An exploratory analysis of self-diagnosis on Reddit

Online self-diagnosis is an increasingly common phenomenon. Its ubiquity counters the expectation that people will generally avoid stigmatizing labels like mental illness diagnoses. Yet social media may provide a space for users to anonymously “try on” labels without fear of stigma or social sanction. This article uses exploratory qualitative analysis to examine self-diagnosis on the social media platform Reddit. I document how self-diagnosis is a relational process of identity work involving three steps: a feeling of mental wrongness, proposal of a diagnostic explanation, and request for a community solution. Using sentiment analysis, I also show that posts mentioning self-diagnosis express less negative emotion than those mentioning professional diagnosis. Despite widespread criticism of self-diagnosis, this work suggests that it offers a means of engagement with sympathetic others and a tool to understand the self in a culture dominated by psychiatric thinking. • Social media offer new contexts that facilitate self-diagnosis with mental illness. • Exploratory qualitative analysis uncovers self-diagnosis as a multi-step process. • Sentiment analysis indicates more negative affect around formal diagnosis than self-diagnosis. • Self-diagnosis on social media is a form of identity work and community engagement.