A couple things are wrong with the image. To be clear, the image doesn’t actually describe an act of doing anything. The image describes a barrier to diagnosis. It’s a real problem and one worth discussing - but I’m not sure if the conclusion should be “lol just do it yourself.” The image also says you’re just saying someone to “say what you’ve already known” which is a blatant attempt to flatter the reader’s intellect and skips over the most important part of diagnosis, the DDX. Which leads to the biggest issue, the implied conclusion, represented in this post’s title: “Self-diagnosis is valid”.

As for what to do: I’m just saying that you can make behavioral changes without having to name your behavioral patterns. Or name them whatever you want, call it Fred. For ADHD behavioral interventions alone wont be as effective as it would if combined with medication, but if there’s no other option then by all means. See what others have done to manage ADHD and try it out for yourselves. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have ADHD - but the name doesn’t matter! If you’re forgetting appointments, keeping an appointment book is just a generally good practice. Keeping a schedule, adjusting how your space is organized to cue your attention instead of relying on executive function, and utilizing post-it notes to stay on track - these are all good practices! And so on. You don’t need a diagnosis to do this. Why must we insist on “self-diagnosing”?

I just want people to shift from this horoscope-esque idea of “diagnosis” and focus more on “treatment”. I think a lot of the emphasis on the name and not the action comes down to a desire to fit in and finding liberation in a lack of agency. Like if we look at a false dichotomy: Would you rather be officially labeled ADHD and not have to work on yourself at all, or would you not get the label but be in charge of making the changes you want in your life? Both sound pretty scary, but the latter sounds far more difficult.

Thanks for the thoughtful response!

they probably meant me

actually just encouraging people to look inward and outward, find common themes between themselves and others, and use those findings to inform what they can do to help themselves and those around them.

That’s actually what I am saying you do. Why would you call that “diagnosis”? Why not call it “pizza-stomping”? Why not call it winning a nobel prize? Words mean something. The fact that so many people cannot understand why this is frustrating is exactly why it is frustrating. I actually like the nobel prize comparison. That’s not too far off from what’s going on here lol.

What it leads to is communities of people who increasingly have little relation to people who are actually diagnosed with the condition. “hey i like pizza do i have adhd” “yeah man totally! i have adhd and i love pizza” “yeah it’s totally a major symptom” and then when someone comes along saying “uhh that’s not actually diagnostic of adhd” they get told to fuck off

these words mean something. these conditions mean something. the treatments mean something. we have boards and licenses and ethics surrounding all of this. if you want to go wild wild west at it, im sure you’ll have a lot of fun and make great friends along the way, but all of this contributes to the undermining of our society’s understanding of mental health

that sounds hard. i cant give you medical advice - you know yourself better than me anyway. one thing i can comment on is that changes usually take a combination of medication and behavioral changes (aka therapy). so it’s not surprising that things didn’t improve after 3 sessions. it takes a lot of effort!

a lot of stuff about childhood experiences. it’s helpful to have someone present who knew you as a child, but failing that, you can talk to them beforehand I suppose. I imagine this sounds like a headache, so don’t worry about calling mom if it sounds stressful or confrontational. id say the ideal is a teacher who knew you well but doesn’t have stakes in the diagnostic label like a parent might. maybe a sibling.

All emotions are valid. Even ones arising from psychosis. That doesn’t mean the experiences that create the emotions are based in reality. Stop with the wordplay. You aren’t as smart as you think you are. What you described is NOT a diagnosis - not any more than the burn marks on my toast are Jesus. Calling it so does not make it so.

If you want to take this as “There’s nothing wrong with you” then that’s on you. Maybe we will revisit the phrase, “You’re not as smart as you think you are” as evidenced by this interpretation. Funny how self-diagnosers are so willing to engage in wordplay but cannot see any other meaning here than “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

As far as the broken arm bit, WHY NOT REREAD WHAT I SAID ABOUT TREATMENT?! And let me reiterate for the self-diagnosers in the back, You aren’t as smart as you think you are. See a fuckin doctor, get a ddx, try techniques that work for you, don’t claim to have a diagnosis without one.

If this feels bad, GOOD, it should. This is hard news. But I won’t lie to you to make you feel good and sell you products like OP.

Damn right I’m confrontational because this is literally medical misinfo being peddled by a grifter and you’re eating it right out of her hand.

The differential is what matters. We go to a professional to figure out what it’s NOT.

I think it’s ego. People probably can’t handle the fact that they aren’t as smart as they think they are and don’t want to admit that maybe they’re wrong about their “”“diagnosis”“”. But that’s just a generalization. Go to a doctor. Fuck OP.

There’s no such thing as self-diagnosis. That’s my point. What you said about coping mechanisms is exactly what I said in my response: that diagnosis informs treatment, so just try different behavioral applications that help you without worrying about the diagnosis.

Holy shit, I just realized that you’re one of the mods. This is absolutely embarrassing. I can’t believe you’re spreading this garbage. STOP telling people to diagnose themselves! You’re contributing to genuine harm of the TikTok Diagnosis era.

Self-diagnosis is not valid. By definition. Not even a psychiatrist can diagnose themselves. What you’re talking about is either 1) advocating for your own diagnosis or 2) self-treatment.

Both of these things are valid.

Advocate for yourself for a diagnosis from a health professional if it will unlock new treatment options. But also just look into how others with similar problems have successfully managed their problems. Consider how you could implement similar things. That’s what’s at the heart of therapy for ADHD anyway.

But diagnosis itself is only useful as a tool for describing symptoms and informing treatment. If a collection of symptoms speaks to your experience, then the only point in putting a diagnostic label on it is to say “Maybe these things that helped others with similar symptoms will also help you.” But in order to do that effectively, there also needs to be a differential diagnosis to ascertain what it is not. This is why healthcare providers need to be involved in the process. Two different things can look very similar but have very different etiologies and different treatments.

Social media needs to quit putting so much emphasis on diagnosis and more emphasis on treatment. This post should be removed for medical misinfo, but I hope people at least read the comments to see why this person seems to be such a snakeoil influencer.

because it seems like nowdays everyone isolates and pretends their discord relationships are real, and then complains when an actual human being calls them. there’s already no connection between people, no communal spaces, no in-person relationships. it’s so hard to see anyone anymore. and now you all want to shit all over one way to connect more directly?

and how almost every commenter in this space has the same mentality. it’s horrifying. are you all shut-ins? it reveals something dark about the kind of people that post on this site and really undermines other communities.

and seeing people moralizing mental disorders instead of taking responsibility for them. that does real harm to others. anxiety is manageable and treatable. retreating into these closed systems only exacerbates it, and encouraging others to do the same only exacerbates theirs.

oh no you might be uncomfortable!!! that’s so sad. whoever calls you is totally responsible.

anxiety sucks but stop blaming others for it. it’s not their fault you choose to avoid the phone. maybe seek help for learning how to do a very basic human function instead of blaming others for it? or encouraging others to become defunct in a basic human function?

here we go, socially awkward redditors moralizing their awkwardness around phones again

It’s called a human conversation, try it some time assholes. I’m sooooo sorry someone speaking to you is inconvenient.

have you considered returning to monke? nah then you’d just whine about fecal baseball being awkward

I know Threads sucks, but where would it fall on this? Another Networking one?

before Uber there was… Kakao Taxi. and it was beautiful

depends on where you go upstate, but yeah, rural America in general is where you find confederate flags

i dont get it either. i hate the horror genre. i wish i could understand but i guess thats what makes humans interesting, how differently we can see things

Thanks! I’ve been pretty happy with this instance from the start. Keep up the good work.

Very cool! Wish there were more of us on here. r/therapists is still one of the main reasons I use Reddit. Well, uh, I guess you and I could talk? But at that point, with you as a super-super and me as a first-year post-grad, it would just sound like shoddy anonymous online supervision!

Wow you’re pretty high up there. So that sounds like you are yourself a supervisor and supervisor educator and supervisor educators’ supervisor? Like some kind of a consulting group where my supervisors probably got trained? I don’t actually know who does the licensing for supervisor status - I’m guessing it’s just like the entry level where you have to get hours from anywhere that the state board vetted and stamped off on? It’s so interesting to me how state licensure has such a long relationship with private entities.

that’s pretty rad. i have a friend who teaches in chicago, the stuff he tells me he has to go through just to secure his place in the field is just ridiculous.

all the emphasis on new publications, new ideas, new this and that – what if we already got the important ideas down years ago and now the work of philosophy is in putting it to practice? why demand that scholars demonstrate their capacity for new ideas instead of demonstrating a capacity for outstanding pedagogy of existing ones? it drives me nuts… we say all of modern philosophy is a series of footnotes to plato and yet expect our professors to focus on advancing the field rather than focusing on principles of quality education and mentoring

gah this is why i left academia to do therapy