or were in a relationship.

    In the end, we are all here, with the same experiences and sufferings and we can all support one another in that, whether or not we are tied together by a piece of paper.

Reply Children
No Data