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Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Over half of top 100 mental health TikTok videos contain misinformation: report
Over half of the top-trending TikTok videos giving advice on mental health include misinformation, according to a report released Saturday. The Guardian compiled the top 100 TikTok videos posted under the #mentalhealthtips hashtag and sent them to psychiatrists, academics and psychologists, who examined them for misinformation. Some examples of bad advice include using supplements like holy basil, saffron or magnesium glycinate or eating an orange in the shower to decrease anxiety, "methods to heal trauma within an hour" and "guidance presenting normal emotional experiences as a sign of borderline personality disorder or abuse." 'Skinnytok' Weight-loss Trend Could Lead To Food Deprivation, Experts Caution The Guardian says that in its review, experts determined that "52 out of 100 videos offering advice on dealing with trauma, neurodivergence, anxiety, depression and severe mental illness contained some misinformation, and that many others were vague or unhelpful." Dan Poulter, a former health minister and NHS psychiatrist who looked at the videos about severe mental illness, said some of them "pathologise everyday experiences and emotions, suggesting that they equate to a diagnosis of serious mental illness.""This is providing misinformation to impressionable people and can also trivialise the life experiences of people living with serious mental illnesses," Poulter said. Read On The Fox News App Amber Johnston, a British Psychological Society-accredited psychologist who evaluated the trauma videos, told The Guardian that even though some contained portions of truth, they were oversimplified. "Each video is guilty of suggesting that everyone has the same experience of PTSD with similar symptoms that can easily be explained in a 30-second reel," Johnston said. "The truth is that PTSD and trauma symptoms are highly individual experiences that cannot be compared across people and require a trained and accredited clinician to help a person understand the individual nature of their distress." She added that "TikTok is spreading misinformation by suggesting that there are secret universal tips and truths that may actually make a viewer feel even worse, like a failure, when these tips don't simply cure." Albania Issues Yearlong Tiktok Ban Amid Youth Violence Concerns Another expert, Chi Onwurah, a Labour member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, said TikTok doesn't have the best track record. "Content recommender systems used by platforms like TikTok have been found to amplify potentially harmful misinformation, like this misleading or false mental health advice," she added. "There's clearly an urgent need to address shortcomings in the OSA to make sure it can protect the public's online safety and their health." The Guardian reported that TikTok said videos were removed "if they discouraged people from seeking medical support or promoted dangerous treatments. When people in the UK search for terms linked to mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, autism or post-traumatic stress disorder, they are also directed to NHS information." In January, the Supreme Court upheld a federal law that would ban the Chinese-owned social media company. In May, President Donald Trump said that he would extend the deadline for the TikTok ban so that the company can be sold to a U.S. owner. A TikTok spokesperson told Fox News Digital about The Guardian's analysis, "There are clear limitations to the methodology of this study which opposes this free expression and suggests that people should not be allowed to share their own stories." They added that, "At TikTok, we proactively work with health experts at the World Health Organisation and others to promote reliable information on our platform and remove 98% of harmful misinformation before it's reported to us." Jeff Smith, director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital the news only adds to concerns about the company. "If we needed another reason to wrest control of TikTok away from the Chinese Communist Party, this report on mental health disinformation would serve as a powerful reminder," Smith said. He added, "It has been clear for years that this is just the tip of the iceberg. The extent of TikTok's misinformation, propaganda, and espionage activities are shocking and extensive. This report only underscores the urgent need for the Trump administration to force a sale of TikTok to an American entity or ban the app from operating in the United States, as required by law."Original article source: Over half of top 100 mental health TikTok videos contain misinformation: report
Engadget
03-06-2025
- General
- Engadget
TikTok ripe with mental health misinformation, new study reports
The internet is both excellent and horrible at spreading information and community. In one sense, it can provide access to so many people and perspectives that aren't available in a person's day-to-day life. At the same time, it can be ripe with misinformation and people who cause more harm than good. Now, a new study from The Guardian is revealing just how intertwined these two things can be. An investigation found that 52 out of the top 100 videos tagged #mentalhealthtips contained at least some misinformation, according to a team of mental health professionals. These clips discussed conditions and experiences such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma, neurodivergence and more. "TikTok is spreading misinformation by suggesting that there are secret universal tips and truths that may actually make a viewer feel even worse, like a failure, when these tips don't simply cure," said Amber Johnston, a British Psychological Society-accredited psychologist, who reviewed videos about trauma for The Guardian . The experts identified four major themes within the misleading and inaccurate information. The first, pathologizing normal emotions, came in videos that described everyday feelings, such as tiredness or feeling anxiety around changes, as clear indicators of specific mental health disorders. They seemed to imply that experiencing any symptoms of a mental health disorder meant the viewer must be living with it. Then there was misuse of therapeutic language, whether through inaccurately describing a mental health disorder or using words like abuse, to explain certain actions, without context or nuance. The third category was reportedly the most common: unevidenced treatments and false claims. These clips include claims that a certain method can heal trauma in just one hour, that ingesting certain things causes depression and that manufactured supplements will ease anxiety. The last theme identified was anecdotal evidence. Videos in this area included recommendations to get inpatient treatment solely based on the creators' own experiences. Another showed someone in a hospital gown who implied that they were in a psychiatric unit for being too honest with their therapist. Misinformation is a tremendous issue across social media platforms, with many companies doing little to nothing about it. Take Meta, for example, which removed its fact-checking program in the US this past April. Instead, it has opted for community notes that allow for crowdsourced responses to posts. TikTok has made multiple claims over the years that it's removing "problematic" content and inaccurate videos. In a statement shared with The Guardian , a TikTok spokesperson commended the app for being a place people can share and get support for their mental health experiences. "There are clear limitations to the methodology of this study, which opposes this free expression and suggests that people should not be allowed to share their own stories." The spokesperson added that TikTok works with the World Health Organization and the NHS in the UK to provide accurate information, further claiming that the app removes 98 percent of "harmful misinformation before it's reported to us."
New York Post
31-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Popular mental health videos on TikTok spread misinformation and pose a great risk, experts warned
More than half of the most popular TikTok videos about mental health peddle misinformation and pose a significant risk to users struggling with complex conditions, British experts warned. Users turning to the social media platform for instant relief and solutions to treat their trauma, depression or anxiety may end up feeling more distressed after taking the flawed advice, a recent study conducted by The Guardian revealed. 'TikTok is spreading misinformation by suggesting that there are secret universal tips and truths that may actually make a viewer feel even worse, like a failure, when these tips don't simply cure,' Amber Johnson, a British Psychological Society-accredited psychologist, told the outlet. 3 Videos on the platform may cause struggling users to feel even more distressed, a study conducted by The Guardian found. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement 'Each video is guilty of suggesting that everyone has the same experience of PTSD with similar symptoms that can easily be explained in a 30-second reel.' The study examined the top 100 videos posted under #mentalhealthtips on the platform, which were then reviewed by psychological professionals for accuracy and potential harm. Experts flagged 52 videos offering mental health advice on trauma, neurodivergence, anxiety, depression, and other serious disorders as misleading – with some clips dishing out vague and hollow fluff. Advertisement 'This is providing misinformation to impressionable people and can also trivialize the life experiences of people living with serious mental illness,' Dan Poulter, a National Health Service psychiatrist, said. 3 Experts cautioned that the dangerous tips could warp the public's understanding of mental illness. Natalia – Experts criticized the content for misusing therapeutic language, offering counsel rooted in personal experience, and making sweeping generalizations while also minimizing the complexities of certain mental health conditions, the outlet reported. They cautioned that the dangerous tips could warp the public's understanding of mental illness and urged government officials to implement stronger safeguards against the spread of harmful misinformation. Advertisement 'Short-form, attention-grabbing soundbites can sometimes overshadow the more nuanced realities of qualified therapeutic work,' said David Okai, a psychological medical researcher at King's College London. 3 Experts criticized the content for misusing therapeutic language and offering counsel rooted in personal experience. Andrii Yalanskyi – In response to the outlet's findings, TikTok boasted the platform for providing a space where millions of people can express themselves and share their 'authentic' mental health journeys. 'There are clear limitations to the methodology of this study, which opposes free expression and suggests that people should not be allowed to share their own stores,' a spokesperson told The Guardian. Advertisement 'We proactively work with health experts at the World Health Organization and NHS to promote reliable information on our platform and remove 98% of harmful misinformation before it's reported to us.' The popular app is currently facing several lawsuits in the US accusing it of harming children's mental health with addictive features and dangerous content and causing high rates of depression and anxiety.
