Hey everybody, happy Thursday!
Now, today's video is something that
someone asked a few weeks ago
and, I'm going to be honest,
I put it off because
I have mixed feelings.
I have mixed feelings, that's me mixing.
And so here's the question and then let's get
to chatting. This would have been a good
"Coffee and a Chat" but it's like the
afternoon, and I've already had my coffee.
But, the question is: Hey Kati, I was
wondering about your stance on the increased
prevalence of self-diagnosis. Ooh!
So interesting! What should those who
can't afford a therapist/ psychiatrist do
and how should they go about seeking
communities to seek advice from? Thank
you. This is a loaded question for me
because, unlike most professionals, I
actually interact online and I recogise
how shitty a lot of treatments are in
different countries and in the states.
Mental health... we're gunna change it
guys, we're gunna y'know make the change.
Be the change - right? But, for now, we're
stuck in some not so desireable situations
and it can be really difficult to get help.
And I understand that it's not available
to all, whether our parents aren't
supporting it so it isn't financially it's
not available. Or we're adults and we
can't afford it. Because a lot of us are
on a tight budget, I'm on a tight budget,
and it can be hard to afford it.
Insurances suck. Socialised medicine
sucks, we wait forever. I totally get it
there are a lot of scenarios where getting
properly treated and diagnosed just isn't
available. And so let's start with that.
With that in mind, that for a lot of us
it's not available, or something that we
have access to, it's not something that we
can get, or if we've gone to see someone
they don't listen to us and they fall
asleep or something horrible. I've heard
some horrible stories you guys.
Self-diagnosing is ok with caution. I want
you to understand that I know how helpful
it can be just to feel that you have a
label to put on what you've been feeling.
Does that make sense? We're "ok, so I'm
not 'crazy', I just have anxiety. It's not
that I'm like freaking out, I have anxiety
and that's what it is." And it can be so
helpful to just put that label on it and
it almost, in a way, helps us understand
our experience more or maybe validate it
more. And I totally get that. And for
that purpose, I think self-diagnosis is
fine. If it just helps for you to better
understand your experience, and try to
hear from other people what they're going
through and then think "Ok, well maybe
that it what I have. Yeah, it does kinda
sound like that." Knowing fair well that
usually (I would assume) self-diagnoses
are... there's a big margin of error.
Because we aren't ever able, even as a
professional, I'm not able to remove
myself from my headspace and body and see
myself the way my therapist the way my
therapist would see me. You get that?
Because even though I could think like a
professional because I diagnose people
all the time and I have a lot of clients
and y'know we talk about diagnoses and how
we came to this one and why and blah blah
blah. But as the person being treated I
can never come out of myself and see
myself from the other view and be able to
say - "I guess that isn't normal." Because
I'm going to assume things that have been
normal in my life, processes that I have
are 'normal' because that's all I know.
Unlike a therapist who can be unbiased and
like remove ourselves and be able to say
"well, you know, it's actually not that
normal to wake up in a panic or to feel
your heart racing with stress in social
situations" or whatever we're looking at
whether it's like social anxiety, OCD.
Whatever we're trying to look at, we can't
step out of our body and see that because
to use that could be the norm. Right,
that's our baseline. And it takes a
professional to be able to recognise that
and tell you and kinda reflect back and be
like, y'know, "A lot of people don't
experience that and I want you to
understand that that's part of your
anxiety". And that, for a lot of people
is like the 'aha' lightbulb moment where
they're like "oh my gosh, that's what it
is, I'm not just going crazy. I have
blank". So those are kinda my sides to it
I see the benefit of being able to label
it for yourself. And I also see the
benefit of being able to receive some
support online. Facebook is a great
resource for that. There's a lot of groups
and chats and things like that available
for people with blank issue. Whether it's
depression, anxiety, eating disorders,
self harm, whatever. There's a lot of
different groups based around diagnosis
or struggles or whatever. And i would
encourage you to look for groups like
that based around the struggle. Like if
there are groups, y'know depression, if
we're feeling down whether or not we've
been clinically depressed, to me, doesn't
really matter. What matters is that you
get the support for when you're feeling so
low and so hopeless or lethargic or
whatever it may be. I think that's what
makes self-diagnosis ok for me maybe.
Because then it not only gives us a label
and makes us feel like "oh ok, that's
kinda what I think I've been experiencing"
and then we can reach out and get support.
And I also want to, that's why there's so
many topics - I'm sorry guys this isn't
very structured because it's just like,
there's so much. This is like the third
time I've recorded this so I'm just gunnna
push through. But there's also the side
note that like it can be really helpful
from a clinician's standpoint to have a
client come in and "hey I've been feeling
blank blank blank and I kinda looked up
online and I think it might be part of my
anxiety or it might be part of the
depression or it sounds like it might be
borderline personality." I've had people
say something like that. So that can be
kinda nice because then we can, as
clinician and patient and client or
whatever you want to call yourself, we can
go through it together. "Ok well let's
look at the diagnosis, what are we think
this is so. Ok so this is how we diagnose
it. Do you feel like you meet all those
criteria?" And we can talk about it
because, at the end of the day, it's your
diagnosis and I want to make sure you
fully understand it. And I want to make
sure I'm taking into consideration all of
your experiences and doing it justice and
making sure I'm giving you the right one
if any at all and..yeah. So that can be
helpful too. I wouldn't shy away
necessarily from looking into it. If
you're struggling - try to figure out what
it is! That can be helpful in and of
itself and be motivating to some extent.
So those are my thoughts. I know they're
kinda jumbled. I see both sides
the clinician in me is like "be careful,
we don't really know, we're not really
able to" then the online therapist where I
do here and I understand how shitty
treatments are I'm like "but it's ok, you
can get support and you can reach out. And
it helps to have a label and like kinda a
name for what's going on and like I see
both sides. But I think... to finish this.
I would say that my overall thought about
it is: if it helps you, good. Do it. It's
fine. If you start feeling better, it
gives you support - I'm fine with it!
But in the end, I would encourage all of
you to look into finding actual
professional help. Even the workbooks that
I have on my website for free, or my
videos helpfully will be a guide for you
to find someone who's a good fit for you.
Because, in the end, I really want you all
to get the help and support that you need
and deserve. And that's really how I feel
about it. Let me know how you feel about
it! And if you are new, please subscribe!
I put out videos twice a week, you don't
want to miss them. And yeah gives this a
thumbs up if you kinda like these chats.
Sometimes I put these off because I'm all
over the place as you can tell cos I'm
like "ugh" I like things to be structured.
And that might be my own thing, right?
Ok, I love you all and I'll see you on
Monday. Bye!
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