Why Social Media Shouldn’t Diagnose You

Outquotes:

However, many teenagers view mental illness as something “quirky,” relatable, and even desirable, leading many to self-diagnose themselves in order to fit in or simply because of misinformation on social media.

Similar to how posts on Instagram and TikTok that mention COVID are tagged, information pages could be linked to posts that discuss mental health. This way, people who are considering diagnosis can be directed to a page with accurate information and mental health resources.

Over the past several years, mental health awareness has found representation on screen, information has been made available on social media, and treatments have been destigmatized. Illnesses that may have been ignored are now properly diagnosed. However, many teenagers view mental illness as something “quirky,” relatable, and even desirable, leading many to self-diagnose themselves in order to fit in or simply because of misinformation on social media.

While the portrayal of mental health conditions in shows, movies, and music can have a positive impact when done right, inaccurate representation, in many cases, leads to the romanticization of mental illness. For example, the TV show “Thirteen Reasons Why” portrays suicide as an act of revenge and fails to address the underlying mental health conditions that are behind nearly half of all suicides. It glorifies the act, and there was a 28.9 percent increase in teenage suicide in the month after the show’s debut. In the music industry, Billie Eilish’s lyrics, such as “I wanna end me” and “the way I wear my noose, like a necklace,” portray suicide and depression as tragically beautiful. She claims that her goal is to raise awareness but encourages her young, impressionable fanbase to desire and glorify mental illness.

Social media takes this portrayal a step further with the abundant spread of misinformation. On TikTok, content posted surrounding mental health is extremely common. In the comment sections of videos describing symptoms and explanations of different mental illnesses, people claim to have discovered that they have the disorder discussed after watching the video. Many accounts post videos depicting common human behavior, such as occasional restlessness or zoning out, as symptoms of mental illness. Impressionable kids and teenagers may watch a video saying that if you procrastinate a lot, you might have ADHD and diagnose themselves with it as a result. Additionally, many create content designed to be relatable to those with a certain mental illness. While this trend does allow for people to bond and make jokes about these topics, many desire to fit in with these groups since these videos often portray mental illness as something funny and relatable. Teenage identity crisis and a desire to fit in with these communities can lead to self-diagnosis.

With widespread self-diagnosing, mental health issues have often been trivialized and made fun of. People who actually have mental illnesses are often not taken seriously either because social media portrays the illnesses as less severe than they actually are or they are believed to be faking. Teenage girls especially are victims of this consequence since the stereotype for people who self-diagnose is young women, leading to harassment and doubt toward those who claim to have mental illnesses.

The effects can be even more harmful on an individual who has wrongly self-diagnosed. Mental health is extremely complicated, and symptoms are often misunderstood and can be attributed to many different disorders. When people truly believe they have certain illnesses as a result of false information they see on social media, they might self-medicate, which is especially dangerous because, unlike pills for headaches or pain, psychiatric medication often has side effects and is purposely prescribed for individual cases. Additionally, increased anxiety and stress can arise from worrying about a nonexistent health issue.

Social media platforms must do better to regulate content that promotes false information and self-diagnosing. Similar to how posts on Instagram and TikTok that mention COVID are tagged, information pages could be linked to posts that discuss mental health. This way, people who are considering diagnosis can be directed to a page with accurate information and mental health resources. Though schools are required to provide a health curriculum that covers mental illness, more direct support through guidance counselors and social workers would also be extremely beneficial since therapy can be expensive. In New York City, there is only a one to 381 ratio of guidance counselors to students across schools, but with a $38 billion education budget, the city can do a better job of providing mental health support to students. When school and social media are the primary sources of education for teens, it is critical that the information provided there is accurate.