4 ms·

Devil's advocate: I'm sure the people learning about their non-existent dissociative identity disorders also feel as though they're learning useful information

Devil's advocate: I'm sure the people learning about their non-existent dissociative identity disorders also feel as though they're learning useful information and tricks. That being said, I'm in no way implying that the internet can't contain useful information.

jnovek 4y ago
Sure, that’s the other side of that coin I was talking about. :-) Personally, I suspect that people who incorrectly self-diagnose are desperate and grasping at straws. They misdiagnose themselves because proper diagnostics are really hard to get in for. However, I would be willing to bet that people who misdiagnose themselves with DID still have some other underlying mental health condition that they are misunderstanding.
- naravara 4y ago
  I think popular cultural conceptions of what a "diagnosis" is are kind of weird. It seems more like people categorizing themselves with immutable labels rather than accepting that it's just a way to refer to/characterize your subjective experience. I remember talking with one guy who was genuinely sad when his psychiatrist told him she might need to revisit his autism diagnosis and she thinks there might actually be some other class of diagnoses that fit his condition better. You would think she told him he had cancer or something. It helped him a lot to know that there was a box he could fit into and not having a box was distressing for him. It had him feeling unmoored and unstable. Now after reevaluating she did end up settling back on autism and his relief was palpable.
  - kayodelycaon 4y ago
    I wouldn't dismiss labels so quickly. Having a label gives you context to understand what is happening. It gives you a path forward with your treatment. It gives you access to documentation, support groups, and a community who are dealing with the same things. Changing a diagnosis means you likely lose all of these and have to start over. Then there is medication that can significantly change how your mind works. I likely have long-lasting damage to my nervous system from the anti-psychotic I need to function.
mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
Maybe they could at least learn that dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia are not the same thing. Then something good could come out of it after all.

jnovek 4y ago

Sure, that’s the other side of that coin I was talking about. :-) Personally, I suspect that people who incorrectly self-diagnose are desperate and grasping at straws. They misdiagnose themselves because proper diagnostics are really hard to get in for. However, I would be willing to bet that people who misdiagnose themselves with DID still have some other underlying mental health condition that they are misunderstanding.

naravara 4y ago
I think popular cultural conceptions of what a "diagnosis" is are kind of weird. It seems more like people categorizing themselves with immutable labels rather than accepting that it's just a way to refer to/characterize your subjective experience. I remember talking with one guy who was genuinely sad when his psychiatrist told him she might need to revisit his autism diagnosis and she thinks there might actually be some other class of diagnoses that fit his condition better. You would think she told him he had cancer or something. It helped him a lot to know that there was a box he could fit into and not having a box was distressing for him. It had him feeling unmoored and unstable. Now after reevaluating she did end up settling back on autism and his relief was palpable.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  I wouldn't dismiss labels so quickly. Having a label gives you context to understand what is happening. It gives you a path forward with your treatment. It gives you access to documentation, support groups, and a community who are dealing with the same things. Changing a diagnosis means you likely lose all of these and have to start over. Then there is medication that can significantly change how your mind works. I likely have long-lasting damage to my nervous system from the anti-psychotic I need to function.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago

Maybe they could at least learn that dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia are not the same thing. Then something good could come out of it after all.