Dangerous trend of self-diagnosing

Self-diagnosis = the thought or idea of suffering from a condition without a diagnosis by a professional.

Weall know finding information is easier than ever, just google your symptoms and the internet will most probably tell you what’s wrong. An increasing number of young people are suffering from anxiety disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder etc. But are they really? Mental health care is unfortunately inaccessible for many, so it’s understandable that people seek answers by self-diagnosing. Although, before jumping to conclusions, a consultation with a professional would be necessary.

Modern life includes using psychiatric terms and diagnoses in everyday language. You could hear someone say ‘’I had a bad day. I feel so depressed’’ without meaning they have a depressive disorder. Awareness of mental illnesses is increasing and people are more capable of naming and recognizing their emotions in a concrete way. Mental health problems are normalized and are not so much of a taboo compared to previous generations. This surely makes it easier to handle them. It’s important to know yourself and be aware of things that seem abnormal. For many people, realizing you have a mental illness can be a relief. It can also help you become more self-accepting and start the process of getting help or finding communities with similar problems.

Social media users share a lot of content about mental health and break unnecessary prejudices but while the internet is a great source of information, one should proceed with caution when it comes to diagnosis. Even though it’s human nature to sometimes relate to a disorder or disease, self-awareness takes years to accomplish. Accurately diagnosing mental health conditions is a complex medicine field. Since the 1800s, medical science has been using chemistry and physics to define diseases. Even Hippokrates studied his patients’ condition by observing body liquids. So diagnostics is so much more than just how you feel inside.

There are trends that come and go in everything. Also in mental health. The more people share things, the more they are talked about. This is not necessarily bad, but it allows trends to form in a very complex field. You’ve probably heard someone call their ex or their boss a narcissist after a bad breakup or getting fired. This can be caused by people seeking reasons for other people’s bad behavior or trying to understand them better. The problem is that it’s done without actually looking into what it means.

Social media and the Internet tend to simplify things and use a lot of common stereotypes of different illnesses that have nothing to do with diagnostics. There are multiple websites where you can describe your symptoms, and the AI tells you your diagnosis. People rely on these sites without questioning where this information comes from. This slows down getting an accurate diagnosis. There are at least 10,000 diseases in the world. Fairly many of them have similar symptoms that indicate something diffferent. For example, a brain tumor can cause changes in personality, as well as depression or psychosis can.

A good example of this is also the ‘’Barnum effect’’. Briefly explained, it’s a social experiment where participants get a personal description of their life, personality, childhood etc. Most people who participate in this, find the descriptions accurate and feel like they’re personal. The point of the experiment is that the descriptions are usually identical, vague and general enough to apply to most people. These kinds of experiments show that even though knowledge and awareness is a positive things, one shouldn’t base their decisions about themself on general information. One problem with this trend is also that everyone has access to it. There

are not only adults that are fine with their personal selves, and with skills in media literacy. There are also young people who are still in the process of growing and identifying themselves, people who are in the middle of personal growth. These trends are pushing these processes off the tracks. As Emma McAdams, a licensed marriage and family therapist addresses: ‘’diagnosis is not an identity, it’s an experience, not who you are’’

Taika Soihtu

Sources: https://www.terveyskirjasto.fi/dlk00555/yleistynyt-ahdistuneisuushairiohttps://yle.fi/a/3-12302419https://www.pfizer.fi/tutkimus/terveytesi-tahdet/diagnostiikka-ennen-ja-nyt-tasmallisen-taudinmaarityksen-jaljillahttps://med.uth.edu/psychiatry/2021/03/26/a-challenge-with-social-media-self-diagnosing-mental-health/https://www.mytpmg.com/mental-health-self-diagnosis-helpful-or-harmful/https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/teenagers/why-you-shouldnt-self-diagnose-your-mental-health/https://www.urevolution.com/blogs/magazine/is-self-diagnosis-validhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY3fCXkXgdEhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effecthttps://www.youtube.com/@TherapyinaNutshell/about