Self diagnosis, a hot topic
The second reason why autism keeps on getting misused in a lot of memes could be people self diagnosing themselves with autism. Far warning, I will be heading into a rather controversial topic here. But as a person with autism and ADHD (or just as a person in general), I feel as though I should be able to express my opinion on it.
For those of you who don’t know, self diagnosis is where a person diagnoses him or herself with a disorder. The person doesn’t need to have experience in psychology, all the person needs is his or her own confirmation. Outside opinions (such as from friends and family members) are sometimes used but not needed. Feedback by clinicians is not taken into consideration. The only criteria for self diagnosis is “Do you think you have this disorder?”
I will be blunt: I don’t believe in the validity of the self diagnosis of mental health problems. I don’t think it should be used. Mental and neurodevelopmental disorders are complex, and should be diagnosed by a professional, a person who has been trained in spotting them. Even with the wide array of resources the internet provides, everyday people don’t have the same experience as most psychologists. A google search or a quick video on youtube does not make a person an expert. Years of studying, practicing, and refining do. Most disorders are multi-factorial too, and psychologists also have to take into consideration severity of behavior, external factors such as stress, work life, and diet, and a patient’s personality. Just because a person can’t concentrate well doesn’t mean he or she has ADHD, and not every eccentric, socially awkward person is autistic. Professionals are able to look at these cases and identify which people have the disorder and which exhibit some traits of the disorder but don’t meet all of the criteria. The person who can’t concentrate might just be sleep deprived, and the eccentric and socially awkward people, while displaying some behaviors of autism, do not have severe enough symptoms to be diagnosed.
But people still advocate for it, despite the obvious pitfalls of self diagnosis. They claim people know themselves best, so they’re well equipped enough (or even better equipped) to understand and make the correct self diagnosis, without the help of professionals. “You know yourself best. You decide” being the common theme. I don’t think this is true. People do not know themselves best, most don’t know themselves at all. If everybody, or at least the general population, had adequate insight into themselves, then there would barely be any soul searchers, college students trying to figure out what to do with their life, wayward alcoholics, prodigal children trying to figure out what makes them truly happy. But people like that still exist, which goes to show how little people know of who they are.
And if people don’t know themselves, how can they be trusted to accurately diagnose themselves? Yet time and time again, many people keep going for self diagnosis. I know it’s easier and I know that oftentimes, there aren’t enough clinicians to get answers from, but using data from social media and a flawed sense of self is not a better alternative. In fact, it’s worse. Who would you trust more to operate on you, a trained and seasoned surgeon or someone who watched a few videos of how to do surgery on youtube? This is, to me, the difference between clinical diagnosis and self diagnosis.
Additionally, self diagnosis can even harm other people, not just the person who self diagnoses. Let me explain, using autism as an example. A person self diagnoses him or herself with autism. PSDA (Person self diagnosed with autism) starts making memes about it and posts about what it’s like living with autism. But more often than not, PSDA is incorrect in self assessment and not autistic. However, PSDA’s #livingwithautism content gets viewed by followers. Followers absorb content. Followers (assuming none of them are psychologists trained in diagnosing autism) assume content is correct. Followers now have a distorted sense of what it’s like to have autism. Followers spread misinformation they learned to their followers. Repeat the process a few times, and overall: Perception of autism warped.
Even with good intentions, the self diagnosis path leads to the same result as the other path I talked about in part 1 of this blog post: It demeans the people who actually have the disorder and distorts the idea of what it’s actually like.
Citations (For Part 1 and 2)
World Health Organization. (2023, March 31). Depressive Disorder (depression). World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
Sawchuk, C. (2022, October 14). Depression (Major Depressive Disorder). Mayo Clinic; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007
CDC. (2023, August 23). Sadness and Depression | How Right Now | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Www.cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/howrightnow/emotion/sadness/index.html
Mayo Clinic. (2023, December 21). Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354432
International OCD Foundation. (2023). What is OCD? International OCD Foundation. https://iocdf.org/about-OCD/
CDC. (2024, October 23). About attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/about/index.html
Mayo Clinic. (2023, January 25). Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – Symptoms and Causes. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adult-adhd/symptoms-causes/syc-20350878
WHO. (2023, November 15). Autism Spectrum Disorders. World Health Organization; World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders
NHS. (2022). What Is autism? NHS; NHS. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/what-is-autism/
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2020, September 25). Dangerous Internet Challenges – Understanding their Appeal. HealthyChildren.org. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Dangerous-Internet-Challenges.aspx
Clinic, C. (2025, May 21). Why Self-Diagnosis Is Dangerous (and What To Do Instead). Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/dangers-of-self-diagnosis
Jaramillo, J. (2023, April 10). Down the rabbit hole of self-diagnosis in mental health. University of Colorado Denver. https://www.ucdenver.edu/student/stories/library/healthy-happy-life/down-the-rabbit-hole-of-self-diagnosis-in-mental-health
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