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Teens, Social Media, 和 the Trouble with Self-Diagnosis

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Teens, Social Media, 和 the Trouble with Self-Diagnosis

2023年10月2日

In an age when social media heavily influences youth, 许多青少年在网上看到趋势后,很快就会给自己贴上心理健康问题的标签. 儿科医生 Cindy Gellner, MD强调了诊断焦虑、抑郁和多动症等疾病的复杂性. 她还强调了专家心理健康评估的必要性,并大发娱乐家长了解青少年基于网络内容误诊自己的潜在危险.

由于社交媒体的存在,青少年中出现了一种令人担忧的新趋势:自我诊断精神障碍. We all know that apps like TikTok, Snapchat, 和 Instagram can draw teens in, 但现在大发娱乐看到青少年故意查找有关心理健康的视频,以诊断自己有不同的心理健康状况.

Social Media Influence on Teen Mental Health

Teens are at a very impressionable age. They want to belong. They want to find their people. They want to find themselves. 所以当他们在一个关于精神健康障碍的视频中看到自己的身影时, 他们会自动得出结论,认为自己应该被诊断出患有这种疾病.

Kids are now telling their parents that they believe they have ADHD, 自闭症, 焦虑, 抑郁症, 双相, 和更多的, just because they saw a video about it.

儿科医生和心理健康专家都认为,社交媒体肯定是导致儿童心理健康危机的原因之一. While it's good to bring awareness to mental health, 对于青少年来说,把他们所有的黑暗秘密都贴出来让其他青少年看到并影响其他人认为他们可能也有这些诊断是另一回事.

The Importance of Professional Diagnosis

真正应该进行心理健康诊断的人是那些接受过心理健康状况评估培训的专业人士. 即使作为一名儿科医生,我也没有接受过评估各种心理健康状况的培训. That's where 精神科医生 help out immensely.

This new trend has sounded the alarm to parents, 治疗师, school counselors, 儿科医生, 和, 是的, 精神科医生.

We all know that, 作为成年人, 大发娱乐会查找症状,基本上是找到网站,最终把这些点联系起来,告诉大发娱乐大发娱乐有了某种诊断. 然而,这并不总是好的,因为你需要有一个可靠的信息来源. WebMD 和 other professional medical group sites are often okay. But when you're just reading someone's blog, you are not necessarily getting science-based information.

Teens 和 Online Self-Diagnosis

And teens don't look up information based on science, in general. 他们会查找那些谈论自己心理健康症状以及正在接受治疗的网红. 他们会查阅测验和症状清单,看看他们是否符合他们认为自己拥有的任何标准. And it's not always reliable because kids, 和 even adults, 可以被操纵来填写他们认为测验或清单想让他们回答的答案吗.

所有这些搜索的棘手之处在于,这些应用程序甚至谷歌都有算法,可以不断地将心理健康视频和网站放在青少年的信息流中, reinforcing what their brain is already searching for, a diagnosis of what they're feeling.

在最好的情况下,它可以引导青少年为他们实际患有的疾病寻求大发娱乐. 然而, in the worst-case scenario, 一个青少年可能会如此专注于认为自己有某种诊断,以至于如果他们真的没有这种诊断,他们将很难被说服, 坚持认为他们确实有精神健康问题,甚至继续认为他们需要治疗他们实际上不符合医学标准的疾病.

根据一些心理健康资源,这一趋势在2021年左右开始迅速增加. 一些心理学家认为,青少年过度认同某种特定的诊断,因为这证明了他们的行为是正当的, 和 they use it as a crutch. "Oh, my oppositional defiant disorder made me break into my neighbor's house." No, it didn't.

一些人认为,当他们没有达到社会不安全感的标准时,这有助于降低他们对自己应该成为什么样的人的期望.

我和一些治疗师谈过,他们对一些青少年使用的心理学词汇感到震惊. 有人说,这就像青少年在引用教科书上他们使用的措辞.

Mental Health Resources for Teens

Something else that 治疗师 acknowledge is an issue is access. Not every therapist is comfortable seeing teenagers. Some 治疗师 和 精神科医生 have long waiting lists. Some insurances are really stingy on who they will actually cover. There isn't the support that is needed to figure out, “好吧, what does this teen actually meet the diagnostic criteria for?"

In the absence of actual resources, 大发娱乐所看到的是,青少年将寻求诊断自己得到答案, even if they are not the correct answers.

社交媒体公司意识到了这一点,但并没有采取太多措施来遏制青少年的搜索. Parental controls can only do so much.

This past May, the U.S. 卫生局局长发布了一份咨询说明,称社交媒体的使用对孩子们造成了极大的伤害风险. 该办公室呼吁政策制定者和科技公司采取行动,做出改变,以保护社交媒体对青少年心理健康的影响.

现在,这并不是说所有的社交媒体在心理健康问题上都是不好的. Many positives are support groups for parents 和 teens, 专家可以通过视频让人们了解不同的应对技巧和可用的治疗方法.

Parental Guidance: Navigating Teens' Mental Health Discussions

The bottom line here is your teen's brain is still developing. They are very susceptible to anything that they can identify with. They want to figure out their identity.

如果他们来找你,说他们认为自己有这样或那样的心理健康问题,问一些问题. Find out their source of information. 让他们去看儿科医生,他们可以大发娱乐确认他们的诊断,或者大发娱乐他们理解为什么他们没有某种疾病.

If there are questions as to what their diagnosis is, 你的儿科医生可以将他们转介给心理健康大发娱乐提供者,他们可能比社交媒体上的人更有资格回答诊断信息.