As in other medical fields, diagnosing a mental illness requires a wealth of knowledge and diagnostic tools, Schmidt explains. What's more, he adds, there's no universal combination of symptoms, since mental illnesses can present very differently in different people. — Image by Drazen Zigic on Freepik
BERLIN: More and more advice from would-be mental health experts is being posted on social media. What sounds risky also brings opportunities some psychologists say.
Are you often distracted? Frequently bruise yourself by bumping into furniture? Muck about a lot? Then you probably have adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Sight-unseen diagnoses such as this abound in certain filter bubbles on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. "They're a big issue now," media psychologist Joachim Schmidt tells dpa. "I constantly get them thrown at me."
If you search Instagram for the word "psychology", you'll turn up scores of profiles, some with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. They offer a very diverse range of therapeutic content, says psychologist Angelina Hahn.
"There are good therapists and doctors who explain mental health issues for the general public. But there are also non-experts who may have just begun studying them," she remarks, speaking in the run-up to World Mental Health Day on October 10.
What may seem like silly Internet babble isn't always a bad thing though, according to the two psychologists.
"I think it's great that there's more talk about mental illnesses, and especially that young people are being made more aware of them," Schmidt says.
Hahn has a similar view. "It's nice that people are getting access to the subject in this way. For the older generation, it might still be taboo."
She says the social media content also makes people with a mental health problem less reluctant to seek professional help, adding: "I think it gives them the feeling that they're not alone."
Along with ADHD, notes Schmidt, depression, narcissism and anxiety disorder are conditions often "diagnosed" in the relevant social media posts. This, he says, is because at first glance their symptoms seem easier to recognise, "and a lot of people think they know a thing or two about mental illnesses."
He cautions against self-diagnosing, however. "Time and again I see my clients taking information from social media and then trying to apply it to themselves. But self-diagnoses are dubious, and sometimes dangerous, and frequently off the mark."
As in other medical fields, diagnosing a mental illness requires a wealth of knowledge and diagnostic tools, Schmidt explains. What's more, he adds, there's no universal combination of symptoms, since mental illnesses can present very differently in different people.
"A lot of the advice doesn't do justice to the complexity of the symptoms," he says.
The Professional Association of German Psychologists (BDP) recommends closely checking the profile of the person or organisation publishing the social media content.
"Who's posting the information? What interests (eg commercial) might lie behind it? How reputable and reliable is the source, and how thorough is the information?" says BDP President Thordis Bethlehem.
She, too, urges caution. People experiencing a mental health crisis are typically blind to their strengths, resources and opportunities, she says, their focus on burdens, problems and personal deficiencies making them susceptible to self-diagnoses.
But "scattershot" therapy, she emphasises, will hardly meet their needs.
Every year in Germany, for instance, about a quarter of the adult population is affected by a mental illness, according to the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN). But just 18.9% of these 17.8 million people then consult a mental health specialist, it says.
This year's statistics show that the most frequent mental illnesses in the country include anxiety disorders, affective disorders such as depression, and disorders caused by alcohol or medication use. Statistics also show that having a mental illness decreases a person's life expectancy by about 10 years, the DGPPN says. – dpa
Those contemplating suicide can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935/ 014-322 3392); Talian Kasih (15999/ 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp); Jakim’s family, social and community care centre (011-1959 8214 on WhatsApp); or Befrienders Kuala Lumpur (03-7627 2929/ email sam@befrienders.org.my/ befrienders centres in malaysia).
