The Uncertainty of Mental Illness Diagnosis

Why do people self-diagnose mental illnesses?

Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders have become more prevalent, especially among young people. The demand for treatment is surging, and prescriptions of some psychiatric medications have climbed. These trends are paralleled by rising public attention to mental illness. Mental health messages saturate traditional and social media, and organisations and governments are developing awareness, prevention, and treatment initiatives with growing urgency.

The mounting cultural focus on mental health has obvious benefits, including increased awareness, reduced stigma, and promoted help-seeking. However, it may also have costs. Critics worry that social media sites are incubating mental illness and that ordinary unhappiness is being pathologised by the overuse of diagnostic concepts and “therapy speak”.

A British psychologist, Lucy Foulkes, argues that the trends for rising attention and prevalence are linked. Her “prevalence inflation hypothesis” proposes that increasing awareness of mental illness may lead some people to diagnose themselves inaccurately when they are experiencing relatively mild or transient problems.

What are the factors contributing to self-diagnosis?

We examined whether people with broad concepts of mental illness are, in fact, more likely to self-diagnose. In our new study, we defined self-diagnosis as a person’s belief they have an illness, whether or not they have received the diagnosis from a professional. We assessed people as having a “broad concept of mental illness” if they judged a wide variety of experiences and behaviors to be disorders, including relatively mild conditions.

Our results show that experiencing relatively severe distress is the strongest predictor of reporting a diagnosis. However, having a broad concept of mental illness was the second most important factor, even after controlling for levels of distress. When their levels of distress were the same, people with broad concepts were substantially more likely to report a current diagnosis.

Who is more likely to self-diagnose?

Our findings also indicate that people with greater mental health literacy and less stigmatising attitudes are more likely to report a diagnosis. In addition, younger and politically progressive people are more likely to report a diagnosis, consistent with some previous research, and hold broader concepts of mental illness. Their tendency to hold these more expansive concepts partially explained their higher rates of diagnosis.

Why does it matter?

Our findings support the idea that expansive concepts of mental illness promote self-diagnosis and may thereby increase the apparent prevalence of mental ill health. People who have a lower threshold for defining distress as a disorder are more likely to identify themselves as having a mental illness.

This may have several adverse effects. Diagnostic labels may become identity-defining and self-limiting, as people come to believe their problems are enduring and hard-to-control aspects of who they are. Unwarranted self-diagnosis may also lead people experiencing relatively mild levels of distress to seek help that is unnecessary, inappropriate, and ineffective.

Conclusion

Ongoing cultural shifts are fostering increasingly expansive definitions of mental illness. These shifts are likely to have mixed blessings. By normalising mental illness, they may help to remove its stigma. However, by pathologising some forms of everyday distress, they may have an unintended downside. As we wrestle with the mental health crisis, it is crucial we find ways to increase awareness of mental ill health without inadvertently inflating it.

FAQs

Q: What is the prevalence of mental illness?
A: Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders have become more prevalent, especially among young people.

Q: Why are people more likely to self-diagnose?
A: People with broad concepts of mental illness and experiencing relatively severe distress are more likely to self-diagnose.

Q: Who is more likely to self-diagnose?
A: People with greater mental health literacy, less stigmatising attitudes, younger individuals, and those with more expansive concepts of mental illness are more likely to self-diagnose.

Q: What are the potential consequences of self-diagnosis?
A: Self-diagnosis may lead to diagnostic labels becoming identity-defining and self-limiting, as well as seeking help that is unnecessary, inappropriate, and ineffective.