Is It Ok For To Teens Use Social Media To Self-Diagnose Their Mental Health?

Memes have become a very important part of social media these days! You may come across this funny piece of media and share it with other friends and loved ones. This has become a norm with memes often being about things many people universally go through together, making it relatable. But often this relatability can lead to teens self-diagnosing themselves. While social media is a good place to gather information, as long as you research the topic yourself, you must understand that it is also very easy to fake things and more importantly generalizing to an extent where everything seems relatable or something you may do! Here are some negative consequences of self-diagnosis from social media.

They lack expertise in the matter

While they can make memes about the matter, you must remember they are not trained mental health professionals. While you can hold healthcare professionals responsible for their misdiagnosis and wrong information, these people can say what they wish under the pretext of ‘in my experience’

They must understand individual differences

Mental health is very dynamic, meaning it depends on person to person and their situations. Self-diagnosis based on online information is dangerous as you do not know the full extent of someone’s condition as a bystander. If you think you share the same symptoms, go to a doctor to get tested.

They are risking misdiagnosis

When you rely on social media for this kinds of information, you are risking misdiagnosis them and leading to delayed or ineffective treatment. This can make your symptoms worse and make it more difficult to manage the condition.

They may experience emotional distress

Reading about mental health conditions online can be distressing and overwhelming for teens, especially if they are struggling with their own mental health. This can exacerbate symptoms and make it harder to seek help.

They may feel isolated and lonely

When you are self-diagnosing, while you may feel some comfort knowing others feel the same it can also make you feel like a freak, especially as a teenager. It can cause them to feel like they are abnormal and lead them to hate themselves. This can make it difficult to connect with others and seek support.

They may under-diagnosis

Self-diagnosis can also make you underdiagnose yourself. While you may feel like you know the full extent and what treatment you need, you may not even get treated for your issue. You may think it is fine, but you are not getting the solution you need, leading to more pain.

They may face stigma and discrimination

Self-diagnosis based on limited information, which means you are basically spreading the stereotype and stigma about the illness without even knowing the full extent of it. While people may think that Bipolar Personality disorder just means mood swings and having very dynamic behaviours, it also has other aspects like depression, anxiety etc. This can make it difficult for individuals to seek help and support.