Dissociative Identity Disorder on TikTok

What is it about?

This study examined the community that has coalesced around dissociative identity disorder (DID) on TikTok through a descriptive analysis of 325 user signatures. It identified three themes to capture the overall composition of this social media space: (a) Describing DID (with System Architectures, Diagnostic Authenticity, and Being Plural as subthemes), (b) Establishing Boundaries, and (c) Labeling Intersecting Identities. By mapping the contours of the community this study centers the creative identity work that individuals within this community appear to undertake in relation to the diagnosis or experience of DID.

Featured Image

Photo by Gilles Lambert on Unsplash

Photo by Gilles Lambert on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Although there has been speculation about TikTok contributing to a rise in individuals seeking help for dissociative identity disorder (DID), little is actually known about the DID TikTok community. The study offers insights into what that community looks like and the ways individuals express their illness and identity within it. Additionally, it forwards a novel methodology that blends qualitative codebook thematic analysis and quantitative content analysis. This method can help researchers scale qualitative analysis to grapple with large social media datasets and facilitate further exploration of other emergent or underexplored social media communities.