Magazine Article

I KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME

Lyons, Lynn

2023

Overview

Social Media and the Lure of Self-Diagnosis Since I was first licensed to practice therapy over three decades ago, I've seen plenty of trends in mental health come and go. While celebrities, outspoken clinicians, and social media influencers have made great strides in destigmatizing mental health challenges-providing young people with clinical language and frameworks to help them make sense of their internal and external worlds-social media is also filled with diagnostic quizzes and graphics that promote psychiatric diagnoses, sometimes for advocacy and awareness, but often for profit and clicks. \"Sometimes I'm okay,\" she said, \"but then I feel panicky. Since I'd known Meg and her parents for years, this anxiety felt familiar to me, but she rebuffed my suggestions that some of what she was experiencing had to do with the increased pressure from her father, roommate conflicts, and the demands of law school. According to a 2021 Pew Research Study, 74 percent of mothers in opposite-sex relationships say they manage their children's schedules and activities, often on top of household duties and work outside the home.

• Publisher: Psychotherapy Networker, Inc
• Subject: Anxiety / Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder / Autism / Families & family life / Influencer marketing / Law schools / Medical personnel / Mental health / Obsessive compulsive disorder / Psychiatrists / Sexual abuse / Social networks / Social workers / Therapists / Young adults