Do you relax after a long day at work by scrolling through TikTok or Instagram Reels? Have you noticed how much of the content on TikTok and Reels is devoted to mental health advice? Some days it may feel like a lot, because it is. Your personalized algorithm knows you pretty well, and often knows what you’re going through. I am certain you have heard the many downsides to these video platforms, but I’d like to explore some of the upsides to mental health content on social media and encourage our clients to discuss mental health content in the therapy room.
One of the positive things about seeing mental health content on your feed is that you have the opportunity to vet it yourself. This article in the Washington Post includes some great ways to vet social media mental health content on your own: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/03/tiktok-instagram-mental-health/

Something I’d like to add to their awesome list of ways to vet social media content on mental health is to start a conversation with your therapist about it. We are all human, and many of us are also on TikTok and Reels scrolling along with you after a long day. We may have insights into mental health content that may be helpful. At the very least, it’s a creative way to bring a topic to therapy and hearing a different perspective can be helpful.
“The majority of teens say social media can be a space for connection and creativity.”(Yurkevich, 2023) Social media gives us an opportunity to connect with people and to think creatively. Connection and creativity are always welcome in the therapy room. There are so many different ways to learn and social media can be an opportunity to be exposed to new ideas and learn new things about ourselves and others.
Next time you confront an idea on TikTok or Reels that challenges you, really makes you think, or makes you wonder about something, remember that you can speak openly about that to your therapist. Especially in the areas of diagnosis, therapeutic treatment, and mental health tips, we would love to weigh in. It also serves us well to stay current and in tune to what kind of information our clients are consuming, whether we are on these platforms or not.
In our own social media platform our hope is to support and uplift creators who are licensed therapists putting out helpful information for their clients and ours. We do our own process of vetting and understand how confusing conflicting advice can be for our clients. We can’t always minimize the conflict, but it is a win if we can share things that support well thought out, educational content that aids people’s understanding of their own mental health. We hope some of our Instagram posts meet you in a time of need when you’re scrolling on the couch after a hard day. Know that we may be scrolling along too.
Vanessa Yurkevich. January 11, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/tech/tiktok-teen-mental-health.
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