A recent survey sheds light on a concerning trend among adolescents: the use of social media platforms for self-diagnosing mental health conditions.
Conducted by the EdWeek Research Center and encompassing over 1,000 high school students, the survey uncovered that 55% of respondents admitted to utilizing social media for self-diagnosing mental health conditions at least once.
This emerging phenomenon has not escaped the notice of educators either. Another survey involving 600 educators revealed that 65% of district and school leaders observed that their students “sometimes” or “frequently” resort to social media for self-diagnosing mental health issues.
Such findings raise alarms among mental health professionals who fear that adolescents might forego seeking proper assistance by relying on erroneous conclusions derived from their online activities.
Dr. John Walkup, chair of the psychiatry department at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, highlights the potential risks associated with this trend. “There are kids who have a condition and they mislabeled themselves, and then they can either go to good care, where they’ll find out that that’s not really the right diagnosis for them, or they may find that darker side, where they find out all kinds of misinformation about the wrong diagnosis,” Dr. Walkup explains.
Amidst this concern, Dr. Walkup acknowledges both positive and negative aspects of social media’s role in mental health. “I love it when families have an idea about what the challenge is, and they’ve gone to reputable websites and they’ve learned a lot about the condition,” he remarks, emphasizing the importance of accessing credible sources of information for mental health awareness on social media platforms.
