Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 21, 2025
Date Accepted: Jul 25, 2025
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 14, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Self-Harm and Suicide-Related Content on TikTok: A Thematic Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Social media platforms such as TikTok may be powerful vectors for transmission of both harmful and helpful self-harm and suicide-related content; however, this has not been rigorously studied.
Objective:
This study aims to identify and understand the themes and overall characteristics of videos related to self-harm and suicide on TikTok.
Methods:
A snowball sampling procedure was used to identify the 10 most-viewed TikTok hashtags related to self-harm and suicide and then identified the most viewed English-language videos up to June 2023. An inductive coding reliability approach to thematic analysis was iteratively applied by two independent coders to identify and analyze common themes within the videos.
Results:
In total, 188 videos were included in the thematic analysis. Five main themes and two subthemes were identified: Emotional distress; Hope and recovery-based messaging; Grief and memorialization of those who died by suicide; Social functions associated with self-harm/suicide-related content (subthemes: Gallows humour and sarcasm; Glamorization of self-harm/suicide-related behaviour); and Shame and guilt associated with self-harm/suicide-related behaviour.
Conclusions:
Self-harm and suicide-related content on TikTok was diverse, encompassing both potentially harmful (e.g., normalization of self-harm behavior) and helpful (e.g., recovery-focused messaging) characteristics. A multifaceted and collaborative approach is therefore needed to address the risks of potentially harmful content while leveraging the positive characteristics to promote the safety and wellness of TikTok users.
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Copyright
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