Social media therapy best way get mental health advice

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Social media therapy: Is this the best way to get mental health advice?

TikTok, Gen Z’s preferred app, is bringing mental health discussion to the spotlight and bringing therapists closer to their potential clients.

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Quantumrun Foresight
June 29, 2023

Insight highlights

The prevalence of mental health challenges among adolescents, affecting one in seven according to WHO data from 2021, has intertwined with the popularity of social media platform TikTok, notably among Gen Z users aged 10-29. TikTok's algorithm, capable of honing in on user interests, has facilitated the creation of a mental health community, where users share personal experiences and find peer support. Mental health professionals have also leveraged the platform to reach a wider audience, using engaging videos to answer queries about stress, trauma, and therapy, and suggest healthy emotional expression techniques.

TikTok therapy context

According to data from the World Health Organization, mental health challenges affected one in every seven adolescents aged 10-19 in 2021. This group is the largest user segment of the China-based social media platform TikTok; approximately half of all active users are between 10-29 years old. Gen Z’s adoption of TikTok surpasses that of Instagram and Snapchat.

One of the primary reasons why TikTok is popular among the youth is its algorithm, which is exceptionally good at understanding users and what they like, allowing them to explore their interests and solidify their identity. For many users, one of these interests is mental health—specifically, their personal experience with it. These shared experiences and stories create a community of peer support that can benefit all involved.

For mental health professionals, TikTok has become a great platform to guide anxious people. These therapists use amusing videos with pop music and dances to answer questions about stress, trauma, and therapy, as well as provide lists of ways to express emotions healthily.

Disruptive impact

While social media can often be a misleading platform, Evan Lieberman, a licensed social worker with 1 million TikTok followers (2022), believes that the pros of discussing mental health awareness outnumber any potential negatives. For example, Peter Wallerich-Neils, diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), uses his page to discuss his condition with his over 484,000 followers (2022), spreading awareness and insight about mental health challenges.

In 2022, Wallerich-Neils stated that individuals who feel they are struggling alone could find comfort in knowing that others are experiencing something similar. Like many people at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he utilized social media for communicating with people during lockdowns. In 2020, he started to post videos on TikTok about how his ADHD diagnosis influenced different parts of his life and found validation through commenters connecting with him.

Dr. Kojo Sarfo, a mental health nurse practitioner and psychotherapist with over 2.3 million followers (2022), thinks the app creates virtual communities where people with mental health conditions can feel like they belong. This connection is crucial for groups of people where mental illness is seldom spoken about or thought of as taboo.

However, some experts believe that users still have to conduct due diligence with the information they receive on the app. While watching therapy videos can be a crucial first step to seeking professional help, it’s always the user’s responsibility to research further and fact-check the “advice” they receive.

Implications of TikTok therapy

Wider implications of TikTok therapy may include:

An increase of fraudster “therapists” creating accounts and amassing followers, taking advantage of younger audiences, leading to increased misinformation about mental health.