Social media and mental health short video story by Kate Owen
Social media – a diagnosis tool or a minefield?
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
HOW DO WE USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social media has become extremely prevalent in people’s every day lives, with apps like TikTok having over 1 billion daily active users in 2021.
According to Cybercrew, a total of 77.9% of the UK use some form of social media, spending on average over 100 minutes on it per day.
However, the usage of social media has been linked to growing mental health issues across the country.
It has been found that around 1 in 6 people in the UK aged sixteen and over have experienced mental health problems.
When these two factors come together, the conversation of self-diagnosing mental health conditions and mental health problems in general online is sparked.
WHAT IS SELF DIAGNOSIS – AND IS IT BAD?
Self-diagnosis is defined by Highland Springs Clinic as being ‘the process of diagnosing or identifying a medical condition in yourself’, going on to say it often starts by Googling a symptom.
It is a controversial issue amongst medical professionals; while some people advocate against the use of social media to diagnose issues and claim that only a doctor can fill that role, some professionals say that social media is beneficial for the mental health field.
Helen Neale, a training counsellor, warns that the issue of self-diagnosis on social media is not just a black and white issue.
“With mental health, across social media, it’s a double edged sword,” Helen said.
“I think it can be a really powerful space, and I’m talking from personal experience here, to be able to understand yourself and identify with a particular community.”
“However, there are plenty of other instances with other aspects of mental health, like eating disorders being the prime example, where you potentially get dragged down into the negative side of social media.”
Although there is lots of media coverage on the negative sides of social media, Helen encourages people to remember that mental health issues online are not cut and dry.
“I think people forget that social media is a spectrum,” she said.
“We often focus on the negative side of mental health… ‘you are positive’ ‘you are negative’, but you can do things to improve your mental health as well as talking about the negative side.”
“I think it’s important to realise that within a social media environment that you can be exposed to things that are brilliant.”
Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash
A study by Very Well Mind revealed that self-diagnosis is a direct result of a more open conversation about mental health online, but this presents its own set of problems.
Speaking to Very Well Mind, Dr. Billie Katz said, “There are high comorbidities across mental health conditions, so while you may correctly identify yourself as having ADHD, you may miss important markers of other mental health disorders, such as depression or mania.”
SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE WIDER IMPACTS OF MENTAL HEALTH
Although there are serious criticisms of social media and it’s impact on the mental health community, Helen warned against completely villainising the internet.
“One of the things that bothers me about social media,” she said, “is how demonised it is.”
“There’s a tendency to say ‘oh, it is terrible’, and I work in social media – it provides a brand-new space for kids and young people to express themselves and work.”
“We wouldn’t have had that connectivity at all, you know, two or three years ago and I think that makes a huge difference.
The power of community and social media are often overlooked.”
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