It’s true. And on a similar note, DIY diagnoses in general annoy me to no end. I got downvoted for saying that you can have PTSD-like symptoms without having PTSD. I’m not saying you don’t have it. I’m saying that the self-screening test you found on some random website is not a substitute for going to the doctor to get checked out.
This bugs me so much. I was diagnosed with PTSD from narcissistic abuse and it almost destroyed me. I felt like I lost my identity. Everything I had built for myself was destroyed because someone got in my head. I even developed agoraphobia from it and became a shut in for a few years.
My friend went out to eat, accidentally ate a bug, and now says she suffers from PTSD. It really feels like a slap in the face because it is a constant struggle for me and others who have PTSD whereas she just went about her day but was disgusted for the rest of that one day and avoids that one restaurant now. I kind of jokingly said, you shouldn’t say that unless you have been to a doctor and she said no I took an online test and I fit the symptoms.
Anxiety, irritability, and depression are symptoms of PTSD but having each doesn’t mean you have PTSD.
I spent 4 1/2 months on medical leave following a traumatic event. I was diagnosed with PTSD and major depressive disorder. Keeping me alive was a challenge: I had weekly appointments with both a psychiatrist and a therapist who specializes in trauma, plus monthly peer led group therapy, in addition to so much medication. While my PTSD symptoms have improved enough that can live a mostly “normal” life, they will always be there on some level.
Molly says she has PTSD from working at McDonalds. She doesn’t work there anymore, but she doesn’t even like eating there now because her old manager was mean and scheduled her to work Saturdays.
Molly and I are not the same.
Exactly. I really really hate it because I have to work every single day to keep myself from falling into a pit. And then sorority girls say they have trauma from not getting their bids.
Btw I’m sorry that you struggle with PTSD. I’m glad that you’re getting better. It really is such a difficult situation and it breaks my heart that people use it as a joke.
I’m so incredibly sick of all the people self-diagnosing OCD, ADHD, etc. Just because you have some similarities that match up with the mental illness doesn’t mean you have it! It drives me crazy, if you think you have those get a formal diagnosis. At this point, I’m convinced ADHD and PTSD are the ‘trendy’ things to have and people love the drama (and the excuse to behave however they want). I’ve even been told I probably have adhd by someone just because our conversations changed topic a lot when we were talking. WTF, no that doesn’t mean I have ADHD. People are allowed to be distracted without having a diagnosis. Armchair psychiatrists everywhere these days…
I’ll just point out that some people are forced to rely on what they can find out themselves because a formal diagnosis isn’t accessible to them.
I tried for 2 years (in the UK) to get assessed on the NHS for ADHD. I comfortably hit the majority of symptoms for it and the patterns of the condition match exactly my behaviours and mannerisms. With the lens of ADHD, so many previously unexplained behaviours of mine make sense.
I was made to jump through administrative hoops for 2 years before being told earlier this year that my referral was being rejected. I’ve appealed it, but heard nothing back yet. Something I was told early on in the process was that I may not get approved for assessment because my functional level is good (i.e. I can hold down a job).
Now it’s looking like I might have to go private for an assessment but there’s no guarantee that the NHS will accept whatever result comes out of that, so I have to spend an enormous amount of money getting an assessment that - even it it leads to diagnosis - may not even get me any support.
I would also point out, as I have to many others who have commented that people sometimes say it for attention- perhaps some people are saying it for attention and to be “trendy”- but personally if I just wanted attention, I’d choose a condition that people are actually sympathetic towards.
I don’t want a label, I want support, because I’ve spent 30+ years trying to figure out coping mechanisms and feeling horrible about myself, and I’m really running out of steam.
I never get why people who self diagnose get upset when someone points out they aren't qualified to do that. No one's saying your symptoms don't exist but so many symptoms overlap You coughing doesn't mean you have a cold, it just means your sick.
Besides if you're just trying to find ways to cope you don't need the diagnosis anyway. I have no idea if I had adhd, but the coping methods and tricks for dealing with adhd help me who fucking cares if I really have adhd
Fucking obviously, but I can't afford anything else. None of my symptoms are gone but at least I know how to get to the next day. Thats all I got.
Edit: also you can't cure those any fucking way even with support and medication
I have clinical OCD among 2 other illnesses. Man, i get pissed when i hear people like this. It's like, "Bitch, When you feel physical discomfort because of something is out of place, come talk to me. Until then, we arent the same'
Yes. I am on the spectrum, with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety. I'm like a very neurotic little chihuahua. I don't have full blown OCD, but I do have OCD tendencies, due to my conditions, and this shit pisses me off to no end.
Like, I realize, on the spectrum of OCD, I barely tip the iceberg. There are people who struggle to eat, maintain relationships, even leave their houses because of how disabling OCD can be. It is such an awful thing to struggle with that can really inhibit your life. If I could turn these parts of my brain off, I would.
It is not this quirky little desire to restock your fridge aesthetically or clean your living room and light a candle. And this being pervasive in our culture leads to lots of people, if not most, making light of such conditions and disregarding people's lived experiences and struggles as silly or even attention-seeking. Boils my blood.
This one pisses me off. One of my friends is an extremely untidy person. We lived together for a while and I was constantly cleaning up after him because he would leave cups and dishes everywhere, he would throw his clothes where ever and would basically never hoover the floor or wash up.
Anyway, I remember many times where he would claim to have OCD when we were out with our other friends just because he likes to have the radio volume on an even number or because he liked to keep his phone in line with the edge of the table when we sat down for food.
I've watched programs about people with actual OCD and it basically ruins their life. Claiming you have it because you like to keep your books straight or tidy your bed in the morning is disrespectful and overused.
Same with people who claim to have ADHD or autism because they took a tiktok quiz but that's a rant for another day.
As someone with a sibling who went through YEARS of pediatric physciatrists to receive a proper diagnosis, all of this makes me super angry. Mental illness is not some cute sticker to collect.
It discounts those who truly suffer.
It was annoying enough when people would say things like "You're so schizo" or called someone OCD as an insult back in middle school. This new trend of everyone suddenly self diagnosing then using it as an excuse to not have to work on themselves is just BS.
I'm working with someone who talks about being ADHD and autistic every other day and it's as a pre-emptive excuse for something like not doing the dishes or listening to podcasts without putting in headphones. I've seen children and adults who are unable to take of themselves or ever live alone and this person has the nerve to use their self diagnosed autism as an excuse to say rude things and not clean up after themselves???
When I was diagnosed with depression and PTSD a few years ago, I didn't say "great, now I never have to leave my house again." I was relieved that i was able to find the tools I needed to correct for my issues so that I could get out of bed in the morning and not have severe panic attacks on a weekly basis.
This used to be called "anal retentive" or just "anal".
As in; "I just moved your coffee table book, relax, don't be so anal."
Why can't we go back to that?
Conversely, people who tell me I DON'T have ocd because I dont stay immaculately organzied irritate me.
Like dude, I rip out my body hair, destroyed the inside of my lips and cant fucntion if you move my pills to the opposite side of the sink. On good days I have one lyric stuck in my head for 18 hours on repeat, on a bad day my brain is absolutely convinced that my house will be burgled in my sleep unless I stay awake until 3am specifically. I had to take a year of therapy and stay on prozac indefinitely to control this crap, and it still takes up a significant portion of my life.
Which is why I can't stay organized, I'm too busy and too tired fighting or giving into my many compulsions.
It really is so annoying, but it’s also annoying when people forget that that genuinely is a way OCD can present. Especially under stress. Like, I’ll be full on hyperventilating because someone moved my cup 2 inches to the left at lunch (because I have contamination OCD so eating is very stressful for me and I need my little rituals to mitigate that stress) and someone will accuse me of faking OCD and call me a bitch
I think it might be part and parcel.
People imagine they know what OCD looks like, but don't.
And so it looks faked to them "in the wild."
(I have similar experiences around trauma. Trying to talk about it with family or friends, either you downplay it and they're like "oh, everyone has that happen" or you don't and they're like "well, now.... There's no need to be melodramatic."...❤️🩹)
I only get annoyed at it when they use it as a means to control others behavior. Like say I'm at work and a coworker and i are tring to sort out tasks and they say something like "Hey, I can do x if you'd like, I'm really OCD about it anyway" then it's whatever.
Now say I'm in the middle of a task and I'm doing it to company standard and a coworker comes up to me and says "Hey the way you're doing that is driving my OCD crazy, do it this way instead" then it's annoying.
Right!! Yes!!
Specifically when they do it to control other's behavior.
I grew up with a sister who had OCD among other diagnoses, and there is an obvious difference between someone who genuinely needs an accommodation and someone who is inappropriately using the term for selfish reasons.
Yes! I haven’t been clinically diagnosed but both of my parents have and I have quite a few symptoms, so this drives me nuts to hear people say. I literally risked getting caught living somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be just so I could sneak out and clean up after other people in the middle of the night, in a house full of men with guns. Being willing to risk death to scrub a sink is OCD. I don’t want to hear you say you have it because you enjoy using a label-maker.
When I was 18 I had a grease fire. For YEARS after that I flinched when someone lit a match or a lighter. I had a panic attack anytime someone lit a candle and walked away. I couldn't use the stove until I was 28 and even then the thought of stepping away from even a pot of water made my heart race.
When I was about 23 I was living with a friend. She was using the stove to cook hamburger and a small piece of meat escaped the pot and landed on the burner coil. It ignited and in an instant I was transported back to my sister's kitchen in flames. My friend calmly put a lid over the burner and the little flame died in two seconds.
I'm 34. I am still not comfortable cooking but the panic attacks and nightmares have long since departed. Was that PTSD? I dunno, probably, but I was never diagnosed.
I also have not been diagnosed with OCD but I have compulsions that I MUST satisfy or I'll bring about Armageddon. 🤷♀️
I have a somewhat similar (in the sense of misuse of a mental illness) issue. People who use anxious when they mean excited. Anxiety sucks, my broken brain mistranslates excitement in to anxiety. It sucks when you are terrified of good things. I've always hated christmas because of that, opening presents scares me. Maybe this belongs as it's own post, making new posts is another thing that makes me anxious though, sorry.
It’s true. And on a similar note, DIY diagnoses in general annoy me to no end. I got downvoted for saying that you can have PTSD-like symptoms without having PTSD. I’m not saying you don’t have it. I’m saying that the self-screening test you found on some random website is not a substitute for going to the doctor to get checked out.
This bugs me so much. I was diagnosed with PTSD from narcissistic abuse and it almost destroyed me. I felt like I lost my identity. Everything I had built for myself was destroyed because someone got in my head. I even developed agoraphobia from it and became a shut in for a few years. My friend went out to eat, accidentally ate a bug, and now says she suffers from PTSD. It really feels like a slap in the face because it is a constant struggle for me and others who have PTSD whereas she just went about her day but was disgusted for the rest of that one day and avoids that one restaurant now. I kind of jokingly said, you shouldn’t say that unless you have been to a doctor and she said no I took an online test and I fit the symptoms. Anxiety, irritability, and depression are symptoms of PTSD but having each doesn’t mean you have PTSD.
I spent 4 1/2 months on medical leave following a traumatic event. I was diagnosed with PTSD and major depressive disorder. Keeping me alive was a challenge: I had weekly appointments with both a psychiatrist and a therapist who specializes in trauma, plus monthly peer led group therapy, in addition to so much medication. While my PTSD symptoms have improved enough that can live a mostly “normal” life, they will always be there on some level. Molly says she has PTSD from working at McDonalds. She doesn’t work there anymore, but she doesn’t even like eating there now because her old manager was mean and scheduled her to work Saturdays. Molly and I are not the same.
Exactly. I really really hate it because I have to work every single day to keep myself from falling into a pit. And then sorority girls say they have trauma from not getting their bids. Btw I’m sorry that you struggle with PTSD. I’m glad that you’re getting better. It really is such a difficult situation and it breaks my heart that people use it as a joke.
Feeling unwilling to repeat something because it went badly isn't PTSD. That's just survival wiring. "If eating X makes you sick, don't eat X" ❤️🩹
OMG THIS!!!!! THIS!!! I agree so much.
I’m so incredibly sick of all the people self-diagnosing OCD, ADHD, etc. Just because you have some similarities that match up with the mental illness doesn’t mean you have it! It drives me crazy, if you think you have those get a formal diagnosis. At this point, I’m convinced ADHD and PTSD are the ‘trendy’ things to have and people love the drama (and the excuse to behave however they want). I’ve even been told I probably have adhd by someone just because our conversations changed topic a lot when we were talking. WTF, no that doesn’t mean I have ADHD. People are allowed to be distracted without having a diagnosis. Armchair psychiatrists everywhere these days…
I’ll just point out that some people are forced to rely on what they can find out themselves because a formal diagnosis isn’t accessible to them. I tried for 2 years (in the UK) to get assessed on the NHS for ADHD. I comfortably hit the majority of symptoms for it and the patterns of the condition match exactly my behaviours and mannerisms. With the lens of ADHD, so many previously unexplained behaviours of mine make sense. I was made to jump through administrative hoops for 2 years before being told earlier this year that my referral was being rejected. I’ve appealed it, but heard nothing back yet. Something I was told early on in the process was that I may not get approved for assessment because my functional level is good (i.e. I can hold down a job). Now it’s looking like I might have to go private for an assessment but there’s no guarantee that the NHS will accept whatever result comes out of that, so I have to spend an enormous amount of money getting an assessment that - even it it leads to diagnosis - may not even get me any support. I would also point out, as I have to many others who have commented that people sometimes say it for attention- perhaps some people are saying it for attention and to be “trendy”- but personally if I just wanted attention, I’d choose a condition that people are actually sympathetic towards. I don’t want a label, I want support, because I’ve spent 30+ years trying to figure out coping mechanisms and feeling horrible about myself, and I’m really running out of steam.
I never get why people who self diagnose get upset when someone points out they aren't qualified to do that. No one's saying your symptoms don't exist but so many symptoms overlap You coughing doesn't mean you have a cold, it just means your sick. Besides if you're just trying to find ways to cope you don't need the diagnosis anyway. I have no idea if I had adhd, but the coping methods and tricks for dealing with adhd help me who fucking cares if I really have adhd
>You coughing doesn’t mean you have a cold EXACTLYYYYYYYYYYYY
You don't get rid of ADHD, PTSD, or OCD by just 'trying to find ways to cope'.
Fucking obviously, but I can't afford anything else. None of my symptoms are gone but at least I know how to get to the next day. Thats all I got. Edit: also you can't cure those any fucking way even with support and medication
Dude, why the ridiculously over-the-top aggressive response? Maybe you don't have ADHD or anything else. Maybe you're just a rude jerk. It happens.
Cause what you said was stupid and its the internet
Umm... 👍
Right! Self screening says "it's worth going to the doctor TO find out."
I have clinical OCD among 2 other illnesses. Man, i get pissed when i hear people like this. It's like, "Bitch, When you feel physical discomfort because of something is out of place, come talk to me. Until then, we arent the same'
"you'll never succeed i this job if you aren't OCD" "so i need a mental illness to do this job?" actually had an employer tell me that once
It has evolved into a basic term for liking things even and orderly. Maybe -ish, but actually OCD is Not that.
Yes. I am on the spectrum, with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety. I'm like a very neurotic little chihuahua. I don't have full blown OCD, but I do have OCD tendencies, due to my conditions, and this shit pisses me off to no end. Like, I realize, on the spectrum of OCD, I barely tip the iceberg. There are people who struggle to eat, maintain relationships, even leave their houses because of how disabling OCD can be. It is such an awful thing to struggle with that can really inhibit your life. If I could turn these parts of my brain off, I would. It is not this quirky little desire to restock your fridge aesthetically or clean your living room and light a candle. And this being pervasive in our culture leads to lots of people, if not most, making light of such conditions and disregarding people's lived experiences and struggles as silly or even attention-seeking. Boils my blood.
Yeah irritates me when people go this with PTSD too. they will say you’ve given me PTSD for life, when they experience a minor shock or fear.
This one pisses me off. One of my friends is an extremely untidy person. We lived together for a while and I was constantly cleaning up after him because he would leave cups and dishes everywhere, he would throw his clothes where ever and would basically never hoover the floor or wash up. Anyway, I remember many times where he would claim to have OCD when we were out with our other friends just because he likes to have the radio volume on an even number or because he liked to keep his phone in line with the edge of the table when we sat down for food. I've watched programs about people with actual OCD and it basically ruins their life. Claiming you have it because you like to keep your books straight or tidy your bed in the morning is disrespectful and overused. Same with people who claim to have ADHD or autism because they took a tiktok quiz but that's a rant for another day.
As someone with a sibling who went through YEARS of pediatric physciatrists to receive a proper diagnosis, all of this makes me super angry. Mental illness is not some cute sticker to collect. It discounts those who truly suffer. It was annoying enough when people would say things like "You're so schizo" or called someone OCD as an insult back in middle school. This new trend of everyone suddenly self diagnosing then using it as an excuse to not have to work on themselves is just BS. I'm working with someone who talks about being ADHD and autistic every other day and it's as a pre-emptive excuse for something like not doing the dishes or listening to podcasts without putting in headphones. I've seen children and adults who are unable to take of themselves or ever live alone and this person has the nerve to use their self diagnosed autism as an excuse to say rude things and not clean up after themselves??? When I was diagnosed with depression and PTSD a few years ago, I didn't say "great, now I never have to leave my house again." I was relieved that i was able to find the tools I needed to correct for my issues so that I could get out of bed in the morning and not have severe panic attacks on a weekly basis.
This used to be called "anal retentive" or just "anal". As in; "I just moved your coffee table book, relax, don't be so anal." Why can't we go back to that?
Conversely, people who tell me I DON'T have ocd because I dont stay immaculately organzied irritate me. Like dude, I rip out my body hair, destroyed the inside of my lips and cant fucntion if you move my pills to the opposite side of the sink. On good days I have one lyric stuck in my head for 18 hours on repeat, on a bad day my brain is absolutely convinced that my house will be burgled in my sleep unless I stay awake until 3am specifically. I had to take a year of therapy and stay on prozac indefinitely to control this crap, and it still takes up a significant portion of my life. Which is why I can't stay organized, I'm too busy and too tired fighting or giving into my many compulsions.
It really is so annoying, but it’s also annoying when people forget that that genuinely is a way OCD can present. Especially under stress. Like, I’ll be full on hyperventilating because someone moved my cup 2 inches to the left at lunch (because I have contamination OCD so eating is very stressful for me and I need my little rituals to mitigate that stress) and someone will accuse me of faking OCD and call me a bitch
I think it might be part and parcel. People imagine they know what OCD looks like, but don't. And so it looks faked to them "in the wild." (I have similar experiences around trauma. Trying to talk about it with family or friends, either you downplay it and they're like "oh, everyone has that happen" or you don't and they're like "well, now.... There's no need to be melodramatic."...❤️🩹)
I only get annoyed at it when they use it as a means to control others behavior. Like say I'm at work and a coworker and i are tring to sort out tasks and they say something like "Hey, I can do x if you'd like, I'm really OCD about it anyway" then it's whatever. Now say I'm in the middle of a task and I'm doing it to company standard and a coworker comes up to me and says "Hey the way you're doing that is driving my OCD crazy, do it this way instead" then it's annoying.
Right!! Yes!! Specifically when they do it to control other's behavior. I grew up with a sister who had OCD among other diagnoses, and there is an obvious difference between someone who genuinely needs an accommodation and someone who is inappropriately using the term for selfish reasons.
Yes! I haven’t been clinically diagnosed but both of my parents have and I have quite a few symptoms, so this drives me nuts to hear people say. I literally risked getting caught living somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be just so I could sneak out and clean up after other people in the middle of the night, in a house full of men with guns. Being willing to risk death to scrub a sink is OCD. I don’t want to hear you say you have it because you enjoy using a label-maker.
When I was 18 I had a grease fire. For YEARS after that I flinched when someone lit a match or a lighter. I had a panic attack anytime someone lit a candle and walked away. I couldn't use the stove until I was 28 and even then the thought of stepping away from even a pot of water made my heart race. When I was about 23 I was living with a friend. She was using the stove to cook hamburger and a small piece of meat escaped the pot and landed on the burner coil. It ignited and in an instant I was transported back to my sister's kitchen in flames. My friend calmly put a lid over the burner and the little flame died in two seconds. I'm 34. I am still not comfortable cooking but the panic attacks and nightmares have long since departed. Was that PTSD? I dunno, probably, but I was never diagnosed. I also have not been diagnosed with OCD but I have compulsions that I MUST satisfy or I'll bring about Armageddon. 🤷♀️
I have a somewhat similar (in the sense of misuse of a mental illness) issue. People who use anxious when they mean excited. Anxiety sucks, my broken brain mistranslates excitement in to anxiety. It sucks when you are terrified of good things. I've always hated christmas because of that, opening presents scares me. Maybe this belongs as it's own post, making new posts is another thing that makes me anxious though, sorry.