TW: mentions of depression, mental health, anxiety Since I have no patience and I’m currently fuming, we’re going to jump right in. I have so many issues with self diagnosis. What has started as a way to validate your feelings, or a way to put a label on yourself because for whatever reason you’re unable to get a professional diagnosis has become a trend, and a way to get clout and sympathy. As humans, we have been conditioned for our entire time on this earth to fit in, to belong. But self diagnosing yourself with anxiety because you feel nervous about your test, or saying you have depression at every minor setback, I consider that faking. I have a friend who know quite literally nothing about depression, and thinks that because she answered some questions at a health screening (lying about them, too) she would get a depression diagnosis- same with anxiety. I have more extensive knowledge of mental health than more teenagers my age, as I had childhood trauma (I’m fine now. Diagnosed PTSD. I’m in therapy) and was diagnosed with anxiety at 5, and in therapy at four. I also recently got a depression diagnosis and I’m on lexapro, which is an antidepressant. A lot of self diagnosis can be credited to lack of mental health teaching in schools, but I see a lot of it online for clout. Most of these people are perfectly neurotypical. And you may be arguing that many can’t afford a proper diagnosis, which while I’m not going to disagree, over 90% of the US at least has health insurance, and over 20% of adults in the US are mentally ill. And if you are fortunate enough to be able to fake a mental illness online, you are fortunate enough to get a professional diagnosis. I think so many people self diagnose because they don’t want to be told they don’t have the mental illness they want. It’s like collecting fricking pokemon cards or smth.
