The problem with "thinking" you have a disorder and then telling everyone you do have it without doing any research on it is that it makes the people who genuinely do have the disorder look like they're lying. The people who were diagnosed with the illness shouldn't have to walk around with physician-signed papers saying that they're telling the truth.
The most common miscreants who go around claiming that they have an illness when they don't are teenagers. Since teenagers are hip and want to feel unique, they like to think that disorders will give them that feeling. I can only imagine what they're thinking while they fill out the disorder questionnaire.
This is how stupid you look when you take one of those online tests
Hypochondriacs (This is just a term for this article; not a reference to the people who are diagnosed with hypochondriasis) are frequently on WebMD, Yahoo Answers, and the psyche forums. They use WebMD to search for random illnesses, and after finding an illness or disorder in which they show vague symptoms of, they post a question on Yahoo Answers asking if they have the illness, as if Yahoo Answerers can actually answer that question. Even better, for the few who find the psyche forums, they tend to hang out there for a month until they realise that they do not really have a disorder or illness, but that they were just feeling a little depressed over a break up with their slutty ex-girlfriend.
"*CHUCKLES*"? "*CHUCKLES*"!?
If you still believe that it's cool to have a disorder even after reading that, then it's time for you to read the big list of reasons why you don't have ________!
- You don't have OCD just because you touched something more than once. It's not "OCD disorder", it's just OCD. The 'd' stands for disorder. If you don't know what the acronym stands for, you probably don't know what OCD is.
- You don't have insomnia because you only got 7 hours of sleep instead of the doctor-recommended 8.
- You don't have schizophrenia just because you were hallucinating from the lack of sleep you forced on yourself because you think insomnia is cool.
- You don't have ADHD because you had a sugar rush after drinking an energy drink.
- You're not a schizoid just because you were feeling depressed for 1 year.
- You're not histrionic because you feel emotions
- You don't have PTSD because a teacher yelled at you for being a little prick.
- You're not antisocial because you don't socialise (the word you're looking for is "Asocial". Antisocial people are generally aggressive or "against society".
- You don't have borderline personality disorder because you're slightly impulsive
- You don't have avoidant personality disorder because you avoided your ex-girlfriend.
- You don't have narcissistic personality disorder because you're proud of your achievements.
- You don't have delusional disorder because you were huffing freon and thought you could fly.
- You don't have agoraphobia because you were too scared to walk through a party in a bad neighbourhood.
- You don't have a social phobia because you felt embarrassed one time.
- You don't have Tourette's syndrome just because you have a sailor mouth.
- You don't have autism because you feel like you don't have friends
- You don't have ADD (or ADHD) because you're forcing yourself not to sit still.
- You don't have oppositional defiant disorder because you feel angry.
- You don't have Asperger Syndrome because you were acting weird at school.
- You don't have a stuttering problem because you can't pronounce one word.
- You don't have selective mutism because you can't talk to a girl/boy at school.
- You don't have reactive attachment disorder because you don't feel like smiling today.
- You don't have conduct disorder because you stole a piece of paper.
- You don't have Alzheimer's disease because you forgot your cell phone at home
- You don't have dementia because you can't remember your class schedule.
- You don't have delirium because you're slightly disoriented.
- You don't have Depersonalisation disorder because you "feel like a different person at school than you are at home".
- You don't have dissociative identity disorder because you act like a prick in front of your friends, but a friendly church goer in front of your family.
- You don't have dissociative fugue because you can't remember a minor detail about yourself.
- You don't have dissociative amnesia because you forgot about how badly your ex treated you by forgetting your birthday.
- You don't have anorexia nervosa only because you're skinny.
- You don't have bulimia nervosa if you vomited and lost weight when you were sick.
- You don't have Munchausen syndrome if you erroneously self-diagnosed yourself once.
- You don't have Intermittent Explosive Disorder if you were mad at someone for crashing into your car.
- You don't have Trichotillomania if you pulled out your hair one time from stress.
- You don't have a Shoplifting Addiction if you accidentally walked out with an item you didn't purchase.
- You don't have Compulsive Lying if you lied once.
- You don't have Bipolar Disorder if you quickly became angry about someone lying to you.
- You don't have Seasonal Affective Disorder if you're depressed all year long.
- You don't have Clinical Depression if you're indolent.
- You don't have Postpartum Depression if you're a childless male.
- You don't have Sexual Addiction because you enjoy sex.
- You don't have Gender Identity Disorder if you were a male who wore high heels once and liked it.
- You don't have Sexual Dysfunction if you have sex once a week.
- You don't have Nightmare Disorder if you had a nightmare one time.
- You don't have Undifferentiated Somatoform Disorder if you have a minor ache in your back and haven't bothered going to a physician about it.
- You don't have Somatoform Disorder if you were under the influence when the symptoms occured (and disappeared once you returned to normal).
- You don't have Somatization Disorder if you are malingering symptoms.
- You don't have Pain Disorder just because you feel pain.
- You don't have Conversion Disorder if you sat on your hand and it went numb.
- You don't have Body Dysmorphic Disorder if you lied about your weight being 160 when it's really 161.
- You don't have Spending Addiction because you wasted $600 on the new iPad.
- You don't have Substance Abuse Disorder if you were influenced by peer pressure to experiment on one occasion.
- You don't have Internet Addiction if you use the Internet occasionally.
- You don't have a Food Addiction if you enjoy eating; it's a need, you have to eat to survive.
- You don't have Hypochondriasis if you suspected on one occasion that you may have a disorder or illness.
It's cool to have OCD, it's cool to have insomnia, what's next? It's cool to be a paraplegic?
If you really think you have disorder, at least do research on it first and speak to a therapist or psychologist about it instead of dicking around on Yahoo Answers.