#self dxing

[himboprince]

tfw u get sent a list of how autism presents in different ppl and u realize you checked a lot off the list 😓 i uh....may be....possibly a bit autistic sdcsfvdgbf i mean i knew this but since im not formally dx’ed i fight with myself (and my partner) about it...i guess i should just accept it one of these days huh?

[galaxy-spiral]

one perspective of self-dxing

i self diagnosed myself with ocd at 10 years old after weeks of research mind you i was supposed to be doing homework but that’s besides the point

i didn’t really understand what self dxing was, i just knew something was wrong with me, and when i read about a character similar to me, i googled the disorder

eventually i didn’t even bother with a label. it wasn’t technically a diagnoses, it was just me saying i know i have ocd, i have no doubt, it’s that fucking obvious.

it was like telling myself 1 + 1 = 2. it wasn’t an opinion, it wasn’t my own thoughts, it was simply a fact to me. i knew it was true.

years later, it led to an eating disorder that landed me in the hospital that landed me with a therapist that landed the label of ocd onto my insurance to cover therapy.

i diagnosed myself with ocd when i was 10, when my routines and rituals were so obvious that they led to having family fights past 1am. no one said anything about it.

[psychemoss]

Self-diagnosing is valid.

No, I don’t mean that just anyone can decide they have a disorder. But if you have done in-depth research on an issue, or an educated, non-biased professional gets enough information to say you might have a disorder, if symptoms line up, if you hit the required points in the DSM, I think it’s valid to say that you looked at the facts and likely have a disorder.

I.e., I’m autistic. This is self-diagnosed, currently. Why? Both my biological brothers have characteristics of/have been diagnosed with autism. My dad has strong symptoms from what I have seen. I stim. I have sensory issues. I have meltdowns when I get too stressed out. I have special interests. I have echolalia. My therapists, psychiatrists, and counsellors all agree I have strong symptoms. However, I am not yet diagnosed, because I’m a POC biologically female teenager and places who do screenings for autism are biased, so they keep rejecting even letting me go take the screening test. We’ve been trying to get me screened for a year. But all the evidence points toward myself being autistic, and so I use the label.

If you have the research, truly in-depth, in particular with stigmatized disorders like DID or ASPD, not only is self-diagnosing valid, but it can also be safer. I.e., people with ASPD can be locked out of certain professions. Getting an official diagnosis could take away a dream. Many people with these disorders, once they learn about it, can get abused by their therapists, being told they’re making up symptoms or that they’re too well-adjusted to have that disorder.

No one should be forced to get an official diagnosis, especially if it could be detrimental to them.

[owlet]

autism anti self dx people in particular are funny. like. oh ok i guess i’m not autistic until a (not covered by insurance!) doctor tells me i am. so i guess i’ll just pretend all these autistic things i do ... are just totally coincidental?

my sensory issues? totally not related. meltdowns and nonverbal episodes? i guess it’s the depression! lifelong tendency to stim? oh that’s just quirky! hyperfixations and special interests? guess i’m just a gifted little goober. problems with social cues, masking, samefoods, a ritual of self-harm built around trying to fit in, and a host of other really obvious symptoms.... cant be ASD. doctor didn’t say so.

definitely not autism. i guess it’s notism.

[owlet]

the only time autism self dxing is harmful is when someone is using autism as a shield for their absuive behaviors. which you know, can be dealt with on an individual basis instead of indiscriminately harassing every self-dxed autistic person you find

[restinpeacekanye-blog]

Hey kinda controversial but it shouldn’t be.

If you’re going to self diagnose then please don’t yell it on the rooftops that you 100% have some mental problem of sorts. And ESPECIALLY don’t make fucking jokes about that mental disorder!!!! You don’t even know if you have it or not! You’re just some teenager who was on the internet and was like hm yeah. Yeah! YEAH!!!!! Like,,,, there’s a difference between self diagnosing for your own benefit and going around telling everybody on the face of the earth that you suffer from ______. Like to explain why you maybe act different then others or to help you better understand yourself in general! BUT it’s ENTIRELY DIFFERENT if you’re going around making autistic jokes with zero evidence that YOU are ACTUALLY autistic (or anything else)! Like you can’t be like “I’m ______ and omg we are so stupid lmao mood I can’t even people skills who?? I’m literally such a degenerate because I’m ______” And then one somebody is like: HEY! Don’t talk about _______ people like that! That’s really offensive! (And it is!!) You don’t get to be like well I show like one sign also I looked it up on webmd so stop bullying me!!! :,(((( what bullies! :,(

[post-collapse]

one of the worst things about all the weird unnecessary mental illness gatekeeping is (the fact that people shouldnt have to pull out a list of their diagnoses aside) the fact that so many people don't KNOW the reason why their brain does the things it does or the psychological name for what it's doing.

for a community that seems very aware of how difficult it can be to navigate the realm of professional diagnoses, let alone an ACCURATE one, it seems exceptionally easy for people to forget how barren the resources are for people trying to figure shit out on their own. its hard enough to get a clear idea of symptoms for anything that isnt depression and general anxiety. just attempting to diagnose a single mental illness in yourself can be ridiculously difficult, and it gets even worse if you've got more than one thing going on. understanding comorbidity is like navigating a fucking minefield of non-information. there's no chart or grand venn diagram explaining different mental illnesses and disorders and how they can overlap and work off each other. even checking symptom lists can lead you astray by virtue of mental illnesses manifesting in different ways in different brains.

so for people who should understand how fucking hard it is to figure out what the fuck is going on with your brain, and who claim to want to help people that have shit going on by advocating so strongly that youre checking Disorder Credentials (lmao stop doing this) you're sure doing a lot of mentally ill people a massive disservice by demanding they have a set of labels for their issues. i assure you all this is doing is 1) making them doubt themselves 2) denying them support 3] ostracizing them and most of all 4) making you look like a giant fucking toolbag

honestly if you let the fact that someone doesnt have a specific mental illness exclude them from support for their symptoms, youre behaving like a stuck up brat. plenty of mental illnesses share symptoms with each other even if theyre called different things (like how people with adhd hyperfocus on something and people with autism have special interests. those two are the same thing) and if youre saying that people don't get to participate in whatever symptom relief or understanding or resource is being offered, you're a jerk and you're not being helpful

[brightstarsystem]

I’m sorry for the times I tagged things actuallyborderline

But I thought I was? Because I had those symptoms? But I’m realizing that it’s probably CPTSD

I didn’t mean to offend anyone. But it’s hard, because I’ve been diagnosed w/ PTSD but CPTSD isn’t in the DSM yet, and I was terrified of being labeled borderline (I know how a lot of therapists and psychiatrists treat people who have BPD.My grandmother is a psychologist. The way she talks about people with BPD is pretty shit. Same with other mental health professionals I know/have met.)

So I’m sorry- I guess I shouldn’t have done this. It was self-diagnosing gone wrong, but I didn’t know about CPTSD. I really wanna apologize to those w/ BPD. It was a shitty and thoughtless thing to do. I’m going to delete the tags on my posts tagged with that. Sorry again!