One of the positive trends that came from the COVID-19 pandemic was a new transparency about mental health. Youth and adolescents, in particular, seem eager to share personal details about their mental wellness journeys, both IRL (“in real life”) and especially on social media. And while this new social media-fueled awareness is mostly a step in the right direction, there are some guidelines to consider about where young people find information and how parents talk to them about mental health.
“There is a much more normalized conversation around mental health, especially with teens,” explains Shawmickia Simmons, LCSW-C, program director of Sheppard Pratt’s Baltimore school-based mental health program. “There’s a lot of attention being brought to mental health, which is absolutely amazing. These conversations are going a long way to decrease some of the stigma around mental illness.”
But Simmons cautions that this surge in awareness and information may have some unintended risks.
“A potential risk is kids become a ‘TikTok doctor’ and try to diagnose themselves. They may relate to content that is made on social media and then determine they have that diagnosis. We’re seeing a lot more people self-identifying as autistic, having ADHD, having anxiety, having depression, or having PTSD. There’s also a lot of misinformation that’s out there, so self-diagnosis is not ideal,” Simmons advises.
Monica Beeman, LCSW-C, therapist for Sheppard Pratt’s Offsite Counseling Services, agrees that there are many reasons why individuals without clinical expertise should not try to diagnose themselves.
“The difficulty with diagnosing yourself is you don’t have the tools to develop an official, accurate diagnosis,” shares Beeman. “An individual may identify with some symptoms, but that doesn’t mean you have that diagnosis. Further, a lot of the information online can be misleading, compared to information from an expert who has extensive education and training to be able to understand the full picture of what someone is dealing with. Finally, if someone is going through the process alone to diagnose themselves, it can be very overwhelming. They miss out on having the support system of caring professionals who can guide them in their journey.”
Parents are also a key part of the support system and an integral part of this conversation. Ask kids what they are seeing on social media, how it made them feel, and dispel or reframe some of the incorrect or unhelpful information they have gathered from various social platforms. They should check in often with their teens by asking open-ended questions and taking time to first listen, without judgment. Finally, if parents observe that a child needs more help, they should reach out to a professional. Social media offers a lot of information about mental health, but parents and professionals should guide young people to use it appropriately—as a resource, not a doctor.