Self-diagnosis of mental disorders: A qualitative study of attitudes on Reddit
Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
There is concern that a growing number of individuals, especially adolescents, are inaccurately diagnosing themselves with mental disorders. However, there has been limited empirical research into this phenomenon: why it might be happening more frequently, what the costs and benefits might be, and what the implications are for anyone who is experiencing distress. To resolve this, this study used reflexive thematic analysis to explore attitudes towards self-diagnosis of mental disorders as expressed on the discussion website Reddit. From 1195 user comments, five themes were generated: (1) There is tension over who is the expert in diagnosis; (2) Self-diagnosis is a route to self-understanding in an inaccessible system; (3) Teenagers on social media are the problem; (4) Self-diagnosis can become self-fulfilling and (5) Now no one is believed. Together, these themes highlight that there is considerable anger, derision and criticism targeted towards people who self-diagnose with mental disorders, and that this is particularly targeted towards adolescents who self-diagnose on or as a result of social media. The findings have important implications for understanding how to support and validate people, particularly adolescents, who (sometimes accurately) use diagnostic language to express how they are feeling.