TikTok ripe with mental health misinformation, new study reports

Internet is both excellent and horrible in disseminating information and community. In a sense, it can give access to so many people and prospects that are not available in the daily life of a person. At the same time, it can be Disinformation ripe And people who cause more harm than good.

Now, a New study of The guardian is revealing how intertwined these two things can be. An investigation revealed that 52 of the 100 best videos marked #mentalhealthtips contained at least a certain disinformation, according to a team of mental health professionals. These clips have discussed conditions and experiences such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma, neurodivergence and more.

“Tiktok propagates a disinformation by suggesting that there are secret advice and truths that can really worsen a spectator, like a failure, when these advice does not just heal,” said Amber Johnston, a accredited psychologist from the British Psychological Psychological The guardian.

Experts identified Four major themes in misleading and inaccurate information. The first, pathologizing normal emotions, came in videos that described daily feelings, such as fatigue or the feeling of anxiety around changes, such as clear indicators of specific mental health disorders. They seemed to imply that feeling symptoms of a mental health disorder meant that the spectator had to live with it.

Then, there was improper use of therapeutic language, whether by inaccurately describing a mental health disorder or using words like abuses, to explain certain actions, without context or nuance. The third category would have been the most common: unacceptable treatments and false allegations. These clips include the affirmations that a certain method can cure trauma in just one hour, that the ingestion of certain things cause depression and that the supplements made will facilitate anxiety.

The latest theme identified was anecdotal evidence. Videos in this area included recommendations to obtain hospital treatment only based on the creators’ own experiences. Another showed someone in a hospital dress that hinted that he was in a psychiatric unit to be too honest with his therapist.

Disinformation is a great problem on social media platforms, many companies do not do much about it. Take the meta, for example, which Deleted its fact checking program In the United States, last April. Instead, he opted for community notes that allow responses to Crowdsourced to publications.

Tiktok has made several complaints in the years it removed “Problematic” content And Inaccurate videos. In a declaration shared with The guardianA spokesperson for Tiktok has congratulated the application to be a place that people can share and get support for their mental health experiences. “There are clear limits to the methodology of this study, which opposes this freedom of expression and suggests that people should not be allowed to share their own stories.”

The spokesman added that Tiktok is working with the World Health Organization and the NHS in the United Kingdom to provide precise information, stating that the application deletes 98% of “harmful disinformation before it is reported to us”.