Within seconds, feeds serve up licensed psychologists and psychiatrists breaking down clinical jargon and debunking misconceptions, as well as offering practical guidance.
asserted
feeds → serve → guidance
Alongside public education, some accounts also direct audiences towards private practices, paid courses, books, and other professional services.
asserted
accounts → direct → practices
Mental health content has become a highly visible part of social media culture, drawing audiences that can number in the millions.
asserted
that → become → millions
As licensed clinicians move beyond consulting rooms and into digital spaces, different approaches have emerged over what this shift means for access to mental health information and commercial ethics.
asserted
shift → move → information
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asserted
struggle → take → kids
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chief → arrive → Stars
The accessibility gap
Cost, stigma, and shortages of trained professionals continue to limit access to mental healthcare worldwide.
asserted
Cost → train → healthcare
Globally, two-thirds of countries have only one psychiatrist per 200,000 people, while just nine percent of people with depression receive adequate treatment, according to the 2025 World Mental Health report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
uncertain
percent → have → Organization
In the United Kingdom, waiting lists for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments can stretch for years.
asserted
lists → stretch → years
The scale of mental health content is visible in narrower platform metrics, even if the phenomenon as a whole is difficult to quantify.
asserted
phenomenon → quantify → whole
On TikTok, views for #anxiety rose from 6 billion in late 2021 to 16.1 billion by mid-2022.
asserted
views → rise → mid-2022
The broader #MentalHealth hashtag saw similarly rapid growth, climbing from 25.3 billion views in March 2022, according to a study published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), to more than 100 billion by August 2023, according to a subsequent JMIR Infodemiology study.
uncertain
hashtag → see → study
TikTok put the figure at more than 100 billion globally that October.
asserted
TikTok → put → billion
Such figures measure individual hashtags rather than mental health content as a whole, leaving untagged content and discussions using other terminology outside their scope.
asserted
figures → measure → scope
“There is no question that mental health content has exploded on social media, and larger therapy influencer accounts have millions, or tens of millions, of followers,” Dr Jonathan Shedler, an American psychologist and researcher, told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Shedler → be → Jazeera
What audiences are seeking
Dr Katie Rose Saunders, a research associate at Keele University, analysed TikTok activity at selected points across 2021, 2022, and 2023.
asserted
Saunders → seek → 2021
She found users offering support and empathy, relating creators’ experiences to their own, seeking help and debating self-diagnosis.
asserted
users → find → diagnosis
Some explained why they avoided formal diagnosis, while others pushed back against self-diagnosis altogether.
asserted
others → explain → diagnosis
Psychiatrist Janagan Alagarajah, a digital global mental health specialist, says youth-friendly language and peer communities, as well as anonymity, can make social media feel safer and more immediate than formal care.
asserted
media → say → care
“Social media is a community; often people are feeling alone and isolated,” he told Al Jazeera.
asserted
he → feel → Jazeera
But he distinguishes psychoeducation from treatment: evidence supports social media for gathering information and getting pathways into care, while treatment requires structured, evidence-based interventions and safeguards.
asserted
treatment → distinguish → interventions
Robert Roopa, a clinical psychologist who runs the Instagram page @theocdpsychologist and publishes longer articles on his website, sees social media as an opportunity for public education and professional visibility.
asserted
who → run → education
“Public education has been a driver,” Roopa told Al Jazeera, allowing professionals to reach audiences beyond traditional books and academic articles.
asserted
professionals → tell → books
He also acknowledges professional and financial incentives.
asserted
He → acknowledge → incentives
Social media can connect clinicians with potential clients and referral sources, while visibility can support private practice and opportunities such as speaking engagements.
asserted
visibility → connect → engagements
For Roopa, however, accessibility is the larger benefit, reducing stigma and improving mental health literacy.
asserted
accessibility → reduce → literacy
“I do think social media has democratised psychology in many ways,” he says, allowing people to learn about mental health “regardless of where they live or whether they can afford therapy”.
asserted
they → think → therapy
He also highlights boundary problems when followers seek personalised advice or disclose serious distress through direct messages.
asserted
followers → highlight → messages
Clinicians may want to help, but cannot assess or treat an unknown follower through Instagram.
uncertain
Clinicians → want → Instagram
Roopa argues that such situations require clearer policies around professional boundaries and crisis responses.
asserted
situations → argue → boundaries
Online, but not an influencer
Dr Shedler discusses psychology and psychotherapy online, but says building an audience was never his purpose.
“I had just moved to a new city when the COVID pandemic and lockdown arrived.
asserted
pandemic → discuss → city
I was lonely and had time on my hands,” he told Al Jazeera.
asserted
he → have → Jazeera
“I discovered Twitter and started posting about random things, which were often psychology and psychotherapy, just to have some form of interaction.
asserted
which → discover → interaction
To my surprise, people started following me for more.”
asserted
people → start → more
He rejects using that visibility to attract patients and questions whether audiences can distinguish expertise from popularity.
asserted
audiences → reject → popularity
“People often treat public visibility as a proxy for knowledge and legitimacy, but it is not,” he says, invoking Thomas Nichols’s The Death of Expertise.
asserted
he → treat → Expertise
“Some people want to be influencers more than they want to be clinicians.”
asserted
they → want → ?
Shedler also warns that platform incentives can change professionals themselves, noting, “I’ve seen people who I once considered respectable professionals get sucked in, and start posting what I call ‘thera-slop’ for likes and follows.
asserted
I → warn → likes
Psychiatrist Dr Gorkem Yilmaz takes a third approach, choosing not to produce psychoeducational content online while stressing that this is not a criticism of colleagues who do.
asserted
who → take → colleagues
He argues that clinical work is individual and contextual, while social media addresses an undefined audience and favours “brief, decisive, consistent and easily identifiable” communication.
asserted
media → argue → communication
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
