Is Self-Diagnosis Valid?

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I think if someone has been struggling with certain specific symptoms since childhood and they find a disorder that fits a self diagnoses can certainly be valid, it helps to get an official diagnoses but for many regardless of anyones personal political views cannot afford to do that. But that does not mean they are perfectly fine and should just 'suck it up' for instance.

It does mean, however, that the self-diagnosis could be wrong, and that the person diagnosing himself is simply conforming his behavior to what he thinks people with that diagnosis should behave like.

Only a diagnosis from a degreed and licensed medical practitioner can be considered truly valid.

Answering this poll would be supposing objectivity.

There isn't a subjective answer. Many people's self-diagnoses are definitely correct, but many other people's self-diagnoses are inaccurate.

There are some problems with diagnoses like autism and Asperger's Disorder, in that the people who actually do have it/them and who haven't been identified at a young age are likely to have either developed coping mechanisms which may mask the behaviors or may make people who have them become avoidant of others(including of the doctors who could provide such diagnoses). It may also cause confusion and difficulty in understanding how to go about getting a diagnosis.

Self-diagnoses should not be considered valid by people unfamiliar with whatever's being diagnosed(including in legal determinations), but people who are very familiar with what is being diagnosed may consider some self-diagnoses valid.

My impression and I know this does not fit everybody..

The problem I see with many that self diagnose autism and mental health issues is that it is often used as an excuse for their behaviour and actions. This is what they feel they need to explain how they fit into society. And unfortunately, this is where it stops really. You do not see the drive to get therapy and help overcoming the challenges that they are presented. Often people get an alternate diagnosis and get hung up on not having that specific label. And then do not end up gettign the help they truly need. People that self diagnose have real challenges and issues and I am afraid that their needs are not getting met because of a label hangup.

The people you see that have a professional diagnosis are more inclined to seek out treatment and therapy. Perhaps thats because they had the insurance and resources to get the diagnosis in the first place. I assume many that dont get a diagnosis think that it is impossible without insurance, etc. I hear of where there are no doctors in many areas that can diagnose autism. Like, what do these people do? They clearly are not getting the help they need regardless of whether they are on the spectrum or not. Gotta be depressing.

I opted for “Other”. None of the other options met my reasoning.

1) I am self diagnosed. My diagnosis is probably accurate as I am so like my daughter who is confirmed AS.

2) For the first 51 years of my life, I had never even heard of AS, let alone know I was affected by it.

3) AS is a neurological condition and not a disease. There is no cure. One may even consider that, the only reason AS is considered a disorder is that we differ from the norm and therefore have some difficulty interacting with typical society. In my years of ignorance I interacted with my peers quite well. If one takes the definition of Diagnosis as “The identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms”, the term diagnosis may not actually be appropriate

4) My self diagnosis is valid to me. It has allowed me to understand better why I behave differently to most in certain situations and also explains why I have certain strengths.

5) My diagnosis is known only to close members of my family and a small number of close friends. Those few family and friends know courtesy of my wife. I am quite cross at being outed by her.

6) My own issues, while serious, are limited only to my close relationships within my immediate family.

7) I have no need to be labelled or to be stigmatised, which may result from an official diagnosis.

I have no need to seek benefits or other assistance from the state.

9) An official diagnosis would not give me a cure or address my issues. It would serve no useful purpose to me and could work against me.

This is a statement of my opinion of my own case. Other people may be in a very different position and would benefit from an official diagnosis. We are all different. There are people on this site who look down on those without an official DX. DX or no DX would not make me a different person. Now that I know about my AS I can work on addressing the difficulties that I have and hopefully learn to become a better person.

It can be.
I have never been wrong about a self-diagnosis; everything that I've been certain about has been later confirmed by a professional.

A self-diagnosis is not necessarily wrong- look at all the people here who've self-diagnosed and subsequently been professionally diagnosed.

A professional opinion is not necessarily accurate: look at all the people here who've been refused a diagnosis for things like "being able to use the telephone".

Of course, that doesn't mean that all self-diagnosis is correct or that no professionals know what they're on about.

I feel like I'm stating the bleeding obvious...

What are reasons to self-diagnose?

When asking for the accuracy of self-diagnosis, how important is it to consider the reason(s) for self-diagnosis?

I suppose I am self-diagnosed with a tic-disorder/TS. Well, I never thought about calling it that before, but I suppose it's exactly that: a self-diagnosis.

I didn't bring it to any specialists attention yet, because I don't see how that would matter right now. A diagnosis is good for getting treatment/help one can't get without the diagnosis.

Of course, my self-diagnosis could be wrong. Unlikely, but I keep the possibility in mind. Relevant differential diagnoses were ruled out during other testing, so an official diagnosis would only be a matter of meeting the criteria or not.

I don't mention to people that I have TS. I don't think I used the term before much. I explain that I have tics if asked, because most people I talked to think tic-disorder/TS = coprolalia anyway.

Is my self-diagnosis valid? I think in my case that question is about as relevant as what my eye-colour really is that people tend to disagree about.

In my case it's a matter of keeping an eye on it. There are recent changes that can have and already have an influence on the tics. To suspect TS in the first place is the prerequisite to be able to identify tics and keep an eye on them.

"Maybe - I'm smart enough to know when I'm sick, and a doctor can only confirm my suspicions."

"Maybe Not - I may know that something is wrong, but only a doctor can tell me what it is"

But do people besides perhaps a few selected receive sympathy for their (self-)diagnosed disorders? I have trouble imagining that if the self-diagnosis describes an "invisible disability".