why you shouldnât self-dx* PDs before age 18 & why they donât diagnose PDs before 18
so because of the way + rate at which the brain develops, which is not fully done before the early to mid 20s, & also PDs in general only becoming apparent when adults who have them are thrown into situations where they have to use life skills they may have never developed or developed âincorrectlyâ, it is impossible to actually diagnose any personality disorder - officially or unofficially via self-dxing - before the brain has developed to the point it is at when someone reaches ~age 18. before that the PD symptoms may be hidden by the living situation and would not have developed fully.
if youâre feeling blue because the label of a PD helped you, an under 18 year old (real talk donât follow me if youâre under 18 though lol this blog isnât a place for u yet), feel less alone, more understood, or something else positive? iâve never had to self-dx thus far, but the medical terminology they used on my hospital discharge summary sheet for my for axis II** diagnosis when i was under 18 was âcluster B traitsâ.
this meant i was more likely than others to develop a cluster B personality disorder (as i was, and did) due to symptomatic behavior indicative of one. despite it being somewhat obvious that i was at high risk for developing BPD i didnât have a cluster B PD until after age 18. even though many of my symptoms were the same. they have also changed as my brain continued to develop part of the diagnostic criteria for any personality disorder is to be over the age of 18 years old.
*self-diagnose: i support self-diagnosis in most cases due to the inability so many have to maintain their livelihoods with a mental health diagnosis or several, the inability so many have to access affordable local healthcare, and the trauma many have survived at the hands of the incredibly flawed medical system creating an understandable fear of returning for treatment, etc.
**axis II is where personality disorders and mental retardation get put as diagnoses, unlike for example thought disorders such as schizophrenia or mood disorders such as bipolar, which would go into axis I. but talking about all that is probably for another post
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