https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010440X22000682?via%3Dihub
So today I wanted to talk about a topic that I think I will hopefully be posting more on in coming days in addition to my autism and other healthcare related posts.
I really liked this article because it opened up with looking at symptom overlap and the transdiagnostic approach, which is going to be so much more relevant in today’s social media, self-diagnosis practice environment. It is also a reason I am a strong supporter of the RDoC (Research Domain Criteria) framework. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/research-funded-by-nimh/rdoc
The article beyond these concepts however, starts to dabble in THE TOPIC of the day – the impact of social media on mental health. I will tell you my thoughts on this subject are too vast for one post. So I will stick to commenting on the subjects raised in this article. The first being the “sick culture” that is raised by social media platforms. There is some truth to this statement. As a mental health professional, I am 100% in support of more self-awareness, education, and decreasing the stigma of mental illness. We need this, but the article in fact is highlighting a problem that can happen in the social media bubble especially through algorithm amplification with the pervasive spread of misinformation. With that is the spread of emotional information as well.
Sadly, autism right now is a good example. Before the pandemic really was in full force I was speaking on neurodiversity and autism. The self-diagnosis culture however exploded during the pandemic. It is now popular to identify with this condition or any number of labels. The mental health communities that are forming are alluring to people especially youth. Again, I can’t just rant on it, because when I was in practice I used to tell my patients how much I wish there was a support group specifically for them, a place I could refer them to find other people that were similarly struggling so they wouldn’t feel alone. But, there is a side of #socialmedia that is problematic that wasn’t seen as much in the traditional support group. It is the same problem that has brought about the “tide pod” ingestion craze, the gorging until you vomit online, the freezing off toes and damaging one’s body all for the “like/shares”. This is NOT a healthy expression or echo chamber in many cases for mental health conditions. It has also brought about the concept of “sad fishing” or trying to get like/shares by posting about how hard things are.
The article points out one very important concept that is in need of research, and that is the adoption of peri-psychiatric or self-diagnosed conditions and then furthermore adopting a persona that the community has actually created. I do think there are people that are more significantly impacted by this and we need more research. I have posted on social media platforms and linked articles about increased personality traits such as narcissism, borderline personality, and histrionic personality traits that are exacerbated by the algorithms and addictive like/share environment. I encourage everyone to read more on these concepts, especially while thinking closely about children, adolescents, developmental milestones, Erik Erikson, and other concepts. I also welcome any discussion on this topic! Send my your science 😀
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