Teenagers are increasingly using social media to self-diagnose their mental health issues, alarming parents and advocates who say real care should be easier to access.
An EdWeek Research Center survey released this week found that 55 percent of students use social media to self-diagnose, and 65 percent of teachers say they have seen the phenomenon in their classrooms.
Experts said they have also regularly observed this practice and that the solution is not as simple as taking away phones or reprimanding teens who turn to free methods to receive mental health counseling so that more comprehensive assistance may be difficult to obtain.
“The kids all come in and I ask them, ‘Where did you get that diagnosis?'” said Don Grant, a national advisor for healthy appliance management who previously ran his own practice. Grant said he’ll get responses like, “Oh, there’s an influence,” “Oh, I took a quiz,” or “Oh, there’s a group on social media talking about it.”
Influencers and online groups are “convincing these kids that they have all these diagnoses,” he said.
And with their amateur diagnoses in hand, teens not only might not understand their real problems, but they might also seek solutions — or even medications — that don’t work for them.
This trend not only affects how students perceive themselves, but also how they perceive others.
According to the EdWeek survey, 68% of teachers said they have seen students diagnose mental health issues in others, while 52% of students admit to the practice, and 11% say they do it “all the time.”
“That’s where kids go for information, and they see people like them who have psychiatric illnesses or mental health issues,” said John Piacentini, director of the Center for Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support and professor at UCLA.
“And these people, a lot of them have a lot of followers and can be very attractive. It’s quite natural for teens to want to be like the people they see on social media, and they recognize symptoms in themselves that may actually be present, or they infer that they have those symptoms when those symptoms don’t. are not actually present. » added Piacentini.
Younger Americans are generally more willing to talk about mental health, but they may not have the resources or opportunity to seek professional help, so they turn to what they know.
The EdWeek poll found that 72 percent of educators believe social media has allowed students to be more open about the mental health issues they face.
Christine Crawford, associate medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said: “Children are really struggling and they are struggling to access the tools and resources they need to take care of their mental health. »
It’s also much easier for teens to access a computer or social media than to find a professional.
A recent Pew Research study found that 95% of teens own a smartphone and about 60% use social media platforms such as TikTok.
“They use different social media platforms as a search engine for a variety of different topics, including topics related to mental health,” Crawford said.
Experts say the best way for parents to engage on this topic, aside from making sure they have access to real mental health experts, is to try to enter into their children’s world and understand where they are looking for answers.
“You want to be curious about where they get information about their mental health, how their friends manage their mental health, and then you can ask the teen to show you,” Crawford said.
Once you know where they get the data to self-diagnose with issues like depression or ADHD, a parent can use it as a “starting point to discuss how you can together talk to your primary care provider to inquire about this. a little further,” she added.
Advocates say schools and educators need to teach students social media literacy and combat misinformation, which could help them question the incorrect information they receive about mental health.
And besides parents and schools, experts are calling for more limits on social media sites on what can be posted.
“It’s very dangerous, and it’s also unethical and illegal to give that kind of advice without having any training or experience or education or license and all that,” Grant said of influencers.
He said the spread of incorrect information about mental health should be treated like other dangers banned on some platforms, such as videos on how to make a bomb.
“I believe that someone who is giving medical or psychological advice, who is not trained, who is not certified, who is not licensed, I think that constitutes a violation of the content, because it is dangerous,” Grant said.
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