Social Media and Mental Health: The Folly of Self Diagnosis

When I took Abnormal Psychology at Delta Community College, it wasn't long before I was questioning whether or not I had every disorder in the book that I had never even considered that I might have, or heard of before. When the book stated something along the lines of "most people diagnose themselves with various disorders while reading this book" I breathed a huge sigh of relief because:

1) I knew I wasn't alone.

2) I knew I likely did not have any of those disorders.

The truth about diagnosis is that yes, a diagnosis could be wrong, but also, we should never diagnose ourselves. If you think you have a condition, physical or mental, sure read up on it, but you have to go talk to a professional and you cannot just diagnose yourself.

As I have stated before in a post from a few years ago a diagnosis is not an identity. However, it does significant change how you see yourself, your plans for the future, and various other aspects of your life. So then, isn't it silly to read about a disorder in a book, or see something talking about it on social media, and then decide that it's something you have without even talking to a doctor?

And on the subject of social media and mental health

As many should be aware by now, I never take all my information from the same basket, but recently I watched this video by Sidney Watson on the epidemic of young people convincing other young people that they have a disorder they just made up, and it has re-ignited some irritation. One of the main things that are discussed in Watsons video is the wave of people claiming to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) on TikTok who not only haven't been told that by a mental health professional but are also not displaying DID. The truth is social media is not great for mental health in so many ways.

After the 2020 pandemic a study found that there was an increase in tic and Tourette disorder related content which coincided with a rise of young people who frequently used TikTok developing life disrupting tics (2021, Olvera). The reasons for this were summarized as mannerisms and emotions spreading through a social group. Being exposed to this content over and over again caused the disorder, which did not share the same characteristics of Tourette's syndrome and was not Tourette's, in these people.

TikToks Algorithm is Designed to Cause Addiction

TikTok has been subject to lawsuits regarding their algorithm design, and it has come to light that they knew they were causing addiction. They are on the same level with Philip Morris and the tobacco industry when they knew that their product was addictive and dangerous yet still told the public it had so many benefits. TikTok's algorithm doesn't know what is good for someone, only that they will continue to watch the content they find interesting, and it will keep filling their feed with those interesting things.

The short video design is another tactic they use to keep users hooked because that video is just short enough to watch another and another wasting oodles of time. In these short video's morals, virtues, consumer products, and a multitude of social topics including mental health are fed in an endless cycle to the user.

The Danger of Misusing Language

Many people who are diagnosed with disorders struggle to find the language to describe what they are experiencing. We learn about our disorders and speak to professionals and learn how to refer to things in a way that makes sense. However, when that language gets hijacked to mean something different, and the general public comes to only understand the wrong meaning we are robbed of the language that we had.

One prime example from this is the overuse of the term "gaslighting". Gaslighting refers to a very real and very serious abuse tactic that is used in DARVO abuse. It is abuse that is very hard to describe, or see, but is incredibly damaging to the people it is used against. The term comes from a film that came out in the USA in 1944 called The Gas Light. In the film (which was first a play) a man wants control of his wife's inheritance so he begins to make her think that she is mad so he can have her committed to a mental institution and thus control her inheritance. Where the film gets its name is from the central tactic of him beginning to turn down the gas lights in the room, and when she asks why it is so dark, he claims that it isn't and doesn't know what she is talking about.

The term has come to be misused by idiots on the internet who claim they are being gaslighted when someone tells them their facts are wrong because they actually are, or if they just want to shut the conversation down because they know they have no evidence. This is damaging to people who are actually gaslighted. It is damaging to people who are trying to spread awareness about gaslighting and other DARVO tactics because their audience already thinks they know what it is when that perception is wrong.

The trend to claim having a disorder that is rare and highly misunderstood like DID undermines the struggle and experiences of people who are actually diagnosed with and suffer from DID.

We Should Not Deprive Ourselves of Help

Lastly, the number one reason that you should never diagnose yourself is because you shouldn't deprive yourself of the help you need and could get if you went to see a professional for a diagnosis. There are many disorders, just like physical illness, that share symptoms, but they are not all treated the same. If a person just decides on what they suffer from without seeing a professional, they are also depriving themselves of treatment.

Dissociative Identity Disorder, like many disorders, does have effective treatments. The end goal of treatment for DID is "reintegration" where the different parts of a person are reintegrated back together to be experienced as parts of the same person. Much of this revolves around resolving the trauma symptoms experienced by a person that was subsequently "split" into different parts.

PTSD can also be experienced with dissociation, which is not dissociative identity disorder, but has the same feelings of being out of your body. PTSD can also be treated, and it does not have the same treatment or prognosis of DID. If you diagnose yourself with DID, but have PTSD, you are misdiagnosing yourself and also throwing away your hope of treatment.

In Conclusion

Our disorders are not our identities. A person with eczema is not defined by it, nor is a person with cancer. A mental disorder is not an identity, and we should not accept it as such. There is a flood of information on the internet and most of it is nonsense. If you want real information, you have to read the big boring books and you will not find it on TikTok. If you think you have a disorder, then you should seek help from a doctor and/or mental health professional. If you cannot afford to see one, there is a high chance that there is a low cost or free route you can take in your area to get the care that you need.

Do not read information from people who are not a doctor and then decide it applies to you. It is also prudent to be careful about the information that you trust even if the source claims to be a doctor because people lie all the time, especially about credentials if they think it will make them money.

References

Cleveland Clinic. (2024, June 7). Dissociative identity disorder (DID): Symptoms & treatment. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9792-dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder

NPR. (2024, October 12). Shocking revelations about teens in redacted TikTok documents. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/10/12/g-s1-28040/teens-tiktok-addiction-lawsuit-investigation-documents

Olvera, C., Stebbins, G. T., Goetz, C. G., & Kompoliti, K. (2021). TikTok Tics: A Pandemic Within a Pandemic. Movement disorders clinical practice, 8(8), 1200–1205. https://doi.org/10.1002/mdc3.13316

Watson, S. (2026). How TikTok manufactured a mental health epidemic [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/6JZ_E9J2Fwg?si=1L29CeUpdK6CSBiu

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The Diary Of A Flopping Fish and any posts or articles published on Diaryofafloppingfish.com are not reviewed by a therapist or medical or mental health professional. Resources are cited, and opinion is opinion. No advice or opinions in any articles replace professional advice from a doctor, therapist, or any other kind of health professional. The author is not a licensed professional of any kind.