<p>I think this is a borderline question. As a rule of thumb, we do not answer questions about individual health problems in favor of asking the author to see a professional, for both ethical and practical reasons. And let me be absolutely unequivocal here: you should see a professional. But this is fundamentally a general question about self-diagnosis, so I'm going to answer that.</p>

<p>It's always good to educate yourself. <strong>Accurate self diagnosis is necessarily impossible, however</strong>―what you can see depends on what you know, and what you know depends on what you have seen, etc. This is uncontroversial. Being educated is therefore very <em>helpful</em> when seeing a professional, which I again strongly encourage you to do, but it is <em>never</em> a substitute for seeing a professional when you have problems.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-21T17:18:52.297Z
2015-08-21T17:18:52.297Z
Christian Hummeluhr
<p>I am in a situation where I can't exactly get help for my mental health issues. There are plenty, don't get me wrong, but there was one particular part of my mental health struggle that I could never...connect with anything else. I know I have trust issues and abandonment issues and so forth, but there was this one set of symptoms that kept bothering me. I like to have a name for something, even if it's not very specific, so I searched and searched to find something that fit me. Finally I stumbled upon DID, and the more research I did about the disorder the more sense everything made. Is it wrong that I did this? I just wanted answers, and I really wish that I could go to a doctor but I can't. I've heard both sides on self diagnosis and I want to see what a group of professionals would think.
By the way, I haven't told anyone but my two closest friends, so no I'm not doing it for attention. I just wanted my symptoms to...make sense.</p>

<abnormal-psychology>
Do you ever think self diagnosis is called for?
user9139
# Do you ever think self diagnosis is called for?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-21)

I am in a situation where I can't exactly get help for my mental health issues. There are plenty, don't get me wrong, but there was one particular part of my mental health struggle that I could never...connect with anything else. I know I have trust issues and abandonment issues and so forth, but there was this one set of symptoms that kept bothering me. I like to have a name for something, even if it's not very specific, so I searched and searched to find something that fit me. Finally I stumbled upon DID, and the more research I did about the disorder the more sense everything made. Is it wrong that I did this? I just wanted answers, and I really wish that I could go to a doctor but I can't. I've heard both sides on self diagnosis and I want to see what a group of professionals would think.
By the way, I haven't told anyone but my two closest friends, so no I'm not doing it for attention. I just wanted my symptoms to...make sense.

**Tags:** abnormal-psychology


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-21. Score: 2

I think this is a borderline question. As a rule of thumb, we do not answer questions about individual health problems in favor of asking the author to see a professional, for both ethical and practical reasons. And let me be absolutely unequivocal here: you should see a professional. But this is fundamentally a general question about self-diagnosis, so I'm going to answer that.

It's always good to educate yourself. **Accurate self diagnosis is necessarily impossible, however**―what you can see depends on what you know, and what you know depends on what you have seen, etc. This is uncontroversial. Being educated is therefore very *helpful* when seeing a professional, which I again strongly encourage you to do, but it is *never* a substitute for seeing a professional when you have problems.


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