Today, many people are fighting against the stigma which has long surrounded mental illness in the United States. According to the Journal of Health, there has been a dramatic spike in diagnoses of mental illness in the last ten years, which may be credited to the increase in awareness and willingness to accept treatment which has occurred in recent years, as opposed to an actual increase in cases of mental illness. Making sure cases of mental illness are not overlooked and that individuals living with mental illness are treated with the same seriousness of care as those suffering with any other form of illness is of the utmost importance when it comes to maintaining the health and happiness of individuals, families, and society. However, while being educated about and aware of mental illness has had many benefits in the effort to de-stigmatize mental health issues, it has also lead to an increase in the dangerous and counterproductive practice of self-diagnosis.

Self-diagnosis is problematic for several reasons. First and foremost, it puts layman in the position of trained professionals, dangerously allowing these laymen to assume that they know all of the subtleties of mental illness and are fully equipped to handle their assumed “condition” on their own. The general public is only aware of a few of the many symptoms which present themselves as signs of a given illness and while they may know that mood swings are a sign of mental illness, are not trained to know the difference between the mood swings which present themselves as a sign of bipolar disorder, as opposed to the ones which take place as a result of severe chronic depression. Since many of the easily recognizable symptoms of specific mental illnesses overlap with others, a clinician who is trained to see the subtleties and nuances of diagnosis is required to fully determine the cause of the symptoms and the best route for treatment. Assuming that the you can determine such subtleties on your own puts you at risk for a misdiagnosis and improper care.

Second, because a self-diagnosis belittles the need for a professional, it leads people to think that professional help is not necessary for mental illnesses. This idea is completely contrary to both the truth and the attitude which knowledge and awareness of mental illness was intended to create. By treating mental illness as if it is not a pressing enough concern for the attention of a professional, makes it seem as if it is not a real and serious illness, allowing the nonchalant disregard of mental illness to continue.

Furthermore, self-diagnosis allows for people to falsely claim a mental illness that they do not have as a way to gain attention, which is a harm and degradation to those who truly live with the effects so these illnesses. Self-diagnosis opens an opportunity for people, especially youth, to contribute to the glamorization and glorification of mental illness, which once again prevents the public from taking those who are truly living with mental illness seriously and perpetrates an attitude of inattention to mental illnesses. The actions of those who boast a false self-diagnosis cause those who truly live with mental illness to be questioned as to whether or not they are truly affected, and causes many to disregard them as attention seeking when they reach out for professional help.

Self-diagnosis is not only dangerous to the health of an individual who may be suffering with mental illness, but it is harmful to all those who have been professionally diagnosed with mental illness and are not taken seriously due to the attitude of indifference which self-diagnosis perpetrates. If you believe you are suffering from a mental illness, please reach out to a professional to get the proper diagnosis and care that you need, as doing so is best for your own health and the health of all those affected by mental illness.