In 2018, I was diagnosed with schizophreniform in a local budget hospital that sent me to a psychiatric unit for uninsured patients after being awake for several days. At the end of the fourth day of no sleep, I was actually physically attacked in my home when I tried to leave the house when someone threatened to call an ambulance on me. All I could think was, I don't want to have to pay $700 if they take me away. I had ADHD diagnosis as a child to lay down a little of my history as far as mental diagnosis. They put me on a bunch of meds with no testing, to which I obviously stopped. Fast forward a year or so later (with no symptoms of such a big diagnosis), I went to the ER with what I thought were heart palpitations, to which they did the usual thing until they sent me on my way with a police officer who literally asked me, "Do you want to go home or to the hospital?" I said the hospital. I thought my heart was imploding from the sharp pains. I end up in a new psych unit to which they diagnose me as paranoid schizophrenic. I sign "I agree" just so I can leave but they hold me for 2 solid weeks, releasing me on meds that actually cause chest pains, the entire reason I was there, which obviously went ignored. This resulted in me being stuck on meds for another year, I was weaned off of them by a clinical psychiatrist and have shown no symptoms at all since. All of this stemmed from one week of no sleep and a physical altercation that had me driving all over town bloodied and bruised, so when the ambulance caught up to my location I was looking nice and psychotic. No questions asked, all diagnoses and drugs. Modern psychology needs to be reformed and I appreciated your video here. Thank you.

Thank you for this. I’ve been through with the mental health industry for a long time because of what I perceived to be greed and politics running the show. It’s good to know that there are some integrous people in the field who both see through and bring to light what is happening.

I’m glad you made this, very helpful and it’s interesting for me to see because I grew up in the 90s and was diagnosed and medicated for autism. I reacted poorly to the medication, it gave me tics and drowsiness that stopped when I stopped taking the meds. Then I was later diagnosed with bipolar around 2016 and a few years later saw a psychiatrist who said I was on the autism spectrum. All of the medications given to me, from antipsychotics to antidepressants to benzodiazepines to mood stabilizers, didn’t work or had bad side effects. Over the past year I have found a great therapist and have been undergoing therapy for childhood trauma. We have used EMDR techniques and talk therapy along with other practical grounding exercises. I am now off medication and am able to sleep properly (the mood stabilizers I was on gave me terrible insomnia) and starting to live a more balanced life. What I have concluded is that often if the symptoms are “less obvious” then in many cases it may be that what is more needed is good psychological support and therapy. I think the over-diagnosing of people can be very unhelpful and creates a kind of paranoia. On some level I felt that a diagnoses would mean the illness ‘wasn’t my fault’ and so on some level I associated more shame with getting proper psychological therapy than being medicated. Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone but it definitely was the case with me and that is why videos like these are so helpful.

This is a topic that continues to fascinate me for personal and scientific reasons. I'm a biologist, not a psychologist or clinician, but have followed these topics on and off for a few decades. Something is REALLY off about these "autism" or "high functioning ASD" diagnoses people are getting. I have combed the literature for answers but it seems not to be fashionable to ask the question if these diagnoses are capturing what might actually be a totally new phenomenon that needs its own name. Whatever it is may have resulted from these being the first generations born with 24/7 internet access and screens all around them, as well as the increasing trend of disengaged parenting that started in the late 1970s, mainly among members of the affluent end of the middle class. I have so many questions. It's not the usual "kids these days" or blaming technology line of questioning. It's so much deeper than that.

Very interesting to listen to your experience!

Thank you for sharing this information. Fascinating & informative.

Love your videos! I am working towards my forensic psychology career and would love more videos!

what are your thoughts about 1. changes in the diagnostics causing more diagnoses? (as example, i don't know when it was the case, but autism and adhd used to be exclusive to each other and now they can be diagnosed on the same person) 2. in adhd and autism circles it seems "common" knowledge/thought that people of color and women are underdiagnosed because their symptoms present differently due to social and cultural differences 3. in same circles it's considered that depression, anxiety and bipolar are overdiagnosed on same groups (in both cases resulting in many many years of wrong treatment and bad mental health) 4. adhd used to be considered a mainly childhood prevalent condition, has the change in learning that it is lifelong maybe also impacted overall diagnoses? 5. what about missed diagnoses due to neglect from parents? (which i think has been also more prevalent in some generations) 6. better and wider distribution of information(can't guarantee it's always correct but I'm sure it has an impact on diagnosis amount or how diagnoses are changed) also since I just realized this video is 3 years old: has some of what you said here changed in your opinion?

I am not your average case. I have been diagnosed with 15 mental illnesses (and Autism) in 31 years. Including everything you listed except Schizophrenia and MPD (though I was diagnosed with DID). One mental health provider told me it is because I have PTSD which can look like many other mental illnesses. I read a lot and my conclusion is that we just don't know enough about the brain to categorize mental problems very well. Lists of symptoms that overlap get very confusing. On Autism it seems like they are diagnosing less and less severe cases. The people I have met who were diagnosed in the '60's had language delays and their parents were often advised to institutionalize them. My friend and I who were diagnosed as adults attended some college. People noticed problems we had as children in the '80's but it wasn't bad enough at the time to be labeled as Autism. An acquaintance whose daughter has severe Autism said that my being diagnosed with Autism cheapened the diagnosis! Whether or not I should be labeled the same thing as her daughter I don't know. Is Autism over diagnosed or are they finding milder forms of it? Or is Autism several illnesses all lumped together? Only time will tell.

Very interesting. Please continue. What do you think about autism and antisocial personality disorder - can those two be confused?

I'm curious which assessment tools do you use (or informed your own process) for determining if and which mental disorders someone has? What do you call the items found in the DSM (notwithstanding the title's influence) -- mental, personality, or psychological disorders, mental illness, etc.?

I have seen your channel. I'm on an antidepressant called Escitalopram for public flashing. I'm on 60mg per day. I've been on this drug 7 years and haven't flashed even once. The drug also reduces testosterone substantially, even though it's only an antidepressant.

There’s a current overdiagnosis of a lot of disorders ADHD being one of them. I can agree with this even though I’ve myself have been diagnosed with ADHD predominantly inattentive presenting.. I personally have severe symptoms that were debilitating since the age of 12-13. it’s hard to admit there’s an over diagnosis while trying to convince myself I myself have it. It’s an odd predicament but I hope it proves my objectivity.

What are you up to nowadays I miss your content that you used to provide. I’m getting strongly interested in Criminal Psychology and preparing to pursue a career in it.

R.I.P

it terrifies me that non psychiatrists can diagnose in so many states. the law since 1940 with respect to the opinion of a single judge opened pandoras box with respect to people swerving wildly beyond their competancies

I think psychiatric meditation makes disorders worse in my opinion

Always get second and third opinion

In the United States, the overwhelming majority of Psychiatric Diagnoses come from Social Workers (MSWs) not trained medical staff. MSW's arrive at a diagnosed via very biased and unscientific methods, and they pass off the diagnosis to Psychiatrists that don't even meet the Patients. Then the pushing of drugs begins; and those are always on rotation depending on which Pharma Distributor is wining and dining the Psychiatrist or Clinic. I'd say nearly 90% of Social Service Diagnoses are intentional overdiagnoses in order to turn targets of abuse into a lifelong commodity to be traded around for billing purposes until they develop actual social and emotional issues. It's the Iatrogenic Epidemic of our time. It's not some nonsensical conspiracy theory either; plenty of Psychiatrists and Clinicians have been arrested for this sort of behavior. It's the industries biggest secret; it's been been called "Psychiatric Slavery" for decades.

Hello, do you have lists of schools that offers phd in forensic psychology without the requirements of masters?

I've heard the dsm5 was the completely arbitrary unverified off-the-cuff seat-of-the-pants writing of mainly one man. Of course, people will have their own opinions, interpretations, and definitions. Simply not matching the epidemiology doesn't prove overdiagnoses. The epidemiology on epidemiology shows epidemiology is usually wrong. And at best, it's an average that shouldn't be expected in every location and situation. TV programs and movies are always pushing some new propaganda or product. Medication is seldom if ever the best treatment. Autism in children is clearly underdiagnosed.

I grew up in the 90s and I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. My parents were also told that I likely had it from a school teacher. I'd like to share some insights. One is that overdiagnosis hurts those who should be treated. One reason my parents didn't seek treatment for me is because of overdiagnosis in others. Another insight is that I think 5% isn't accurate for all areas. Since it is a genetic disorder, towns/cities/areas that attract people with ADHD are going to have a much higher %. I don't think 30% is always going to be overdiagnosis as a rule. One reason is that 5% is fairly arbitrary as you mentioned (by saying that perhaps the more diagnosis are because diagnosis is more accurate now than it was in the past), and another reason is because people with ADHD are more likely to have kids (teenage pregnancy, unexpected child, etc). So there can be a concentration effect. A fairly common insight is that younger children can be labelled as ADHD because they are just younger. There can be a 10+% age difference between elementary children in the same grade. We see these effects in sports and in ADHD diagnosis. A similar aspect is that sleep deprivation can look like ADHD symptoms, as can stress and concussions and really lots of different issues. However, the main reason I'm posting is because I think ADHD is overly demonized and while I don't think you are doing this in your video, I want to challenge the biases of those watching so they can consider that ADHD is serious, medication is safe and effective in reducing symptoms, and that it affects adults. It is overdiagnosed/treated in children and extremely underdiagnosed/treated in adults. Under 1% of adults are treated for ADHD compared to the 5% estimate. There are many horrible effects of untreated ADHD, but I would say one that should catch most people's attention is that untreated ADHD results in a 3-5x higher likelihood of premature death (accidents, suicides, homicides, etc).

why do people need to stay in hospitals for these things?

There is no gene for ADHD