Education Week - May 8, 2024 - 14

A Deep Dive Into TikTok's Sketchy
Mental Health Advice
Students should apply the same media literacy skills
to mental health information that they would
to a news opinion piece, experts say
By Alyson Klein
A high school counselor can track
what's trending on TikTok by hearing
what undiagnosed mental health
or neurological condition her students
think they have.
An elementary school counselor
listens to 3rd graders say they have
depression-a word she's pretty sure
they picked up on social media.
And more than half of teens surveyed
by the EdWeek Research
Center earlier this year said they
have used social media to diagnose
their own mental health conditions.
The 24/7 conversation about mental
health taking place on apps like
TikTok is finding its way into classrooms.
To be sure, there are some
positive effects: Social media has
destigmatized many mental health
conditions and encouraged students
to be more open about their
feelings, educators and experts say.
But students are also seeing a lot of
potentially counterproductive misinformation.
One
way to combat the problem:
Teach students to apply the same
media literacy skills to the mental
health information they see online
that they would to a news opinion
piece, educators and experts said.
Educators can " really get [students]
to kind of do this critical thinking, "
said Dan Florell, a professor at
Eastern Kentucky University who
teaches school psychologists. Have
students consider if the video cites a
valid study to back up its claims, and
if the creator of it has professional
credentials in mental health.
Florell even suggested teachers
or counselors turn this into a classroom
activity. " OK, let's go online
and find some TikTok videos that
are claiming certain stuff. And then
let's break it down and see if this is
true. And if not, why not? " he said.
As a reporter for Education Week
covering mental health, technology,
and the intersection between the
two, I asked Florell to put his advice
into practice. Earlier this month, I
searched TikTok for popular videos
offering a range of mental health advice,
and then showed them to Florell
over Zoom. I asked: Is the source
reputable? How do you know? Is the
advice sound? How can you tell?
My goal was to give teachers a
sense of the mental health content
their students see on social media,
and to create a resource teachers
could use in their classrooms-read
the video description, ask students
what they think, then share Florell's
take. (This could also be used for
professional development.)
Following is a sampling of what I
found on TikTok, and how Florell
responded.
Hawking supplements to relieve
ADHD symptoms
Video: A woman in a pajama tank
top stands in a kitchen and takes
viewers through an " unboxing " of
the supplements she takes every
night that she says help her with her
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
including magnesium and Vitamin
D. She holds up each bottle so
that the brand name is clear.
Source: The creator of the video,
who has more than 150,000 followers,
identifies in her bio as a person
with ADHD-and that's what most
of her videos are about.
Florell's take: It's a good bet the
video was made by an influencer
who is getting paid to promote certain
products, he said.
" Anytime I hear the word 'unboxing,'
I'm thinking that there's a
sponsorship involved, " he said. " I'm
putting [the video] into the advertising
category. Anytime you see an
ad, you've got to know that they are
not necessarily expressing what's
best for you as the viewer. They are
hawking a particular item for sale. "
It's unlikely there's evidence to
back up her claims. " Supplements
are unregulated by the FDA, " Florell
said. " So even if there's some grain
of truth to the fact that some of these
may be helpful for certain mental
health conditions, there's probably
not been much research on it. "
This song will relieve anxiety
Video: An exuberant man wearing
scrubs and a stethoscope quotes research
saying that listening to a particular
song for just three months
could reduce anxiety as much as 65
percent-a similar level of effectiveness
to a class of anti-anxiety drugs
known as Benzodiazepines.
Source: The creator, who has over
600,000 followers, identifies himself
as an anesthesiologist.
Florell's take: The video feels
silly, but in this case TikTok may
be offering helpful-or at least not
particularly harmful-mental health
advice.
It's relatively easy to check the
man's claim that he's an anesthesiologist
with a quick Google search,
Florell said. (In fact, someone
matching the man's name and ap14
| EDUCATION WEEK | MAY 8, 2024 | www.edweek.org
cases an unrelated hobby, not medical
expertise.
Florell's take: The creator's message
is " actually great advice, " he
said. But it would be hard for a layperson
to know that.
Patients stopping their medication
because they feel better-without
letting their doctor know-is a
perennial problem in the mental
health field.
Even though the woman's point
is spot on, it would be hard to tell
from this video-or the additional
context in her bio-that she knows
what she's talking about. The video
is " not presented in a very professional
way, " Florell said, because it
is obviously meant to be humorous.
" I think it's giving the right message,
but I would have no way to
know that's the right message if I
wasn't a psychologist or someone
who works " in the mental health
field, Florell said.
Dan Florell
pearance works for a hospital affiliated
with a major university.)
While some TikTok creators with
real medical credentials may offer
advice outside their area of expertise,
an anesthesiologist must see
plenty of patients who are anxious
about surgery-so he's on firm
ground here. What's more, it's not
hard to find the real study referred
to in the video, which was conducted
by another major university
and does show that a certain song
has a significant calming effect on
listeners.
" The more people's statements
give you chances to check on
[them], the more legitimate [their
advice] likely is, " Florell said. But,
he cautioned, " people misinterpret
findings all the time. And you may
still have to find that article to make
sure " the claims are true.
Unlike taking supplements that
haven't been prescribed by a doctor,
there's not much potential downside
in listening to a song, Florell added.
" It's minimal risk, and possible
high benefits, " Florell said.
Don't stop taking your
medication without talking
to a doc
Video: A young woman (playing
herself) tells her doctor that her
mental health medication worked so
well that she felt great and stopped
taking it. The same woman then
plays her doctor giving a disapproving
double take.
Source: The creator, who has
nearly 20,000 followers on TikTok,
says she is a pharmacy student. The
website she links to in her bio showPeople
with ADHD don't miss
their friends when they aren't
around
Video: A man is talking straight to
camera about ADHD. He claims that
those who have the disorder don't miss
their friends when they aren't around
because they forget about them.
He says: " People with ADHD have
the ability that we do not miss anyone.
And it is object permanence
in a sense and time permanence,
that we are almost in a sense blind
to this, " he says. " It's how our brain
functions. ... They're not texting us.
... we forget about them. "
Source: The creator has more than
a million followers. A link to his
website identifies him as a mental
health advocate but does not list additional
professional credentials.
Florell's take: The advice in the
video is simply " not true, " Florell
said. For one thing, most people establish
object permanence-the understanding
that something doesn't
go away just because it isn't right
in front of you-in early childhood.
It's very rare not to have grasped
that concept, Florell said. " So, he's
using some buzzwords about psychology,
and then taking them to an
extreme, " Florell explained.
What's more, " if I was watching
[this video] and taking his word for
it, and I have a friend with ADHD,
I don't feel obligated to ever touch
base, because you know, they're
not going to miss me, " Florell said.
" Their feelings can't be hurt, right? "
But as a school psychologist who
has treated patients with the disorder,
" I've known a lot of ADHD individuals,
I know a lot who feel quite hurt by
being excluded, " Florell said.
It's unlikely the man in the video is
being intentionally misleading, Florell
added. Instead, he may be " relaying
his own experience, " Florell said.
What the man describes " may be true
of himself, but he is not representative
of the millions of people who have this
diagnosis, " Florell explained.
Is 'functional freeze' a real
thing?
Video: A woman sits on a couch
with a cheerless expression. Across
the screen it says: " Signs you're
stuck in a functional freeze: Procrastinating,
scrolling, or binge-watching
TV when you have free time
instead of doing the things you actually
want to do. Feeling emotionally
numb except for the 'internal
overwhelm.' Living life just going
through the motions but disconnected
from your body. ... Follow for
tips on how to shift out of this state. "
Source: The creator identifies
herself as a " burnout dietician "
and links to supplements and other
health information, as well as a hiking
retreat she's leading. She has
over 140,000 followers.
Florell's take: " Functional freeze "
isn't a medical diagnosis, Florell
said. And that's easy enough to
check by going to a reputable health
site like the Mayo Clinic. " You can
type in functional freeze [on that
site], you're not gonna get any results. "
That means whatever the
woman is offering to help the situation
is " probably not going to be
legitimate. "
The symptoms described in the
video sound more like depression,
Florell added. Many people with
depression are still able to go about
their daily lives, although they sleep
a lot in their free time and lack motivation,
he said.
Dubious claim that alcohol
cures autism
Video: This video is a " stitch " or
reaction to an earlier video. In the
first video, a young woman says,
" The cure to autism is an IV that
administers alcohol. " In the second
video, another woman says, " I have
autism and I can confirm this is true
because the second alcohol touches
my bloodstream, I become a neurotypical
person. "
Source: The creator of the first
video has more than 40,000 followers.
She does not give any professional
credentials. The second one
has more than 2,000 followers and
also, no professional credentials.
Florell's take: This is obviously
false, and easily fact-checked. " I
think that would be one you could
give a Google search real quick, " he
said. " And [you'd] probably figure
out is not true. "
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