Do Systems Need to be Diagnosed to be Valid?

The psychiatry system is severely fucked up, and a lot of times its built to work against you. Autistic girls get diagnosed at a much lower rate (and often later in life because of self advocacy) than autistic boys, and many psychiatrists don't even believe that DID and OSDD are valid diagnoses. Since the 80s when MPD was added to the DSM-3, psychiatrists have refused to listen to systems about their own experiences, and if you have ever tried to get a diagnosis, that's pretty par for the course. Not only that, but saying that systems need a diagnosis to be "valid" cuts out a huge chunk of plurals before they even get to that stage.

1. Some systems don't want or need a diagnosis. If you aren't disordered or don't feel the need to go through the process, then why do that?

2. Diagnoses cost money. First you need to be able to get to a psychiatrist, and unfortunately, in most places public transport isn't free. In even more places, public transport doesn't even exist.

3. So, you might need a car. That costs anywhere from a couple thousand to tens of thousands, or if you finance it, around $400-$600 per month. Okay. Now you need to drive to your psychiatrist. This will be gas money plus the cost of your appointment, and those usually run between $100 and $200 dollars.

4. Your psychiatrist most likely isn't going to jump on a diagnosis. Doing the math, that's a monthly car payment of $500 + ($150 + gas)x. "X" being the number of appointments until diagnosis. I'm no math expert, and have been avoiding algebra since graduating, so let me know if I messed up or missed anything there.

5. After all of that, your psychiatrist might not even be willing to diagnose. So now you have to repeat the process.

6. On top of all of this, if you are under a controlling household or still don't even know about your system, not having that diagnosis doesn't make that system invalid.

There's so many roadblocks to getting a diagnosis, and even if some of us could theoretically get it, that doesn't mean we want it. Viewing your system or plurality through a psychiatric lens isn't for everyone, and some might not be ready to confront that, even if it will one day be something they want. Respecting a system no matter their status of diagnosis is an important part of what it means to build a safe plural community.