It is so easy to go down the rabbit hole. Unable to sleep, ruminating, you turn to your phone and type mental health crisis. The advice floods in. “Don’t push people away,” says one content creator. “Reach out. Don’t let yourself get to the point that I got to,” says another. “Attention seeker!” scoffs a third. There is so much out there, clicking can be like playing a game of Russian roulette: will the advice be helpful and reliable, or will you be smacked down?

To be sure, there is some good information about mental health on social media (follow @amiquebec everywhere you use social media!). There is also plenty that is misleading, just plain wrong or hurtful – comments that perpetuate stigma and risk making vulnerable people feel more anxious and isolated.

Dr. Alexandre Hudon, a researcher-clinician who teaches in the Department of Psychiatry and Addictology at l’Université de Montréal, says the search for solid mental health advice on social media requires navigating a maze of disinformation. Hudon is the lead author of a 2025 study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research that looked at 1,000 TikTok videos about mental health in 16 countries. The study found more than 20 per cent of those videos were either deliberately misleading or contained inaccurate information.

The researchers came across videos in which serious conditions were minimized, as in, “you don’t need therapy, just positive thinking.” Psychiatric personality disorders were portrayed using inaccurate descriptions that lacked any clinical basis. Suicidal ideation was sometimes romanticized, and researchers found videos on psychiatric treatment that discouraged the use of medication with statements like “antidepressants only make things worse.”

Look for the warning signs

Dr. Hudon has made it his mission to improve the quality of mental health advice on social media. The tech-savvy psychiatrist is himself a prolific content creator, posting on TikTok as @Dr_Showtime. Here is his advice for finding trustworthy information:

• Look at the credentials of the content creator. Do they tell you what professional experience they have in the field of mental health?
• Look for citations: Does the creator link to or refer to scientific studies? If so, check them out.
• Is the video based on facts or on opinion?

“On social media, much mental health content is presented as personal experience or commentary,” says Dr. Hudon. “Personal stories can be valuable, but they should not be confused with diagnostic guidance or clinical recommendations. When someone presents strong claims without acknowledging nuance or uncertainty, that is a warning sign.”

• Who is the creator’s target audience, and what is their intent?

“Content aimed vaguely at ‘everyone’ tends to oversimplify complex conditions,” says Dr. Hudon. “Responsible educational material usually specifies who it is for (for example, parents, teens, clinicians) and clarifies its purpose (education, awareness, or sharing lived experience.)”

• Watch out for content that reduces complex psychiatric diagnoses to checklists or personality traits.

In their research, Hudon says, topics like personality disorders, psychosis and suicide “were particularly vulnerable to oversimplification and disinformation. Mental health diagnoses require careful clinical assessment; they are not meant to be self-applied based on short videos.”

• Does this content encourage professional evaluation or does it replace it?

“Responsible content invites discussion with a clinician. Problematic content often promotes self-diagnosis or alternative ‘cures’ while discouraging professional care.”

The dangers of self-diagnosis

Limited access to professional mental-health care explains why many people turn to social media. But beware of the risks.

“Self-diagnosis can lead to mislabelling normal emotional experiences as psychiatric disorders, which may increase anxiety rather than relieve it,” says Dr. Hudon. “Without proper assessment, individuals may pursue inappropriate treatments or overlook conditions that require urgent care.”

Dr. Hudon worries about teenagers and young adults who consolidate their identity around a diagnosis that hasn’t been clinically established. “Online communities can sometimes reinforce symptoms,” he says – unintentionally shaping how a person interprets what they’re going through.

The psychiatrist also worries that self-diagnosis can delay or stymie a person’s efforts to get access to proper care. “When someone believes they have already ‘figured it out,’” he says, they might not look in their community for professional help, or they might resist help if it differs from what they have seen and heard online.

Looking for a reliable source of information about mental illness and mental health? Follow @amiquebec and like and share our posts. You never know who you might help!

– Loreen Pindera
From Share&Care Spring 2026
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