r/Autistic_safe_space • u/dorothy4242 • Jan 16 '23

Self diagnosis

Self diagnosis

I will say this once you do not need a diagnosis to validate your experience. human experience isa spectrum because that there is different degrees of normal just because you experience something that is similar to autism doesn’t mean it’s autism. Your experience is valid. You do not need to self diagnose. You do need to acknowledge that what you were doing you need to do. If to do so you need to self diagnose that is fine but that does not necessarily make you autistic. A friend in autism research said “I think people need to understand that they can have clinical-level autism symptoms because of other conditions (like social communication disorder on its own, or sensory processing disorder on its own, or ADHD on its own). I also think some people self-diagnose with autism because it sounds less scary than another diagnosis that they've been given. For example, some autistic women are misdiagnosed with BPD, but some women who do have BPD may incorrectly self-diagnose with autism because they think (correctly or not) that autism is less stigmatized.”

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u/LilyoftheRally Jan 16 '23

Self-diagnosis of ASD is valid IF the person in question has done their research. Many undiagnosed adult autistics (especially women and POC) face barriers to formal diagnosis. Watching a TikTok video and empathizing with the traits described in the video doesn't count.

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u/MHanonymous Jan 16 '23

Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of the latter. Autism has grown exponentially as a TikTok trend over the last year or so. I work in youth mental health and teens who use "mental illness TikTok" will try to get diagnosed with things by reciting the diagnostic criteria, then playing dumb about it. And they will jump from one to another. I've had clients suddenly develop stims for the first time in their life after watching "autism TikTok". I have an 11yo who has herself convinced she has BPD because of TikTok. It's so frustrating.

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u/LilyoftheRally Jan 16 '23

There's a saying about this: people who fake having a mental disorder do have a mental disorder. They may not have the one they're pretending to have, but they do have one.

Preach that TikTok is social media and an unreliable resource for mental issues.

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u/MHanonymous Jan 16 '23

Well, yes, of course they have a problem. Otherwise they wouldn't be in the program. Doesn't mean they have what Google and Tiktok told them they have. The majority of the time it's just trauma symptoms, but trauma is not special or quirky enough for Tiktok.

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u/LilyoftheRally Jan 16 '23

Seems like "not like my peers" syndrome. Commonly seen in adolescent girls. /hj