The Rise of Self-Diagnosis
Oct 18, 2026 · 36 min · 10 segments
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- NigroHostJulieHost
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Oct 18, 2026 · 36 min · 10 segments
And the whole concept is, you know, is everyone mentally ill now? And this rise of self-diagnosis, why I'm focusing so much on this is because my job as a neuropsychologist is to accurately assess And I think, you know, everywhere I think we turn, someone's talking about having ADHD, autism, bipolar, OCD, PTSD, you know, personality disorders.
Someone who has difficulty concentrating, they think they have ADHD.
Someone prefers spending time alone.
I must be autistic.
Someone who has had experience with difficult relationships thinks all they've done is date narcissists.
And I want to be clear that these are legitimate psychiatric conditions, and they can cause profound psychological suffering and functional impairment sometimes.
But experiencing a symptom is not the same as having a psychiatric disorder.
And I see a lot of this in people coming in or calling wanting neuropsych evals and describing just, I can't concentrate.
I don't like going to work parties.
These very isolated symptoms.
Because, you know, feeling anxious doesn't mean you have generalized anxiety disorder.
And feeling sad doesn't mean you have major depressive disorder.
And being moody, or they go from zero to 60, that does not mean bipolarity.
You know, behaving selfishly doesn't mean someone has... narcissistic personality disorder.
And that distinction really matters because diagnoses, they influence indirect treatment and medication decisions and educational accommodations and also how individuals understand themselves.
And my central philosophy has always been, it continues to be, that an accurate diagnosis should guide evidence-based treatment, psychotherapy, medication if appropriate, educational accommodations, workplace accommodations.
And, you know, I've mentioned this before, but again, TikTok and this whole rise of self-diagnosis and, you know, social media, I think it's really fundamentally changed how people learn about and have access to information about psychiatric disorders.
It contains enormous amount of mental health information.
And some of the information I think is excellent and appropriate.
It increases awareness and reduces stigma.
It encourages people to seek treatment.
But But social media rewards engagement rather than scientific accuracy.
And that's a really important point I want to stress.
And the whole concept is, you know, is everyone mentally ill now? And this rise of self-diagnosis, why I'm focusing so much on this is because my job as a neuropsychologist is to accurately assess And I think, you know, everywhere I think we turn, someone's talking about having ADHD, autism, bipolar, OCD, PTSD, you know, personality disorders.
Someone who has difficulty concentrating, they think they have ADHD.
Someone prefers spending time alone.
I must be autistic.
Someone who has had experience with difficult relationships thinks all they've done is date narcissists.
And I want to be clear that these are legitimate psychiatric conditions, and they can cause profound psychological suffering and functional impairment sometimes.
But experiencing a symptom is not the same as having a psychiatric disorder.
And I see a lot of this in people coming in or calling wanting neuropsych evals and describing just, I can't concentrate.
I don't like going to work parties.
These very isolated symptoms.
Because, you know, feeling anxious doesn't mean you have generalized anxiety disorder.
And feeling sad doesn't mean you have major depressive disorder.
And being moody, or they go from zero to 60, that does not mean bipolarity.
You know, behaving selfishly doesn't mean someone has... narcissistic personality disorder.
And that distinction really matters because diagnoses, they influence indirect treatment and medication decisions and educational accommodations and also how individuals understand themselves.
And my central philosophy has always been, it continues to be, that an accurate diagnosis should guide evidence-based treatment, psychotherapy, medication if appropriate, educational accommodations, workplace accommodations.
And, you know, I've mentioned this before, but again, TikTok and this whole rise of self-diagnosis and, you know, social media, I think it's really fundamentally changed how people learn about and have access to information about psychiatric disorders.
It contains enormous amount of mental health information.
And some of the information I think is excellent and appropriate.
It increases awareness and reduces stigma.
It encourages people to seek treatment.
But But social media rewards engagement rather than scientific accuracy.
And that's a really important point I want to stress.
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