Social Media and Self-Diagnosing Mental Health Conditions

If you've scrolled through popular social media platforms, you may have seen users posting videos in which they self-diagnose themselves with various mental health conditions. Perhaps they are convinced they have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Or maybe they are just sure they are the victim of "gaslighting,'' in which someone use a variety of techniques to manipulate and control their relationships.

In this video episode of "Healthy State of Mind,'' psychologist Tracey Murry, PhD, advises us to take care when using social media to diagnose your own behavioral health issues. That is a task best left to someone who has the right experience and training in mental health.

Dr. Murry said another overused word on social media is "triggered.'' People are loosely using it for any emotional upset, Dr. Murry said. But the term is more appropriately tied to PTSD and is used for more serious situations when something traumatic happened and significantly changed the course of someone's life.

Often, when people casually use behavioral health terms on social media, it can be done in such a way that it casts a negative light on those people who actually have those conditions.

The bottom line, Dr. Murry said, is "that I just really want to caution everyone with all of the phrases and terms we talked about, think before you do. Because we also wouldn't want anyone to be experiencing this that doesn't reach out because they think theirs is different from yours. And they fear that theirs is so severe because yours is so simple that they shouldn't reach out when you don't truly have it.''