It’s nearly the end of the year and you are beginning to get stressed out. You are tired and burnt out from work and deadlines. You’ve had a tremendous shift in your work environment (forced to work remotely and you were never prepared for this), the anxiety that this pandemic had brought onto you is a lot to deal with. So maybe, you stop stressing and feel down and suddenly you are not in the mood to do anything; to talk, to work and to eat. Most days you feel like crying, some days you just want to keep the curtains closed and curl in your bed. You don’t feel like yourself, you don’t feel okay.
Just last week you read an article about chronic depression and anxiety, so now you are thinking maybe you are depressed. You go online and take one of those quizzes to check how mentally stable you are, and of course your results come out as chronically depressed and somehow you’ve also tested positive for bipolar. What do you do? You panic… chances are, you think there is more wrong with you than there really is.
This is a common case of people self diagnosing. You see nowadays it’s easy to just pick up the phone and ask google what you may think is wrong with you. Most cases this may be helpful but sometimes self diagnosing does more harm than good. The truth is self diagnosing a Mental illness may lead to trivializing or magnifying the mental illness. When you self diagnose you can easily miss something that you cannot see. This can be very dangerous if then you decide to treat yourself with over the counter medication. In some instances you may even be in denial to your own symptoms.There is a reason why there are medical professionals that specialize in this field. Reading is all and well but when it comes to your health you need to leave it in the hands of professionals.
This does not mean ignore the symptoms you see and feel, by all means if ever you are concerned with your mental health do yourself a favour and go and consult with a professional. As much as it is dangerous to self diagnose yourself it also applies to the people around you, your family friends or children. Do not just assume that your child’s character and personality changes and conclude that they have bipolar, go and consult. It is great to keep an eye out on your loved ones, but if you really have a concern go and see a professional that will give you the proper help you need suited for your situation. Let’s take it easy on the quizzes
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