By: Camden Baucke MS LLP
Mental health content on TikTok has skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic. This content ranges from relatable stories about anxiety to advice managing stress. Social media offers a wide assortment of mental health content, but there are pros and cons. While information about mental health is much more accessible, social media therapy also poses significant risks. Understanding how TikTok and social media might help or hurt is essential to engaging with online content.
The Pros
#1 Normalizing the Conversation
One of the biggest advantages of mental health content on social media is that it helps normalize experiences. It’s validating and can help relieve loneliness. It releases you from thinking you’re the only person who feels how you feel. Even just a decade ago, mental health was still a topic on the border of taboo. Now, with millions of people sharing their struggles with mental health, there is now an open discussion.
Social media channels can serve as avenues for people to feel seen, understood, and validated. Feeling “normal” for struggling with mental health can allow one to seek professional services. It’s not because they’re crazy, broken, or insane, but because they’re a person who needs help with their mental health. They’re like you and I, and that’s what the online conversation is doing.
#2 Increasing Access to Information
The second pro of online mental health content is increasing access to important information. Before the internet age, to learn about mental health you had to physically go to the library and check out a book, crack open a yellow pages to look for a local psychology clinic, or get sent to the doctor. Even today, therapy is often expensive and not everyone has sufficient mental health services in their area. There have been, and still are, barriers to accessing mental health information.
TikTok and social media provide a free and accessible platform for learning about usable mental health tips. These include coping mechanisms, healthy habits, and advice on general well-being. While TikTok therapy is no substitute for a mental health professional, it can provide good basic information on self-care and strategies to relieve stress.
#3 Gateway to Professional Services
Finally, social media can often be the first step before real therapeutic services. Many content creators encourage therapy and share their own experiences with addressing mental health. If the average person can access basic coping strategies, as well as recognize signs they need to attend therapy or start medication, the content has helped. It has reduced the stigma and fear of seeking help, but has also shed some light on the therapy journey. Even just a single post can allow several others to feel comfortable about seeking professional services, leading to better days ahead.
The Cons
#1 Too Focused on Diagnosis
One of the most significant drawbacks to mental health social media content is self diagnosis. Almost every other post is talking about autism, ADHD, or “high-functioning” versions of mental health diagnoses. With this obsession over diagnoses, many users begin to self-diagnose themselves based on a few seconds of video or four behaviors that someone with (diagnosis) do. If misdiagnosed, then you could be doing all the wrong things to address something that is nowhere near the issue. Even then, many individuals self-diagnose from TikTok videos and use it as a reason to explain their behaviors, not seek professional help.
First of all, mental health diagnostics is a complex process. Even in therapy, much of your first session (intake) is 50-60 minutes of asking you about information from all across your lifespan to then start the process of formulating a diagnosis. It’s not something done in seconds. In fact, you have to go to a graduate program for at least two years to learn how to do it. A mental health diagnosis requires a comprehensive evaluation by a licensed professional.
Additionally, such a focus on a diagnosis misses the entire point of it. Most clinicians know a diagnosis is for treatment, which then leads to feeling better. Self-diagnosis based on a five second video from an unreliable source can be extremely harmful. It may lead people to misunderstand their symptoms and overlook important context that a trained and experienced professional can see.
#2 Oversimplified – Lacking Context
When you water anything down to a few seconds for a global audience, there is inherently oversimplified information. Such oversimplification can easily lead to misinterpretation or self-diagnosis based on a quick glance. A short video may be helpful for tips for coping or stress-relief, but mental health can rarely be fit into such small chunks.
Saying you feel fight, flight, or freeze is the mental health equivalent of having a cough. There can quite literally be a hundred reasons why it’s happening, and without context you will likely choose the wrong reason. Watching a few TikTok videos are good for starting the conversation, but they are not sufficient enough to address your specific life context. Ideally, mental health media content should lead to seeking help, not just self-labels.
#3 Inaccuracy – Misinformation
The final con of mental health advice on TikTok or other social media platforms is lack of credibility. Psychology is a science, grounded in research and studies happening in multi-million dollar institutions. Therapy, which guards mental health, is a regulated profession and you legally can not practice without having a state issued license.
Some influencers may present their opinions or personal stories as generalizable “facts.” Misinformation of this sort, without research or certification, can be legitimately harmful. Incorrect advice or unfounded claims can worsen someone’s condition. There are consequences to blatant misinformation about mental health online. Certain standards are needed for providing accurate information regarding mental health. Social media content regarding mental health is not all inaccurate, but it is extremely limited even to start.
Conclusion
Social media, like TikTok, is just a tool. Much of how we interact with social media depends on how we use it. With mental health, we must use it with caution and care. Social media can help fight the stigma against mental health, create accessible channels for mental health information, and lead individuals to finding professional services. However, it also creates a hotbed of inaccurate information that lacks sufficient context and credibility. Misinformation can harm someone by providing either a wrong self-diagnosis or leading someone to identify with a diagnosis rather than seeking professional help.
When using TikTok or other forms of social media that include mental health content, keep a critical eye. Acknowledge its limitations and explore helpful advice responsibly. It is possible to make the most of online mental health content without sacrificing your well-being, it just takes practice.
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