Mental Health and Therapy in the Age of Social Media and AI

Do you use follow social media accounts to get tips and tricks as well as advice on mental health topics?

You’re not alone! So many of us do now.

Does it help us?? Does it harm us our mental health?

What about AI, ChatGPT?

Can social media and AI support more resilient mental health?

What are the pros and cons?

Let’s check it out.

Mental Health Therapy Social Media and AI:

Pros

I love that social media allows you, as a consumer/potential client, to follow therapists, healers and other mental health professionals to get to know them, their approach and even build trust. Then, when you are ready, you can reach out and start a personal, individualized experience in a pre-existing relationship, supporting you to optimal mental health. It gives you a chance to ensure like values and specialties that matter to you.

In the age of social media, AI etc. clients come to therapists more informed than ever.

This is exciting to me. It means you are likely meeting me saying what you need help with and the approaches you have researched and want to try. It is a different starting point. It also means you bring self insight about what speaks to you ex. ADHD.

A client may follow practitioners and people with this diagnosis and have tried tips and tricks to support you in your life and studies/work as a neurodivergent person, ensuring optimal mental health. BUT please know who you are following and what they bring to the table. Someone can have a lot of followers but their only real knowledge on a topic, close to your heart, is reading books and listening to podcasts.

I also love that people not ready for the intimacy of a therapeutic relationship can feel they are getting some help for their mental health. Reading blogs, watching vlogs, listening to podcasts can mean learning and this can be used to develop self insight.

ChatGPT can immediately remind you of coping skills when you are distressed or having a bad day. This can be a generic list or you can build a relationship in which they know you and can suggest a favourite practice. You can record your habits, make personal goals and review progress.

Social media and other technological platforms are, of course, influenced by your age, generation and the social culture around you.

What apps are your friends on? Who are they following?

I love the way many Gen Z people use it as they generally strongly believe in therapy and protecting their mental health, using social media to build both self insight and as a therapy adjunct ex. “I asked ChatGPT what is wrong with me. Can we review the answer in our session to see if this is accurate and helpful, how to use it”?

We live in exciting times in this rapidly evolving area, yes?!

Mental Health Therapy Social Media and AI:

Cons

I am concerned about self-diagnosing using social media. The information out there is not always accurate. It has likely resulted in over-diagnosing as well as with lots of diagnostics and labeling. I would love to bring more acceptance to individual idiosyncrasies, rather than chose a diagnostic label that fits from internet research.

The web is almost entirely driven by numbers, popularity through followers &/or optimization. So there are lots of diagnostics getting tonnes of buzz and others getting almost none, and still possibly the one that could fit for you.

There can also be co-concurrent disorders, more than one, and they always intersect in a unique way. Our mental health experiences are always unique and need individualized support and understanding.

A huge reason why tictoc and ChatGPT etc. cannot replace therapy is Confirmation Bias. In this context this refers to you only following, collecting information and advice on the issues you have self-identified (I am assuming there have been no professional diagnosis in this point). You simply may be wrong or only partially correct. We all get through life by being in part defended. We ego protect and are more likely to justify our own behaviour and judge others for similar behaviour. This is a survivor mechanism, built in. So this stops self-directed healing from being fully accurate.

A new point of awareness and interest right now that therapists and medical professionals are seeing often is various neurodivergencies. This is often mistaken as a mental health issue, it is not, but a neurological one.

It certainly impacts mental health and you need support figuring how it works in your life and make your own goals in this. Social media is great to feel validated and begin self understanding but will only take you so far.

A lot of characteristics (not symptoms!) on the list of these diagnostics overlap significantly with trauma and other mental health issues. So get help to get a proper diagnosis. It will support you in getting the right treatment options.

Another issue is simply knowing a little and thinking you know a lot. This can result in not getting the support you actually need. I think of therapeutic approaches. After researching on the Web, social media etc. you may decide you want to see a therapist that knows about attachment disorders and offers a particular type of therapeutic approach, ex. CBT. The issue? Research shows your healing is optimal when you choose a therapist you connect with, trust and can open up to. This is far more important than their approach. So try to be open as you search for the right therapist, let them surprise you.

Tips and tricks are great to get you started but are not specially made for you and the issues you bring.

Let’s talk about the role of a therapist. Of course we are all different people with different approaches, but there are commonalities.

Part of what we do is teach skills and techniques for optimal mental health. But this is actually a small part of my role.

Therapy can facilitate deep healing, helping you process really hard memories and experiences. This cannot be done alone. What deep healing looks like is specific to each therapist.  

There is also a relational piece in which you are healing by transferring your relationship scripts, beliefs and feelings onto your therapist. This is natural and can be used to heal and learn to trust people and relate in a different way. We need human interaction to do this important (my favourite!) piece in the healing relationship.

Your therapist is also supposed to tell you hard things you may not want to hear. This addresses inherent conformation bias, allowing you to try on different ideas you may not have thought of before. You may end up feeling connected to completely different issues and behaviour patterns than you had previously thought. And diagnostics are an intellectual practice that may get in the way of simply letting yourself feel hard feelings.

We need people! Sounds silly but I am more and more aware of this as we work virtually, use ChatGPT as finding a therapist is scary and expensive, have online relationships. We are wired for attachment and get our needs met as social beings, a social species that evolved to survive together. So if we use more nonhuman than human support it can actually worsen your mental health, ensuring loneliness and feelings of disconnection.

So how do we use the internet, social media and AI apps to benefit our healing experience and build resilient mental health?

Mental Health Therapy Social Media and AI:

How To Use It

Use it to play. Play with ideas of what could fit, learning. Ensure you’re following and tuning into reputable sources.

Use it to begin bringing the idea of healing and self-care into your life, before you are ready to reach out to get one-on-one support.

Use it to build a language that helps you talk to others about mental health, feelings and how to take care of each other.

Use it to remind yourself of healthy coping skills we forget when we are distressed.

Use it as a therapy adjunct and bring ideas that speak to you to a therapist to further your work together.

Social media, AI and other technological advances are not bad. They are progress and our future. But let’s harness it to work for us to make us smarter, healthier and happier people.

And when you are ready for a heart, healing experience specifically designed for you, take another, different step.

Lisa S.

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