People are turning to Social Media platforms for help with their mental health issues.
In England, mental health has recently become the focus of attention within United Kingdom policy, with the proposed rehash of the Mental Health Act, and the new Power Threat Meaning framework, which aims to reduce the “medicalization” of mental health. Despite raised awareness of some the issues, more and more people are turning away from their General Practitioners as they fail to get the support they need. This is usually due to lengthy waiting lists for counseling, or a tendency to overly rely on prescribing medication as a cure all.
It is estimated that 39% of health information seekers use social media, often joining a specific health-related group. But many people are now choosing to use their personal profiles to post their “social outing” of their mental health problems. While there is no statistical evidence for the amount of users doing this, Facebook have realized that people are using their status updates to talk about their mental health, including suicidal feelings.
Not only has social media been linked with an increase in cyber bullying but posting information about risky behaviours (such as social drinking) has been linked to a decrease in job opportunities in the future. It is therefore realistic to imagine that current and future employers are looking at our mental health history if we are posting about our health online.
Another expressed her irritation at having to deal with other people’s problems when she is trying to get support with her own.
The issue is that people may be getting fed up with constant posts of people talking about their mental health and there are signs that they can retaliate in a negative way. One of the participants in my (Kim Heyes, Manchester Metropolitan University) research stated that after he had “come out” on Facebook, a (former) friend told him, in no uncertain terms, that Facebook was “not the place for that kind of thing”.
In the short term, it seems that social media could be helpful in creating supportive networks for people with mental ill-health. But in the long term, it depends on how we start to challenge societal perceptions of the issue. If nothing changes, then at least be prepared for a lack of job offers in the future.
Source: Mental Health: The Dangers Of The Social Media Diagnosis
One of the features of Wrong Planet is that it supports Anonymity. So for privacy sake, do not use your real name in selecting your user name and be careful about supplying very personal information, such as your address or phone number. Also be very careful about interlinking your user name with the user names that you use in other social platforms. Also realize the information and help you receive from this site is in general given by other Aspies. We are not doctors, psychologist, psychiatrist, mental health therapist. So the general caution is Caveat Emptor "Let the buyer beware!"
24 Jan 2019, 9:34 am
