Do you believe in self diagnosis of a mental illness? And explain why or why not?

I am kind of in the same position. I do think I am doing better on my own than with medication/therapist.

I should add, that most mental problems are the cause of outside influence of your life, so as soon as you identify what is causing your problems you can begin to overcome them. This is also why I don't believe that chemical imbalance myth.

@naoradix: I totally agree!

@MalteseFalconPunch: I know nothing about you, so I cannot answer that.

@MalteseFalconPunch: ...I did. If you spend five minutes on Google looking into the research regarding the correlation between the dopamine and serotonin molecules and depression, you will find that the only people that advocate for this idea - are drug companies. What is more-likely happening in the brain is repetition of synapse firing; if you repeat the same thoughts over a long period of time, you will not be able to stop having those thoughts. For example, if you only think negative things: you will have a predisposition for negative thoughts. I studied psychology/the brain for a long time because of my own "depression", so I learned there there are other options and idea out there. After what I've learned, I don't believe that drugs are the answer, but can make someone even more depressed.

@MalteseFalconPunch: Why does this upset you?

I never said how I solved my problems is the answer to everyone else's problems - just that there is more than one option, and pharmaceutical companies are lying. There are tons of peer-reviewed articles on Google Scholar, which is a search engine for scholarly articles, on the topics I listed. I'm also a trained professional, and there are several school of thought in psychology - not just one. Take out your anger on someone else.