Previously submitted to: JMIR Mental Health (no longer under consideration since Dec 11, 2023)
Date Submitted: Dec 10, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 10, 2023 - Dec 11, 2023
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Making sense of PTSD on TikTok
ABSTRACT
Background:
The conflation of social media and mental health offers itself for analyses and interrogation not only around the discussions on platforms, but equally where we might ask how and if such narratives might be shaped by the medium itself. Existing scholarship on the relationship between social media and mental health has privileged platforms like Twitter and YouTube, but given the exponential growth it has witnessed, TikTok remains under-researched.
Objective:
This paper narrows the analytic gaze to pursue how a video-based social media platform like TikTok is viewed when it comes to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Might TikTok serve to raise awareness and enable the sharing of personal experiences? Or do the narratives it engenders run the risk of obfuscating professional help? It is in asking these questions that our research stands to make an original contribution.
Methods:
From public profiles on TikTok we extracted and analysed 1000 user-generated videos on the hashtag #PTSD created between the months of June 2022 and May 2023. We then deployed machine learning (ML) models hosted to analyse inputs to detect objects, images, and text and decipher emotions associated with them.
Results:
Our analysis reveals four prominent themes that the #PTSD dataset of TikTok videos were structured around: mental health tips, personal stories, education and awareness and support and empowerment. In addition,we identified the emotions carried by the videos, including happiness, fear and solitude.
Conclusions:
The research provides valuable insights on how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is discussed and addressed on TikTok, and therefore how such narratives might be understood. Future research could further explore the impact of TikTok content on mental health outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches in promoting mental well-being and reducing stigma surrounding PTSD.
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