What do you think about the flurry of self-diagnosed mental illness/mental health issues on social media like Tik Tok?

15 comments

1. It’s great that mental health is being talked about more, but faking a mental illness because it’s quirky is harmful as fuck to the entire community

2. It’s insulting to people that have *actually* gotten diagnosed with mental issues. Not only that but it complicates an already difficult situation. People already get flack for having mental issues. Now they have to worry about people not believing them or minimizing their mental health because someone on Tik Tok wants to maximize on some 15 seconds of fame for clout.

3. it contributes to the negative stigma around mental health and detrimental to those who actually have mental health issues. Those people are just attention seekers and are lame, selfish and inconsiderate.

4. It’s not something I concern myself with. If someone suspects they need a diagnosis, I hope they seek and are able to get the help that they need from a qualified professional. It’s not up to me to judge or argue with them. I am not a mental health professional, and they are not my patient.

5. It’s straining to be confronted with other peoples mental distress in my me-time

   I can handle being supportive and helpful with my friends because I care about them. But I dont have the capacity to listen to anyone else’s problems. I will just feel drained and stressed out because it affects me too.

   I see this problem a lot with emphatic teens who dont know the limits of what poop they can deal with yet.

   Of course it’s great that it’s talked about more openly. But oversharing problems with people who cant handle it should also be talked about.

   Dont burden yourself with problems of strangers. It’s time wasted.

6. I understand sometimes getting an official diagnosis of expensive and difficult, so its great people are being advice to deal with problems they may be experiencing, and if that advice is sound and works for you thats great.

   However, I don’t think there is enough discussion about the overlap between behaviours/symptoms of many of these diagnosis. ADHD, Depression, Anxiety , ASD, they all have some overlap and symptoms of one may often present as symptoms of the other. For that reason whenever able always see a professional for assessments.

   Its wonderful to know something is going on and being proactive about dealing with it, however I don’t think you can truly know without speaking with a professional and self assessments are too biased.

7. There’s a LOT of faking because it thinks it makes them quirky, plus many people are encouraging people to self-diagnose for extreme conditions based on totally normal human behavior. I guess they think that pretending to have DID makes them cool like Moon Knight. Another issue popping up so often is that people will claim to have a disorder but refuse to believe professionals who say they don’t. Self-diagnosis can be a good starting point to seek help and treatment, but it’s very flawed because you’re going into it with a HUGE bias and no legitimate knowledge on the subject.

8. Okay I have a lot of thoughts on this.

   I think there’s something to be said about the risk of overidentifying with a psychiatric diagnostic term (especially for teenagers/young adults actively building their identity). Now it’s not negligible that formal diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions are not accessible to everyone and in some cases self diagnosis is a “crutch” of sorts people can use to understand themselves better and figure out their next steps, so I don’t want to dismiss that. But I think there’s many risks attached to pathologising variations of “normal” and overvaluing more or less dysfunctional phases in your biography and attaching a label to yourself as a consequence of them.

   I think it’s good to remember that when it comes to psychiatry and psychiatric pathologies, if you look hard enough, you’ll usually find something that could fit in with one disorder or another. Even for professionals, they’ve literally done studies on this. Now many people go through phases where they don’t understand themselves and feel like somethings “wrong” with them. *Especially* teens/the current tiktok demographic. I think finding a box to stick yourself into might feel momentarily relieving (thinking you’ve figured out some kind of pattern in your emotional chaos, being able to name it, find community), but I think there’s a significant risk these so-called diagnoses could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have ADHD, therefore I can’t do this. I have borderline personality disorder, therefore a friend disconnecting must feel like absolute anguish. I am on the autism spectrum, therefore X. I think that can make life harder than it needs to be, especially when there may not objectively be a disorder in the first place.

   Lastly, I think weaponised diagnoses from unqualified third parties are unacceptable, including things like who is and isn’t a narcissist/schizophrenic/sociopath/whatever. Most people called those things aren’t that, and for people who do harmful stereotypes, half truths and blatant lies get propagated.

9. Harmful, misinformation, and becoming a fad/money making scheme.

10. It’s good that mental health issues are more openly discussed. I hope the people who really have serious issues get the professional help they need. But I also think many young people are quick to label themselves with anxiety or other issues when it’s only normal “young person” stuff they are going through. For example, it’s normal to feel anxious or nervous in certain situations. That’s just life. It doesn’t mean you have a “disorder”.

11. What mental illness?! The one where the entire planet is awaken to the bullshit lies. If you want to be a sheep and follow a corrupt system then speak for yourself, but if 15% of the human race wants to seek outside sources for better understanding and complete peace then, who are you to put your judgements on them. Only because they are happy don’t hate, maybe you too should see with the unseen eye

12. It depends. Some people is really trying to educate themselves and their public as they post about their “journey” while looking for an actual diagnose and proper help, they might encourage others to do the same.

    But there is another group using the first group as a flawed mirror and instead of looking for help they use their platform to make excuses “oh, Im sorry I was a jerk, I read people with this or that condition are jerks so it is not my fault.” This last group is dangerous because they contribute to the stigma.

13. I think it’s all mental

14. I think our health care system seriously fails at diagnosing people and social media allows people to connect and learn more about themselves and come to a potential diagnosis.

15. I think therapy is too expensive and not enough people are insured so they do what they can to figure it out on their own.