Is it me? Am I the doctor? Assessing the Youth’s Tendency to Self-diagnose Mental Disorders
Written by Jasmin Lindy Abu
Have you ever encountered a post about the symptoms of a mental health disorder on your feed? Do you have those symptoms? If yes, do you claim to have that particular disorder?
Formerly, mental health wasn’t a topic for the masses, especially in our country. Upon being diagnosed, people hear remarks like “nasa isip mo lang ‘yan”, “ang sabihin mo, mahina ka”, or “sus, pang-mayaman na sakit lang ‘yan eh” as a response to their mental disorder. However, little by little, today’s generation lifted the heavy weight of stigma surrounding the subject.
Soon after, we now have a generation full of mental health advocates. Mental disorder talks are no longer kept behind closed doors, and the youth are now open-minded. As a result, the topic is circulating all over social media and is spreading awareness.
A great example of this is Aileene, a fashion content creator with 203.8k followers and 6 million likes. In 2023, she was diagnosed with ADHD at the late age of 32, sharing the things she did when she was younger that she initially thought were weird, but they turned out to be ADHD symptoms.
To provide an insight, ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. A mental disorder that affects both children and adults, but most commonly children. Some of the symptoms are being excessively hyper, impulsive, and having difficulty focusing.
Tying it back to Aileene, here are the comments under the post:
Courtesy: TikTok
Upon looking at the comments, it is evident that the users are diagnosing themselves with ADHD. In addition to this, many of the commentators happen to be young, which now leads us to two questions. First off, why is the youth so quick to diagnose themselves with a serious mental disorder? Second, is this a behavior that needs to be corrected?
Most of the information about health is now readily available online. With just one search, one scroll, or one click, you’ll be informed about a topic you wish to know more about. In consideration of that, one of the reasons our youth today are prone to self-diagnosis is because of their three hours and thirty-two minutes daily average time on social media, putting the Philippines at rank #4 globally for the highest social media usage, according to the Digital 2025 report.
In addition, because of the large amount of time they devote to using social media, they become chronically online. They lose their own identities to try and fit into online trends due to the lack of real-world experiences. For this particular situation, almost their entire existence revolves around what happens online. They sometimes want to be a part of the spectrum just to feel validated. Instead of the point being the actual diagnosis itself, these people just want to be a part of something, have a quirk of some sort that they saw on TikTok.
It is clear that this behavior has its pros; it demonstrates the youth’s open-mindedness and easy acceptance of a diagnosis, even when it is supposedly worrying. However, self-diagnosis due to online information has its own alarming danger. Conforming to Bashfort (2021), “The internet is entirely unpolicied. This means anyone can post something online, making any claim they want.” With that being said, what’s the use of accepting a diagnosis if it’s the wrong one? Besides, every single person is different, and disorders vary depending on the person. Diagnosis must be done by professionals only!
Courtesy: TikTok
Here are some additional comments left behind by the users, which brings us to another issue: our country does not have accessible mental healthcare. Despite the growing awareness and advocacy efforts in our generation, people struggle to afford a therapy session because of its high price. The cost of an average therapy session ranges from 1,500 to 4,500 PHP per individual session (Redillas, 2024).
Why the high price, you ask? The reason for the price is the lack of resources and infrastructure in our country. To be specific, there is a current critical shortage of professionals in the field of mental health, with an estimated 0.22 psychiatrists per 100,000 patients. On top of that, the facilities are mostly located in urban cities, leaving the ones in rural areas with even more limited options (RichestPH, 2025).
While the youth may have some crazy tendency to self-diagnose themselves with a serious mental disorder based on a random post or video they saw on their feed, we have progressed and found out that it was just the tip of the iceberg. We learn that there is indeed a deep cause for this act. It is more than a problem of the excessive usage of social media. How do you think can we correct this behavior?
Why do the youth of the Philippines have to self-diagnose? Why do we have to sit and wonder if we have a certain disorder instead of consulting a professional? How can we resolve this problem? Where do we draw the line between raising awareness and ensuring we get a proper diagnosis?
What do YOUTH? What do YOU think?
References:
WebMd Editorial Contributors. (2024, March 10). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd
Ayeng. R. (2025, February 26). Pinoys remain #1 internet users globally, says Digital 2025 report. DailyTribune. https://tribune.net.ph/2025/02/26/pinoys-remain-1-internet-users-globally-says-digital-2025-report
Al-heeti, A. (2021, September 9). ‘Chronically online’: What the phrase means, and some examples. Cnet. https://www.cnet.com/culture/internet/chronically-online-what-the-phrase-means-and-some-examples
Bashforth, E.J. (2021, December 6). Does self-diagnosis work and what are the dangers? PatientInfo.https://patient.info/news-and-features/does-self-diagnosis-work-and-what-are-the-dangers#why-do-people-self-diagnose
Redillas, M. (2024, September 23). Exploring the True Cost of Mental Health Care in the Philippines. MariaIsQuixotic. https://mariaisquixotic.com/cost-of-mental-health-philippines
RichestPH (2025, February 6). Understanding Mental Health in the Philippines: Challenges and Opportunities. RichestPH.https://richestph.com/understanding-mental-health-in-the-philippines-challenges-and-opportunities