Social media has many good things going for it. But one is seeing a dangerous trend of adolescents increasingly self-diagnosing mental health conditions online. The other day, a post grabbed my attention. It posed the following questions: “Do you get bored, lose stuff, are distracted, forgetful, sensitive? Turns out, these are symptoms of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).”
Medically speaking, a person suffering from ADHD may show some or all these symptoms, but is a three-second analysis enough to self-diagnose a mental health issue? The sensible answer would be “no”. Yet, many of us, especially adolescents, are becoming vulnerable to this. Social media is a tricky space to be in. While it helps spread awareness about mental health, health professionals warn that it can also be a source for a lot of misinformation. An 2023 article on the website of the John Hopkins School of Medicine states, “Increasingly, mental health professionals are observing children and teens self-diagnose mental health disorders after watching influencers discuss them on TikTok or other social media platforms.” Another article on the University of Utah’s website, on 2 October 2023, says, “Kids are now telling their parents they have ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression, bipolar, and more just because they saw a video about it.”
Things are no different here in India. Delhi-based school counsellor Rajyashree Bajaj says that over the past two years, she has been observing an increasing trend of students self-diagnosing mental health issues through social media. “A 13-year-old student came to me the other day, convinced that she is suffering from depression. She has been having mood swings lately and no longer enjoys things that she did earlier,” she says, “Over a couple of sessions we reached the conclusion that she was experiencing all of this because of hormonal changes in her body. It was completely normal.” Bajaj also advised the teen’s parents to visit a physician for a general check-up.
Also read: Is it a good idea to have a child to save a marriage?
Guwahati-based school counsellor, Savera Rasul, has also had similar experiences. “Many times, students think that they are suffering from anxiety, depression or other mental health issues because of something they saw on the social media,” she says, “Being unable to sleep well, or loss of appetite, loss in interest, are quickly assumed to be signs of a mental health issue when these could very well be the regular challenges of day-to-day life.”
There could be many reasons for this. According to Jennifer Katzenstein, co-director of the Center for Behavioral Health at John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Florida, adolescents are in a phase of exploring their identities. They are on a journey of self-discovery and seeking external validation. “The open discussions on social media offer them relatable content, fostering a sense of belonging,” says Katzenstein. One may argue that this is a positive trend—of becoming more aware, and more open about talking about mental health. “But diagnosing mental health issues through people on social media, who may not even be professionals, is dangerous,” reiterates Meenu Bhargava, Gurugram-based psychologist and a life-skills coach with over four decades of experience in her field. She feels that “oversimplification” of mental health issues and the “casual usage of various terms” on social media may not only misguide them but also lead to watering down of the gravity of such issues, which only a professional should diagnose and treat.
Casual usage of terminologies related to mental health have become almost conversational, often used interchangeably with emotions or behavioural traits.
Rasul shares that often teenagers and even adults below the age of 30, whom she interacts with regularly, say that they are feeling “depressed” or ”delusional”, “as if these are emotions and (the terms) can be interchangeably used”. “This confuses people who are actually going through a clinical condition of depression or anxiety, diluting the gravity of the actual condition,” she explains. Another term that is bandied around casually on social media memes is OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). Almost interchangeably used with being fastidious about tidiness, it is often a source for “funny” reels. OCD, however, can be a life-altering condition depending on its severity. A woman who spreads awareness about OCD through her Instagram handle @obsessivelyocd, for instance, says in her profile that the condition left her isolated in her bedroom for two years. One of her posts read, “All I want is for people to stop saying they have OCD when describing some weird, cleaning task they do for fun.”
Also read: Let kids enjoy some alone time
The conversation around mental health has become more open, especially since the covid-19 pandemic broke out. Mumbai-based parenting coach and psychotherapist Madhu Hisaria says that while it is a good trend that people are talking about mental health, the conversation should however begin at the right place, especially for adolescents. Parents should watch out if certain videos related to loneliness and depression are showing up on their social media feeds, which might be linked to their children’s dependent accounts. “It probably means that she or he has ‘liked’ such videos earlier. Does that mean she does not have that space at home, among family, to talk about these things? It is a systemic issue, I feel, that caregivers, parents need to introspect on,” says Hisaria. There is also a need to make teens aware of the difference between advice and counselling. “Your friend can advise you, but you cannot diagnose a medical condition without professional counselling,” says Bhargava. So next time, a teen is tempted to self-diagnose because a reel seems to reflect what they are experiencing, nudge them to talk to a professional. They will either get the help they actually need, or will save themselves the unnecessary stress of thinking they wrongly suffer from a disease.
Azera Parveen Rahman is a writer currently based in Bhuj, Gujarat.
