They aren't writing a prescription for op, they are sharing anecdotal data. That's a reasonable thing to do.

Having had a critical infection repeatedly misdiagnosed until I finally went out of my way to pick a better professional, I don't buy the "just have faith in your doctor" argument.

Doctors are more like plumbers than we like to admit. There are good ones and bad ones, and it's hard to tell the difference. They do best when you can give them direction (cooperatively) and when you are willing to get a second opinion.

So what? Everyone has had stories about misdiagnoses or not being taken seriously by doctors, etc. I had a condition that took a long time to get a fix until I changed my doctor and got a proper evaluation done. And that wasn't even for mental health, which the US is not particularly well known for. My doc would come in, listen for maybe 1-2 mins, prescribe some shit and leave. I had to take stuff into my own hands and drive 2 hours to another hospital to finally get something done.

Parent comment is not giving explicit medical instructions. All they're saying is "talk to a medical professional" isn't some miracle advice that always works, particularly for mental health. It's fine to give anecdotes as long as one holds them with a grain of salt.

So any support group is invalid then? AA? Smart Recovery? Addiction is a medical problem, so just talk to your doctor? If you have PTSD, don't talk to other people with PTSD, just isolate and talk to your doctor? If you have depression, don't talk to other people who have had depression, who might make you feel less alone, just talk to your doctor? Think through what you're saying.

Those support groups don't give advice about medicine.

Um, they kinda do. In my experience it's generally not "advice" in the same way a doctor gives it, but it's been more along the lines of, "I took X. Y happened." Not, "You should (not) take X because it (worked/didn't work) for me".

People keep saying we should _normalize_ talking about mental health, and what you're suggesting goes against that. If we were discussing heart health and someone were to talk about their exercise, diet and medication online, would you say, "Hey, wait a minute! You're not a doctor. You can't say that." Of course not. What you're advocating for is an overly paternalistic approach to mental health issues, as if people are too dumb to listen to different viewpoints and come to their own conclusions.

Weird, did you research them?

You are an engineer and not a public health researcher. You are not qualified to give advice on whether consulting a doctor is the right course of action.