Self Diagnosing PTSD and Other Mental Health Issues

[Mari9999]

Is anyone else struck by the what seems like a significantly high number of women who describe themselves as suffering form PTSD ? Is it possible that these women are all self diagnosing ? Usually they attribute these conditions to what are seemingly every day life conflicts.

Many other say that they cannot work because of their mental health. Has there been some drastic increase in debilitating mental diagnosis that render women disabled and physically incapable of working? Are these women all capable of qualifying for disability benefits?

AIBU to think that this cavalier attitude towards mental health makes it difficult for women with medically diagnosed issues to be taken seriously?

It also seems that every second woman claims to have been married to a narcissist or for their current partner to have a cheating narcissist as an ex?

What ever happened to simply coping, being responsible, and owning one's behavior?

It also seems that every second woman claims to have been married to a narcissist or for their current partner to have a cheating narcissist as an ex?

Do you mean on mumsnet?

I disagree. I think what you're thinking of is a psychologist. I also think therapist should be a protected title as it is in other countries and only clinical psychologists should be providing therapy. But that's not going to happen and probably for the best as it would make it even more inaccessible. They do need to do something about these counsellors though.

it isn't a subjective opinion that there is room for disagreement in!

Psychiatrists are qualified doctors who have trained and specialised in psychiatry!

psychologist are not! You don't need any training, or qualifications to call yourself a psychologist. But if you want training a n qualifications they are easily available, and worth very little

Even a psychology degree is the easiest to get into and the easiest to pass - compare that to the medical degree that a Psychiatrist has, even before they do their specialist training

When I was 19 and extremely unstable my psychiatrist told me that having a baby would be good for me and give me something else to think about. I couldn't even look after myself at that point. He also told me my abuse didn't happen.

@Nimbostratus100 Please look up the qualifications and training needed to be a clinical psychologist. It is a protected title and you're incorrect. You're thinking of counsellors.
I never said a psychiatrist isn't a doctor. I disagreed that it should be up to them to decide how much support a child gets from camhs. They may be doctors but they are some of the biggest egotistical maniacs walking this planet and their bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.
They don't provide therapy, they provide pharmaceutical interventions.

The mental health service has always been inadequate. It seems really unlikely that it's swamped with people experiencing non clinical levels of anxiety - the threshold to access support is very much higher than that. Lots of people who are seriously unwell can access very little if anything. I can see why people would self diagnose.

Obviously a Psychiatrist knows what they are doing 1000x better than a therapist.

Psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy are very different disciplines. A psychologist needs to have training to doctorate level and while psychotherapy isn’t a reserved profession many are trained to a high level. I have 8 years of higher education as a psychotherapist and know very well what I’m doing.

I disagree with this. I've had various psychiatrists whose preference was to avoid medication unless absolutely necessary and focus on lifestyle changes.

I take the lowest dose of lithium for that reason. They've been happy for me to go fully off medication for years in the past.

I don't think psychiatry is quick to diagnose a serious illness at all - which is probably a good thing.

Despite going to various psychiatrists with symptoms of bipolar since I was 16, I wasn't diagnosed until a week after turning 28.

It might have reduced, though the average time taken for a bipolar diagnosis back then was 13 years.

I work full time without ever needing to disclose, though had to disclose it when applying to learn to drive. It'll probably affect my insurance now I'm applying for a mortgage.

Still, getting the diagnosis was positive. It meant GPs stopped prescribing me SSRIs that made things far worse.

I've worked full time in a professional sector for years, built up a lot of savings and as a teenager or in my 20s couldn't imagine that ever being a possibility.

I'm seeing this a lot on twitter and Facebook. It's usually middle aged women too.

Given the state of MH provision in the NHS / UK, is it a wonder these things are medically underdiagnosed and untreated?

I suspect given full MH funding to sort the nation's MH, fully investigate everyone the results would be shocking in terms of many more diagnoses of serious MH conditions.

FGS if my sister cannot get decent MH diagnosis or treatment for her bipolar disorder, left to the wayside by the NHS, diagnosis takes over a decade, and is still not suitably treated at multiple necessary occasions, what about all those people with other disorders, PTSD / CPTSD being just a few of them.

@Saturday82 You are the exception, not the norm. Let's hope this becomes the norm.

Psychologists have degrees and usually postgrads.

A therapist is not a protected title, though approved therapists have a diploma (3 years minimum) and 400 hours of therapy before being approved.

psychologist are not! You don't need any training, or qualifications to call yourself a psychologist. But if you want training a n qualifications they are easily available, and worth very little

Well, none of this is true

I agree that you go to a psychiatrist and therapist for completely different things.

I go to psychiatry once every 3 months to report symptoms.

I started private therapy over a year ago with a person-centred counsellor. When I'm feeling bad I go every week or two. Now about once a month, sometimes longer.

I do have friends I can talk to, but it helps to have a neutral listener who can predict how things will play out. When I was in a dysfunctional relationship, she knew he'd come back etc. Encouraged me to leave a bad job, then I found a job where my managers are much nicer and I get paid more

I agree with you OP! Its the same as all these parents diagnosing their badly behaved DC with adhd, asd etc! It makes it harder for those with an actual medical diagnosis to be taken seriously!

You’re not necessarily wrong in what you say.

Firstly when it comes to “self-diagnosing” it’s all based on feeling and symptoms. It doesn't take a medical degree to notice that you're having bad dreams every single night based on the thing that happened to you, and it doesn't take a medical degree to notice that you are severely affected by it.

My point there is that it doesn't matter who recognises these things to be the case, they are all post-traumatic stress.

I agree with Dr Jessica Taylor, we should do away with the “disorder” part.

Secondly, if you have a formal diagnosis then no, every Tom, Dick, and Harry claiming they have PTS won't stop you getting whatever that formal diagnosis entitled you to, including disability benefit.

Also, you can 100% get signed off based on your own proclamations and you can 100% fake it. Just like you can fake a medical degree if you really, really want to. But what does this really prove or suggest? Anyone can fake anything and people have throughout history.

I would describe what I am going through as PTS but haven't felt the need to be signed off work because of it. I am getting on with it but my life is some days very difficult.

I also have an ex with every single trait of narcissistic abuser to their name. And this is the first time I've said that because yes, the term is being used for everything now, including him saying it about me.

It’s the same as people saying ‘I have OCD’ because they don’t like mess. It's the same as people saying ‘I'm triggered’ because they don’t like something.

This is nothing new and this will never end. It will be something else next year.

What's your main point around it? I don't think there's anything that should happen because people falsely claim things.

@monsterradeliciosa The OCD thing is actually really interesting because I only recently found out that OCD shows itself in many different ways and often really awful intrusive thoughts are a norm, alongside catastrophising and going over every possible horrible scenario. Sufferers will try and try to find a way they'd deal with it, until they find a satisfactory resolution they could actually perform, just so they feel safe and can get on with their day. All this for an imaginary problem that's unlikely to happen. I don't think they all have clean homes and blisters from washing their hands.

I disagree with this. I've had various psychiatrists whose preference was to avoid medication unless absolutely necessary and focus on lifestyle changes.

This was my experience too. With one exception all the NHS psychiatrists I've seen didn't push medication. For 99.9 percent of the years I was under the cmht I was medication free although they did all happily prescribe sleeping pills whenever I asked.

Got discharged during lockdown mark 2 because they were reviewing all cases and you had to get in touch to organise your review, I was going through a bad patch and obviously did nothing of the kind. The sleeping pills are the only thing I miss.

I completely disagree about the statement about if you Have a formal diagnosis then people self declaration of these conditions won't affect you and the help you receive! I have two dc both officially diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, SPD among others! The elder was diagnosed nearly 20 years ago and the youngest 6 years ago! When the eldest was diagnosed it was not a common thing to be diagnosed with and we were taken seriously and given appropriate help at schools etc! Now when I explain the younger one's diagnosis you can actually see people thinking " oh no another badly behaved little brat who's parents are using labels to excuse their bad/lack of parenting". It is also much harder to get the right kind of help like an EHCP etc! So yes it does absolutely have an effect on the help that someone with an actual medical diagnosis can receive!

Indeed. Pure O sounds horrible.

I think it all stems from trauma. And we're all traumatised to varying degrees.

People will always self-diagnose though, and the medical establishment will always over-diagnose.

@monsterradeliciosa Yes I agree. Although as a PP mentioned, it is very difficult now to have the correct help as it's so common to have a diagnosis. This is a consequence of diagnosis something like bad anxiety or a stressful period as PTSD. It completely undermines the severity of that diagnosis. Same goes for ADHD and ASD. The criteria to meet diagnosis is so wide now. This is well reflected in the independent school population and the % of them getting extra time. Once your parents have money it is easier to get diagnosed.

@bloodyplanes My daughter has ADD as well as a host of other SpLDs that are bad enough to warrant an EHCP. Thankfully we got that a couple of years before lockdown as I don't think the support we got would be possible now.
Unfortunately the uptick of EHC applications is a direct result of funding. Even 10 years ago schools were much better equipped to fund support. Now even kids with a plan aren't getting what they should, as the plan doesn't fund it fully or recruitment is just not happening, even if the schools try.

Yes I see your point there.

Not sure anything can be done about this though.

I have properly diagnosed complex PTSD with hallucinations and I hear voices too. I was seen by a consultant psychiatrist because I thought I was seeing ghosts and dead people - it was hallucinations and they stopped after I started taking medication and having therapy.
I spent years in a state not knowing what the hell was wrong with me.
It came as a shock to be diagnosed but also a relief as it meant that the symptoms such as acute anxiety could be treated and you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with me now.
I've worked full time in the NHS for 41 years as a medical practitioner - don't want to be too outing. Work helps to regulate the symptoms and give me a purpose in life - after two weeks off at any one time I get a bit twitched.
I think its very important not to self diagnose any of these conditions but to get a proper assessment - the treatment is different for some of them.
I told my son off recently for "diagnosing" a neighbour as having border line personality disorder. I said you don't know what is wrong with him and you are not a psychiatrist so do not presume to know what his problem is.