Rules:
Other communities of interest:
Why do I think that's not limited to just the field of mental health?
Stop getting medical advice from the internet.
Meh, just don't go for the quickest or most shocking answer. Internet is basically a huge library information-wise. It's just getting harder and harder to navigate.
I would take your advice, but you are on the internet, making this a bit of a paradox.
But I'm poor and healthcare in my country is only available for rich people...
As someone who did a psych undergrad and ed PhD, both fields have a lot of "everyone has an opinion" issues that often are contrary to evidence. TikTok didn't invent those bad takes; plenty of self help books peddled in the same types of misinformation on mental health even before the Internet.
I mean, who hasn't got bad advice on how to go about a breakup or deal with grief, etc? Lol
I bet the videos about NPD contributed a lot. "Narcissists have dilated pupils/different eyes", "a narcissist never knows they are a narcissist", "NPD and ASPD are almost the same", etc. Pop psychology is the default information for narcissism.
Also, the ASD and ADHD videos. Starting with the RSD myth in ADHD (it has not been scientifically proven, and the reaction can be explained by the not officially recognized yet more evidence-based emotional dysregulation in ADHD), followed by the stereotypes, the anecdotes turned into symptoms, etc. I've found some inaccurate videos about dyslexia, tics, etc. The popularity of neurodevelopmental disorders has been bittersweet.
Oh! I've seen some BD misinformation, especially comparing type 1 and type 2 bipolar disorder. This is also pervasive on Reddit. For example, that type 2 depression is worse. No, type 2 may have longer and more frequent depressive episodes, but the severity is the same (it isn't "worse" or "more severe" or "deeper", they just spend more time in it in average). Another one is that type 1 do not experience hypomanias or not as often, when they are the ones experiencing more hypomanic time in average (because type 2 spends that extra time depressed, while type 1 has more balanced times in average). Also, not remembering that these are statistics, not rules. Many people with BD-I tend to a depressive polarity (some studies have found this is the case for many bipolar patients as age progresses) and many people with BD-II will spend less time depressed than others with BD-II.
Some unipolar depression videos are okay, but eventually you reach the "just go for a walk", "medication is a scam", and other antipsychiatry and pseudoscientific nonsense. There are too many of those and the algorithm will mix them up sometimes. Also, a lot of misinformation about the different depressive disorders, and about these different depressive disorders versus the specifiers of depressive episodes (two very different things).
Claims about OCD being an anxiety disorder when the DSM-5 has an exclusive category for OCD and related disorders. This one comes from old/outdated sources.
Let's not mention the DID (and other disorders that have been a) fad, that is, that people literally lied about having a mental disorder. These people also exaggerated the symptoms. "My DID causes me to switch every five minutes between my more than a hundred personalities". I mean, nobody in their right mind would think this is medical information, but still, a lot of BS there.
Recently, the "BPD does not exist and it's just a name for traumatized people, especially women" is gaining weight, when it's true that many borderline diagnoses come with a history of trauma, but not all of them. And even if we were to find that trauma is always present, that would make the classification appear in both the disorders caused by trauma/stress and the personality disorders, and studies about the difference between BPD and forms of PTSD would be needed, but the concept wouldn't just disappear because the clinical picture is still useful.
God... I guess this issue is a pet peeve of mine. I feel like I can continue, but this is a wall of text already.
I think excellent information is also on TikTok, like Dr. Tracey Marks and, for Spanish speakers, Dr. Rodrigo Corona. I've learnt some interesting things about PMDD on TikTok, and speculation often leads to interesting research (either already done but rediscovered or new and ongoing research). This is the case for other fields too. This year, I've seen more doctors recommending myo-inositol and berberine as a science-based treatment for PCOS; years ago, social media was commenting on this but doctors were just catching up and research was still scarce. You can see this shift in Dr. Tracey Marks videos, actually. Her latest videos include recommendations like yoga, keto diet, and ashwaghanda. Years ago, this was the equivalent of detox juices and crystal healing for many people, but today we know it has some therapeutic benefits (they aren't cures, they aren't enough on their own, but they help). So... yeah. My point is that there are experts on TikTok sharing good information, and that not all new information on social media is pseudoscience, it's just science on the making, incomplete science, and you can know this because there's some evidence and one just need to wait for more.
The trick is to distinguish the informative "content creators" versus the misleading ones. I believe YouTube has a verification feature for accurate health information; TikTok could (and should) follow.
People on TikTok lie? I couldn't have seen this coming, who could've thunk it?
Most of TikTok is misinformation, a lot of which is intentional.
Going to TikTok for mental health advice is yikes…
Also I’ve read studies that show pounding your head with a brick can really hurt.
False: This is a widely spread misinformation. While it may be true that you can experience pain short term, after prolonged pounding that is strong enough, this pain will not be registered anymore. Furthermore, you may not even feel any pain whatsoever afterwards.
This is true, I am no longer alive and cannot feel pain at all after an intensive brick face pounding session.
So it has been recommended to pound your head against bricks everyday till it stops hurting
What? Now why would some internet “doctor” lie to you about your mental health using a platform that glorifies misinformation? I’m shocked; shocked, I say.