TikTok and Mental Wellness: How an App Helped Me Find a Diagnosis

Is TikTok becoming a new vessel for raising awareness on mental wellness?

By: Olivia Kemp

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… I think TikTok may have helped me find a mental health diagnosis.

I, like many of you, have been in TikTok’s chokehold since quarantine began in 2020. I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit scrolling through my For You Page (FYP)—a curated collection of videos TikTok has created based on my activity on the app. The exciting thing about TikTok is that anyone can go viral, and oftentimes their target audience is reached because of the app’s curated FYP algorithm. It’s so easy to find a community based on your identity and interests—Cat-Tok, Crochet-Tok, Sourdough Starter-Tok, everything under the sun. Most recently, I’ve discovered the niche wormhole of AFAB-queer-undiagnosed-ADHD-Tok, and let’s just say the target audience has been reached. Like, really reached! Videos of women sharing their experiences on medication, doctors listing symptoms of ADHD that are often overlooked, and even organizational hacks started popping up on my FYP. I began to wonder, how did I go twenty years without this information? Are other people struggling with this, too?

TikTok gave me information about my brain and my mental health that I may have not have found otherwise, and it seems that many other Gen Zs on the app feel similarly. Is TikTok becoming a new vessel for spreading awareness on mental wellness?

Before I talk about how TikTok played a role in my diagnosis, I’ll briefly speak on my identity and mental health history. I am an AFAB person (assigned female at birth) and identified as a cis woman for most of my life, but I now identify as genderfluid. It’s very common for people who were raised female to go undiagnosed for mental disorders like ADHD because our symptoms often present themselves differently than people who were raised male. Growing up, I knew of ADHD but thought it was just a “boy thing” and only had to do with hyperactivity. This assumption came from harmful and sexist stereotypes surrounding neurodiversity and a lack of information about mental wellness. It seems that our generation hasn’t been fully equipped with the tools to manage our mental well-being. Many of us have turned to sources like TikTok to fill our mental health toolkit.

To gain more insight into Mental Wellness-Tok, I reached out to Instagram to see if my peers had similar experiences on the app. Out of the thirty TikTok users who responded, 100% of them had seen videos about mental health or mental disorders on their For You Pages. Additionally, 83% stated that these videos gave them insight into their mental health or led them to consider a diagnosis. I asked them to elaborate on their experiences, and these are some of their anonymous responses:

“I realized a lot of my ‘personality traits’ were actually symptoms of ADHD in women. I talked to my doctor and my therapist and now I have testing for a diagnosis in a couple of weeks!”

“[I] saw a lot of videos about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I had always believed the over-stigmatized idea that it was about numbers and cleaning. These videos led me to realize that there’s a lot more to it, and I went to a psychiatrist and was formally diagnosed with it.”

“I’ve gotten many insights about my own depression and anxiety by seeing other people portray their experiences with those conditions—whether it be feeling like they are going through it with me, or they’re giving advice on how to handle it, it’s all on my FYP.”

Since 100% of the users from my survey have seen these types of videos, it seems likely that other TikTok users are seeing similar content. In a time when we’ve been so physically separated, a lot of Gen Z has turned to online communities. TikTok has become a space where young people can openly communicate their struggles, fears, and experiences. A response from my survey touched on this: “I’ve started to feel like I’m not alone and others are going through the same things I am.” It can feel lonely to struggle on your own. In my experience, Mental Wellness-Tok has not only been extremely informative but has also made me feel seen. Validated. And isn’t that what we’re all searching for?

TikTok won’t replace psychiatry, but it has certainly created an important community that circulates information on mental wellness. And while psychiatry may not be accessible to all who require it, TikTok is a free app that is available to anyone with a smartphone. (Though it should be noted that the app is not a licensed medical professional who can give you an accurate and formal diagnosis; it’s only a mechanism for spreading information.) As someone who felt alone in their chaotic roller-coaster of a brain, receiving validation from creators on this app was almost as important to me as receiving my medical diagnosis.

If you are interested in finding out more about mental wellness on campus or around Minneapolis, a list of resources can be found below. I hope you can find a community of shared experiences and find ways to help your brain become a healthier and happier place.

On-Campus Resources:

General U of M mental health inquiries

Boynton’s mental health clinic

Aurora Center

Disability Resource Center (DRC)

Testing and treatment for ADHD

Student counseling services

BIPOC Mental Health Collective

Other Resources/Info:

Find a therapist in Minneapolis

Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC)

CHADD (Children and adults with ADHD)