TikTok leads people to self-diagnosing mental health conditions

AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) – The social media platform TikTok is known for its short, usually comedic videos.

Now, mental health professionals say they are seeing TikTok users, especially teens and young adults, self-diagnosing in videos about mental health disorders like anxiety or ADHD.

Dr. Robin Hawks, Professor of Psychology and Human Services at Blue Ridge Community College, said it is important to get a diagnosis through a mental health professional.

“If you try to self-diagnose, you may self-diagnose and therefore seek the wrong treatment or not seek treatment at all because you don’t know what you have,” Hawks said.

Hawks said it’s important to remember that healthcare professionals have a lot of training, especially when it comes to diagnostics.

“What happens is that a lot of times people look at a very simple list and think ‘Oh, I have that whole list’ and they think, ‘Oh, I must be depressed’ if it is a list about depression, but the diagnosis is much more complicated than that, ”Hawks said.

The videos on TikTok often provide those lists. “Put one finger down” challenges ask viewers to “put one finger down” if they experience a symptom.

Often times, the video ends with the conclusion that if you go down more than a few fingers, you have a specific mental health condition.

“Many disorders are on a continuum from normal to abnormal, and it is that professional who will help you determine when your symptoms reach the abnormal level,” Hawks said.

Although self-diagnosis is bad, mental health awareness is a very good thing, and TikTok brings that to the table.

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“They go online and they see this information about mental health problems, it can be very good because it can raise awareness that maybe there is a problem that they need to look for,” Hawks said.

It becomes a problem when the person identifies with a diagnosis and does not seek help, he said. On top of that, social media can often minimize serious conditions.

“People can actually get very caught up in these videos and the social media part and normalize what’s going on in their life that it shouldn’t be normalized,” Hawks said.

If you think you have a mental health condition, please contact a professional.