Have you ever self-diagnosed yourself with a disorder?

[sleepy-mage]

Never diagnosed myself with anything but after I hit puberty my mom would frequently try and find "some reason why you're like this". She settled for asperger's and I settled for telling her to ******** off and that there's nothing wrong with me (although not until after my twenties when she still wouldn't stop). I do think this had some effect on me though, I was always quite shy to new people and her always labeling me in that way made my kind of lose inspiration to push myself.

[RossetteAmi]

YES

HOCD
POCD

[RossetteAmi]

Mooby the Golden Sock

There's an old joke about med students believing they have whatever disorder they learned about that week, and there's some truth in it.

When a doctor evaluates a patient, he/she asks all the relevant questions, looks at all the available information, and makes as objective of a diagnosis as possible.

When a person self-diagnoses, he/she looks through disorders, finds one that kind-of-sort-of matches the symptoms, and then molds his or her symptoms to match the diagnosis.

The problem is that the latter happens even to professionals, and they have the background knowledge and clinical experience to know what questions to ask and what the subtle differences are between diagnoses. A lay person is working without those things, and has a much higher chance of error.

On the flip side, once someone self-diagnoses, they now go to the doctor with that in their heads. So, they consciously or subconsciously report their symptoms in a way that exaggerates what matches their disorder while minimizing the parts that don't, making it harder for the doctor to make an objective clinical judgement. A consequence of this could be a missed diagnosis and improper treatment.

Meanwhile, people have a nasty habit of getting their self-diagnoses into their heads. It's not uncommon for a patient to claim they have a diagnosis, the doctor to ask who diagnosed it, and for the patient to start with, "Oh, well, I um was looking online..." If a doctor fails to ask that, it starts appearing in medical record, and gets copied from history to history as doctors look up old visits. The family doctor faxes records to the hospital, the admitting doctor sticks it on the admission note, it gets faxed to the follow-up specialist after discharge...

Barring all that, it's often difficult for a doctor to get a self-diagnosis out of a patient's head. He or she may have to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince you that you don't have cancer, or you're not schizophrenic, etc. Use the Internet to get informed, but Google is not a doctor.

I have diagnosed myself before... but I would of never guessed I had a form of OCD but when I googled "unwanted thoughts about being homosexual that make you feel terrible despite living in a situation where being gay is okay" and fond something about HOCD.... I also saw POCD which I also have had unwanted thoughts of being a *****.

I also diagnosed myself with hypothyroidism when I was 12 and asked my doctor to test me. She thought the things I complained about were caused by my weight and unhealthy eating(i was obese)... tests came back and turns out I had hypothyroidism



So if you Google your symthoms... then self diagnoses may be more acurate

[Song of the Century]

RossetteAmi

I have diagnosed myself before... but I would of never guessed I had a form of OCD but when I googled "unwanted thoughts about being homosexual that make you feel terrible despite living in a situation where being gay is okay" and fond something about HOCD.... I also saw POCD which I also have had unwanted thoughts of being a *****]
For HOCD and POCD, the individual must already have OCD, and have such thoughts as being a symptom of the OCD. You need both obsessions and compulsions, and it sounds as if you have only thoughts that may or may not be severe enough to be called an obsession, but likely not.

If you're a teenager, it's very likely that these thoughts will leave with time.

[Bootiful Lia]

Ontological Empiricism

I actually gave a self-diagnosis of major depression here recently, as I am suffering from several symptoms such as loss of appetite, fatigue, feeling helpless/hopeless and guilty, trouble sleeping (coupled with excessive sleeping), loss of interest, and I've had thoughts of self-mutilation and suicide.

I've thought about going to see a doctor, to confirm it (though I'd rather not take antidepressants if I didn't have to), but my family doctor is ~1 hour away from where I live, so I'm not quite sure I want to drive the distance.

This is where I raise an eye-brow at people self-diagnosing themselves with major depression. They say they have major depression and are suffering from what is, in and of itself, a crippling mental disorder...but then are like, "Meh...1 hour to get some help? Nah, I'm good."

If you were suffering from a crippling mental illness, you'd walk to the ends of the earth to alleviate the pain.

[Mrtyu-Mara]

Bootiful Lia

Ontological Empiricism

I actually gave a self-diagnosis of major depression here recently, as I am suffering from several symptoms such as loss of appetite, fatigue, feeling helpless/hopeless and guilty, trouble sleeping (coupled with excessive sleeping), loss of interest, and I've had thoughts of self-mutilation and suicide.

I've thought about going to see a doctor, to confirm it (though I'd rather not take antidepressants if I didn't have to), but my family doctor is ~1 hour away from where I live, so I'm not quite sure I want to drive the distance.

This is where I raise an eye-brow at people self-diagnosing themselves with major depression. They say they have major depression and are suffering from what is, in and of itself, a crippling mental disorder...but then are like, "Meh...1 hour to get some help? Nah, I'm good."

If you were suffering from a crippling mental illness, you'd walk to the ends of the earth to alleviate the pain.

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).
It's funny, how you assume you know my situation, because I say I don't want to drive the hour distance. If you aren't very aware...gasoline is pretty expensive. It takes $40 to fill my car. I am out of the job, at the moment. The person funding me is my mother. So my agenda has to fit around her budget.
She also doesn't believe I have depression, and that I'm some sort of hypochondriac, as she has been that way since I was around 12- to 14-years-old.
So even though you think I should "walk to the ends of the Earth" to "alleviate the pain" if I was really suffering from major depression, that's not quite practical when nothing is free.

[CH1YO]

Ontological Empiricism

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

[Mrtyu-Mara]

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Yes, I'm not sleeping, and have lost 10 pounds because I can't feel like I eat more than once a day or at all, because I have an interest in their being recognized. rolleyes
It has nothing to do with the possibility of my marriage ending, that I would feel too guilty for wanting ending my marriage because we've spent so much on the process for a green card, that I don't want to disappoint my family if I end my marriage rolleyes No, it's not that at all.

I went to the doctor to get help, and to have someone to talk to, because I knew the signs of depression. And in case you were wondering, I had been experiencing them for a while until I decided that that was the problem.

[CH1YO]

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Yes, I'm not sleeping, and have lost 10 pounds because I can't feel like I eat more than once a day or at all, because I have an interest in their being recognized. rolleyes
It has nothing to do with the possibility of my marriage ending, that I would feel too guilty for wanting ending my marriage because we've spent so much on the process for a green card, that I don't want to disappoint my family if I end my marriage rolleyes No, it's not that at all.

I went to the doctor to get help, and to have someone to talk to, because I knew the signs of depression. And in case you were wondering, I had been experiencing them for a while until I decided that that was the problem.

That's the sticking point, that's not the sort of thing you should be deciding.

[Mrtyu-Mara]

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Yes, I'm not sleeping, and have lost 10 pounds because I can't feel like I eat more than once a day or at all, because I have an interest in their being recognized. rolleyes
It has nothing to do with the possibility of my marriage ending, that I would feel too guilty for wanting ending my marriage because we've spent so much on the process for a green card, that I don't want to disappoint my family if I end my marriage rolleyes No, it's not that at all.

I went to the doctor to get help, and to have someone to talk to, because I knew the signs of depression. And in case you were wondering, I had been experiencing them for a while until I decided that that was the problem.

That's the sticking point, that's not the sort of thing you should be deciding.

It's not like "NO, I DECIDED that I have depression." I went to my doctor and stated that I have an inkling as to what the issue might be, but I'm not a doctor, I can't make that call. I don't feel that it hurts to go to a doctor informed of what you possibly could be experiencing, so that you don't get blind-sided out of left-field later. And if I'm the only one in thinking that, then please, let me know.

[Yevpraksiya]

I haven't really diagnosed myself, but I always wonder if I have some form of OCD. I have compulsions like picking and chewing my lip until it bleeds, also picking my face and my head. I also have obsessive thoughts but that kind of bleeds into my legit diagnoses of Schizoaffective Disorder, so at that point it doesn't make sense anymore. But it's not like when I had my first psychotic episode I could tell them it might in fact be from OCD and anxiety? Oh well. I don't really care.

[CH1YO]

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Yes, I'm not sleeping, and have lost 10 pounds because I can't feel like I eat more than once a day or at all, because I have an interest in their being recognized. rolleyes
It has nothing to do with the possibility of my marriage ending, that I would feel too guilty for wanting ending my marriage because we've spent so much on the process for a green card, that I don't want to disappoint my family if I end my marriage rolleyes No, it's not that at all.

I went to the doctor to get help, and to have someone to talk to, because I knew the signs of depression. And in case you were wondering, I had been experiencing them for a while until I decided that that was the problem.

That's the sticking point, that's not the sort of thing you should be deciding.

It's not like "NO, I DECIDED that I have depression." I went to my doctor and stated that I have an inkling as to what the issue might be, but I'm not a doctor, I can't make that call. I don't feel that it hurts to go to a doctor informed of what you possibly could be experiencing, so that you don't get blind-sided out of left-field later. And if I'm the only one in thinking that, then please, let me know.

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

[Mrtyu-Mara]

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

For your information, I went to the doctor, and my self-diagnosis was confirmed (as it was a little bit ago that I wrote the post).

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Yes, I'm not sleeping, and have lost 10 pounds because I can't feel like I eat more than once a day or at all, because I have an interest in their being recognized. rolleyes
It has nothing to do with the possibility of my marriage ending, that I would feel too guilty for wanting ending my marriage because we've spent so much on the process for a green card, that I don't want to disappoint my family if I end my marriage rolleyes No, it's not that at all.

I went to the doctor to get help, and to have someone to talk to, because I knew the signs of depression. And in case you were wondering, I had been experiencing them for a while until I decided that that was the problem.

That's the sticking point, that's not the sort of thing you should be deciding.

It's not like "NO, I DECIDED that I have depression." I went to my doctor and stated that I have an inkling as to what the issue might be, but I'm not a doctor, I can't make that call. I don't feel that it hurts to go to a doctor informed of what you possibly could be experiencing, so that you don't get blind-sided out of left-field later. And if I'm the only one in thinking that, then please, let me know.

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Because everyone wants to take Prozac, Celexa, or Zoloft for shiggles, right CH1YO?

[AliKat1988]

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

CH1YO

Ontological Empiricism

Yes, I'm not sleeping, and have lost 10 pounds because I can't feel like I eat more than once a day or at all, because I have an interest in their being recognized. rolleyes
It has nothing to do with the possibility of my marriage ending, that I would feel too guilty for wanting ending my marriage because we've spent so much on the process for a green card, that I don't want to disappoint my family if I end my marriage rolleyes No, it's not that at all.

I went to the doctor to get help, and to have someone to talk to, because I knew the signs of depression. And in case you were wondering, I had been experiencing them for a while until I decided that that was the problem.

That's the sticking point, that's not the sort of thing you should be deciding.

It's not like "NO, I DECIDED that I have depression." I went to my doctor and stated that I have an inkling as to what the issue might be, but I'm not a doctor, I can't make that call. I don't feel that it hurts to go to a doctor informed of what you possibly could be experiencing, so that you don't get blind-sided out of left-field later. And if I'm the only one in thinking that, then please, let me know.

It is quite easy to present symptoms when you know what they are and have an interest in their being recognised.

Because everyone wants to take Prozac, Celexa, or Zoloft for shiggles, right CH1YO?

I think the point she is trying to make is self diagnoses can foster cognitive biases, so that you are extra attentive to the symptoms of the disorder that you believe you have. You then end up behaving even more like the disorder. Self diagnoses can involve expectancy effects and selective attention to symptoms that support your condition while ignoring the absence of key symptoms or presence of symptoms that indicate an alternative disorder.

[Mrtyu-Mara]

AliKat1988

Ontological Empiricism

Because everyone wants to take Prozac, Celexa, or Zoloft for shiggles, right CH1YO?

I think the point she is trying to make is self diagnoses can foster cognitive biases, so that you are extra attentive to the symptoms of the disorder that you believe you have. You then end up behaving even more like the disorder. Self diagnoses can involve expectancy effects and selective attention to symptoms that support your condition while ignoring the absence of key symptoms or presence of symptoms that indicate an alternative disorder.

While that may be true, it's not something I really wanted to portray. I'd been suffering the signs and symptoms for quite a while, before I looked up Major Depression Disorder on the good ol' world-wide-web and said "This could probably be what it is that is happening." So again I ask, what is the harm in being armed with knowledge about what could be the cause before going to a doctor when seeking help for thoughts of self-mutilation and suicide?