Is self-diagnosis okay/valid/a good thing?

Post Reply New Topic

I don't think that adding words to a dictionary definition that weren't originally there proves your point. You can't rewrite the definition to your liking.

First of all, no one has used the words "medically self diagnosed" so if you have an issue with people saying that, I don't know why you've been using the term "self diagnosis" instead of "medical self diagnosis" in your posts.

Second of all, I don't know where you get the idea that something transient doesn't need a doctor to diagnose when something permanent does. That appears to be your own personal opinion. For instance, a headache could be the sign of a serious medical condition that would require treatment. This would be a case where going to a doctor would be a life/death situation. Autism is not like this so the reverse could be argued. Either way i don't think it matters .

There is a running presumption here that Aspies reside exclusively in developed regions of the world where a medically-valid diagnosis is, at the very least, possible. I'm afraid that the extant geopolitical reality is rather more skewed: In most parts of the world, a medical diagnosis of Asperger's - leave alone autism - is impossible to come by.

Many nations are today following the corporatised prescriptions of the DSM-5, which is a tract ordered by the insurance cartel, and which baldly refutes the validity of AS as a special need, and thereby discouraging medical diagnosticians from spending time doing their forensic work.

In these 'deprived' regions of the world, a medical diagnosis of AS is the stuff of dreams. The human mind, though, prefers certainty - and a multitude of online, self-administered tests do as good a job as any médico. Furthermore, as has been noted on this very thread, 90% of self-diagnosed autistics who manage to get formally diagnosed actually show up as having AS.

A brain tumor could present itself as symptomatic of autism.

Urgh, I've got emails to catch up. I'm doomed to stay on WP until 3am, I just know it... :/

I wasn't rewriting the dictionary definition. I was pointing out what was not added to it.

I might as well go into full pedant mode and point out that "someone" means "one or some person of unspecified or indefinite identity" according to merriam-webster. It does not mean the same thing as "yourself". Diagnosing "somebody" is diagnosing anyone else other than "yourself".



If you look under medical diagnosis in wikipaedia, self-diagnosis is one of several subcategories. There's even a separate entry dedicated to self-diagnosis.

There are other meanings of the word 'diagnosis', but on this site it's used in the medical sense. Any physical, mental or neurological condition would come under the umbrella of a medical diagnosis.



Well, yeah, a headache could be a sign of a brain tumour. In most cases, that will be about as unlikely as the person suing you in sonicallysensitive's hypothetical legal scenario. Millions of people have regular headaches (including me). If they became drastically worse, I started getting double vision or something, then I would get it checked out.

My main point was that self-diagnosis is not an unheard of concept, but its applications are strictly limited. It's pretty easy to diagnose yourself with a cold when you have a runny nose, are sneezing a lot, have a temperature, feel grotty, etc. I would wager autism is a tad more chronic and complex than the common cold...

My brother had autism and a brain tumour. He died of the latter a few months ago. I can assure you that the symptoms were nothing like autism: he went blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, was semi-paralysed, and had blinding headaches for every day of his last few months. Your comments were perhaps not meant to be so appallingly insensitive, but they are. You post first and think later?

I think you meant to say "Diagnosing "somebody" is diagnosing anyone else other than "oneself"

You are wrong. Someone isn't making any sense and that someone isn't me. The phrase "somebody else" exists for a reason and it can be used when referring to someone other than oneself.

No. Brain tumors can and do affect different parts of the brain.

Your brother's incident is, of course, tragic - but not proof of the difference between brain tumors and autism - only proof of the difference of your brother's brain tumor and autism.

lol. I was thinking that the self-diagnosis discussion had died. Now I see that it has spread to this thread. LIKE A VIRUS. MUAHAHAHA.

If someone diagnoses themselves with a medical condition then that is a medical self diagnosis. I really don't understand why someone would have a probem with the term it's self though. It is accurate, descriptive and not missleading. It clearly says that a person has looked at the facts regarding ones self in regards to a medical condition and came to their own conclusion.

Conceded.



I must be thick because I'm not getting this. I thought the last sentence was basically what I said? :-/

Back to Merriam-Webster...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/somebody

some·body pronoun \ˈsəm-(ˌ)bə-dē, -ˌbä-\
: a person who is not known, named, or specified
: one or some person of unspecified or indefinite identity <somebody will come in>

some·one pronoun \-(ˌ)wən\
: some person

Full Definition of SOMEONE

: some person : somebody

Someone or somebody by definition can't be oneself, because if it was the latter you'd have a specified identity.

I really should stop this and go and write those emails.... <_<

PS: Before I take a break, I just want to offer my condolences for your brother's sad death, B19. Sounds a tad lame, but I do really mean it: it must have been horrible.

The phrase "someone else" would be redundant if the definition of someone was "a person other than oneself." It's not. Look up "self-examination" and compare it to "examination." If the word someone meant what you think it does, self-examination would not exist (self-examination is a more specific form of examination not a different thing entirely).

The last time I quoted Jesse Jackson the thread got deleted, and though I know it wasn't cause and effect I feel a little trepidation...

But here it seems so appropriate again---


I am somebody!
I AM SOMEBODY!

Thank you for your condolences, NCOT. I am sure that you are completely sincere. He turned his autism obsession to good use in his relatively short life though (he was younger than me) and became a world expert and author on the history of soccer. The saddest thing was that he was unable to appreciate the World Cup earlier this year and did not seem to know what he was even watching. I am glad he is no longer trapped in that suffering.

I am SOMEONE, but I am not SOMEONE ELSE, from the viewpoint of myself.

I'm waiting for the train wreck?
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! !! !! !

B19, I am sorry for your loss.