A 2025 survey of 2,565 Australians by Growth Distillery and Medibank, found that nearly 2 in 3 respondents use platforms like Instagram and TikTok as their main source of mental health and wellbeing information.
50% of the most viewed mental health videos on TikTok were shown to be misleading.
A recent investigation by The Guardian analysed the 100 most viewed videos on TikTok tagged #mentalhealthtips.
A panel of qualified mental health experts found that 52 out of them contained misleading or harmful advice.
Therapy-speak has gone viral.
Terms like:
- 👉 Trauma
- 👉 Gaslighting
- 👉 Narcissist
- 👉 Attachment style
- 👉 Triggered
- 👉 Dissociation
are everywhere now...
But they’re often taken out of context or wrongly defined.
We’re self-diagnosing.
- “If you do this one thing, you probably have ADHD.”
- “If they make you question yourself, it’s gaslighting.”
- “Don’t like conflict? That’s a trauma response.”
- “They don’t take accountability? Narcissist.”
Comments like this encourage people to take on clinical labels without consulting a professional.
Why are more people self-diagnosing online?
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are:
✔️ Fast
✔️ Free
✔️ Relatable
✔️ Always available
When professional support feels out of reach, self-diagnosis seemingly offers a short-cut to an explanation, identity and a sense of control.
We're just trying to understand ourselves.
But without proper guidance, it’s easy to:
❌ Mislabel
❌ Mistake discomfort for disorder
❌ Miss the real issue
❌ Build your identity around a false diagnosis
Social media isn’t therapy.
It can help:
– Raise awareness
– Spark important conversations
– Show you're not alone
– Plant a seed
- Open your mind to possibilities.
But it can't give you everything you need.
What can you do?
- Be mindful who you choose to follow
- Don’t assume what people say is accurate
- Cross-check your sources
- Talk to your GP, seek out an accredited therapist, contact a credible mental health service
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.