Should you be self diagnosing a mental health disorder?

Hello Wild Ones 🌞🌞,

How are you? I wonder if you know that just like wild flowers, you can grow in the most unexpected places. This indeed has been my testimony the past few months. I hate the glorification of pain, but the oddest things happened to me, and it forced me to grow. I wish growth for you without the pain, of course!

I was thinking about the first time I went to therapy, and I told my therapist that I was depressed. She immediately went on a rant about how people often mistake sadness with depression. I remembered feeling really invalidated because I was sure that I was actually depressed but here was a mental health professional saying I wasn’t. Of course, we didn’t get along after because I just couldn’t get past the fact that she had invalidated my feelings. Thinking about it got me thinking about how self diagnosing mental health issues isn’t always bad.

Now, as a person who has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, I hate people who are constantly diagnosing themselves with mental health issues. The most common issues that people flippantly add to their lives are anxiety, depression, bipolar, OCD and most recently ADHD. I clinge every time someone who’s a ‘clean freak’ starts to claim that they have OCD just because they like keeping things a certain way. Granted, being obsessed with keeping things a certain way to the point that you think something terrible will happen is actually a symptom of OCD anxiety disorder. However, not everyone who likes to colour code stuff has OCD. Also, just because you are moody doesn’t mean you have bipolar disorder. Just because you can’t concentrate doesn’t mean you have ADHD.

On the flip side, I was able to advocate for my diagnosis because I had an inclination that I had bipolar disorder. I had Googled the symptoms online, and for the first time, I felt that I was actually normal in my own way. At this point, I had been in therapy for a year. I had the longest mental health care routine. I would wake up exercise, meditate, pray, listen to a preaching, shower to ambient music with the most sweet smelling soap, wear an outfit that made me feel very pretty with a sweet perfume, journal, listen to affirmations, breathing exercises etc. I did everything to feel better, but I was still really sad for no reason. I would cry myself to sleep a lot. Then, every so often, life would just get really good. The sunshine would shine brighter, and I would feel like I could conquer the world. Then I read about Bipolar disorder, and I suspected that’s what I had. I just needed to talk to someone to confirm, and sure enough, they did. Then I got the help I needed, and I have never been happier.

I think while self diagnosing can be really dangerous, sometimes it’s the reason a person gets the care they need to feel better.

What are your thoughts about self diagnosing? Share in the comments below.

With love and light

Jackie