What is it about?
This article reviewed the current available research evidence for the effects on stigma of coming across social media feeds, in which social media users publicly shared personal experiences of mental illness. Findings suggest that seeing such social media feeds may help reduce stigma toward individuals with mental illness. They also suggest that the stigma reduction effects might vary according to the person who shares the feed, the relationship between this person and the individual seeing the feed, and the content and format of the feed. Findings have implications for the design of mental health promotion messages.
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Why is it important?
Quite a few existing studies point to the potential of public mental illness disclosure on social media to challenge stigma and imply some of the underlying factors contributing to variations in the antistigma effects. However, despite increasing interest in this field, the evidence for the antistigma effects is scattered across multiple disciplines and is often incorporated into a larger scale analysis of social media audience responses to public disclosures of mental illness, in which stigma is just one measure among many. Therefore, there is a clear need to systematically synthesize research evidence regarding public mental illness disclosure on social media and its effects on stigma. The aim of the current systematic review is to evaluate the effects on stigma of online disclosure of mental illness and explore how any antistigma effects vary according to differences in the messaging process.
Perspectives
I am really honored to accomplish this paper under the supervision of my PhD supervisors and together with contributions from my friend Alex. This is my first ever first-author paper. It was not easy (at least for me personally) to jungle through those studies with diverse research designs and especially to find the balance when reporting the results in align with the core research questions of this particular review study. I hope people can come to share the excitement and joy of having my (or their) first first-author paper published. If possible, I hope this paper can provoke some discussions around social media and its interplay with mental health more broadly.
Zhongjie Zhang
University of Melbourne
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Public mental illness disclosure on social media and the effects on stigma toward people with mental illness: A systematic review., Stigma and Health, May 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/sah0000531.
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