You see a video on TikTok saying: “Here are the 5 signs you might have ADHD“. You watch the video and identify with four of them. Then, you look for more videos. After that, you search on Google. Suddenly, behaviors you had never thought much about before start to look like symptoms of a condition.
When the Internet Becomes a Mirror
The internet is an endless source of information and, for many people, it’s the first place they go to look for answers and knowledge. In recent years, there has also been an increase in the search for psychological explanations for behaviors, feelings, and personal characteristics through social media. A huge number of people come across random videos on Reels, TikTok, and YouTube showing lists of symptoms, quick tests, and content about autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and other disorders.
In 2020, a study carried out by the consulting company Kronberg and Decode showed an increase in online searches about mental disorders. According to the study, searches for anxiety tests increased by 750%, while searches for depression tests increased by 200%.
More than simply looking for information about mental health, this behavior shows a growing need to find explanations for ourselves. When someone spends years seeing themselves as disorganized, forgetful, distracted, unmotivated, or extremely anxious, finding content that connects these characteristics to a disorder can create a feeling of recognition. For the first time, that behavior may stop looking like a personal failure and become part of a bigger explanation.
From Recognition to Self-Diagnosis
This is when identification can turn into self-diagnosis.
Today, it is very easy for anyone to recognize themselves in lists of symptoms and draw conclusions about their own mental health. It is not difficult to find videos on social media using simple lists of behaviors to describe certain diagnoses, as if any small difference from what is considered “normal” could be enough to explain someone’s personality.
Behind this movement, there is also a strong desire for belonging and connection. Giving a name to an experience can often mean discovering that other people go through the same thing. A diagnosis stops being only a medical classification and can also become a way of understanding and expressing one’s identity. Saying “I have ADHD”, “I have anxiety” or “I am autistic” can offer an explanation for experiences that, until then, seemed isolated or difficult to understand.
The Comfort of Having an Explanation
A simple example is someone who has always been forgetful or disorganized and, after finding content about ADHD, starts to interpret these characteristics as possible symptoms of the disorder. The question is not simply whether this person has ADHD or not, but how that possibility can change the way they see their own story. With a new explanation, behaviors that were once considered personal flaws, personality traits, or consequences of certain circumstances can start to be understood through a specific condition.
It is much easier to blame a lack of motivation, attention problems, periods of sadness or exhaustion on a psychiatric condition than to look at the roots of the problem. Sleep, food, free time, daily routines, social relationships, economic conditions, and everything else that shapes a person’s life can also directly affect the way we feel and behave.
When one explanation seems to answer everything, there is a risk of forgetting the complexity behind each individual experience.
When Mental Health Content Helps
At the same time, it is important not to turn this discussion into a criticism of people who look for answers online.
The growing number of conversations about mental health has also allowed many people to recognize problems that were previously ignored or treated as something that was “not a big deal”. For someone who has spent years not understanding why certain situations are so difficult, finding information about a possible disorder can be the first step toward seeking professional help.
The problem begins when identification is confused with diagnosis.
A thirty-second video can make someone recognize themselves in certain symptoms, but that does not necessarily mean that the person has the disorder being discussed. Diagnosis is much more complex than what is usually presented online. It is made by trained professionals and involves different methods and tools depending on the patient and the disorder being investigated.
but Why Do We Need to Explain Ourselves?
In this sense, perhaps the question is not only why people are self-diagnosing, but why we feel such a strong need to find an explanation for everything we are. We live in a time when we are constantly encouraged to understand ourselves, improve ourselves, categorize ourselves, and find out who we are. Personality tests, psychology content, horoscopes, quizzes, and diagnoses appear on our screens every day, offering quick answers to questions that can be much more complex.
At the same time that there is still a part of the population that believes psychiatric disorders are “just an excuse” and do not deserve much attention, there is another group that is increasingly looking for psychological explanations for their own experiences.
Between these two extremes, there is a more complex reality: having difficulties, flaws, mood changes, forgetfulness or periods of exhaustion does not necessarily mean having a disorder. Meanwhile, recognizing these signs should not be a reason to ignore the possibility of seeking professional help.
Maybe our relationship with diagnoses says as much about society as it does about mental health.
In an age of information overload, we are surrounded by ready-made explanations about who we are. The challenge may be learning to distinguish what truly needs a clinical explanation from what is simply part of the human experience.
________________
The article above was edited by Camilly Vieira.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Cásper Líbero home page for more!