Navigating the Social Media Self-Diagnosis Trend

Curt and Katie chat about the TikTok Mental Health and the self-diagnosis trend. We dig into what diagnosis is (and what is actually useful about diagnosis). We also explore the concerns with social media self-diagnosis as well as how we can support our clients with getting accurate assessment and treatment. 

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we talk about self-diagnosis and the impact of social media

We have both heard about TikTok diagnoses in our practices and wanted to talk about how therapists might navigate this new trend. 

What are concerns with social media self-diagnosis?

“The point of having a professional be able to properly evaluate is looking through that more nuanced clinical eye in order to look at where the threshold is that actually meets diagnostic [criteria] versus actually just having some characteristics in common with [the diagnosis]. Somebody can be nervous, does not mean that they have anxiety… What is pathologizing normal feelings?” – Curt Widhalm, LMFT

How to support clients who have sought diagnostic information on social media and google?

“What started the whole thing… clinicians under diagnosing, undervaluing client feedback, not asking all the right questions. And so, folks are feeling dissatisfied with what we're doing and heading to the interweb to understand better what it is that's going on.” – Katie Vernoy, LMFT