I recently got a message from an old friend who I had talked abt my ocd with and she posted abt the stigma of ppl self diagnosing she sent me a dm after I commented under her post in appreciation for her words but she replied with saying “No disrespect but have you gone to a clinical psychiatrist or are you still assuming you have a mental illness. I just saw your response and I was a little confused because I know you think you have OCD and I didn’t want to embarrass you or anything” it hurt when I read it and until now the tears started flowing it’s so discrediting and hurts sm especially after I tried being patient and understanding with her back when we would hang out more often. Idk if it’s this incident or that I’m just emotional bc this is the first day I run out of medication bc I can only get prescribed free my my psychiatrist provided by the school until I go back tomorrow so I’ll be a couple days without taking medication?? Any advice on how to take this bc it’s been really triggering for me especially since it’s always been a fear of mine that I could be faking it when Ik I’m clearly not. I would never ever choose to wake up everyday and have to put up with this.

In the mental health community, more people are starting to realize how necessary self diagnosis is because not everyone can get a professional one. Some people can’t afford it. Their parents won’t let them. It’s not accessible. Or they face major discrimination for who they are. These people self diagnose because they have to. Can you imagine having OCD for your whole life without getting to put a name to it because you can’t get treatment? It’s horrible. For people in marginalized groups self diagnosing is the one way they can feel valid. There’s a big difference between people who associate under a stereotype: “I’m such clean freak and haha I’m so OCD. I have OCD” and people who have taken the time to look into their symptoms to figure out what’s causing them so much pain. Ones stigmatizing and the other isn’t. I feel like it was so rude to you and everyone else who has to self diagnose for her to post that and hold that attitude. People who struggle with their mental health the most are the ones least likely to have access to help. I’m so sorry your friend’s ignorance and insensitivity hurt you. That’s extremely invalidating and you have every right to be hurt. You don’t deserve to feel this bad over it. Please hold on. I know running out of medication sucks and I feel for you. Plus whatever this is is not a good addition to that. Just take care of yourself, okay? You deserve it.

1st off a diagnosis is a privilege. And most people who go to get treated for ocd are self diagnosed. I was self diagnosed for a while before I started erp! Most of these “mental health advocates” don’t haven’t struggled with mental illness themeselves and don’t realize how the process works. Plus most people don’t understand how complex ocd can be and how damaging it can be to someone when you accuse them of faking it.