Online Neurodivergence Ecosystems

"For Teen Girls, Rare Psychiatric Disorders Spread Like Viruses on Social Media

Researchers argue that a massive sudden spread of unusual psychiatric problems follows the pattern of “psychosomatic social contagion.”"

https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/11...-social-media/

Quote:

TikTok’s “sick-role subculture” leads to children taking on the characteristics of rare psychiatric diagnoses, according to an article in Comprehensive Psychiatry. Kids—especially teenage girls—are presenting with self-described Tourette’s, eating disorders, autism, and dissociative identity disorder (DID)—but suddenly, and in a way that doesn’t match how these diagnoses have previously been identified.

Quote:

“There has been a recognition of vast online ‘neurodivergence’ ecosystem in which classical mental illness symptoms and diagnoses are viewed less as mental health concerns that require professional attention, but rather as consumer identities or character traits that make individuals sharper and more interesting than others around them,” the researchers write.

I've come across DID groups online that reaffirm the poster's (self- or otherwise) diagnosis. I've also seen three people self-diagnose ADHD, though they have had some contact with psychologists, just not official final diagnoses.

Has anyone else noticed a trend towards self-diagnosis and a drift contrary to the stigma formerly associated with mental illness?

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/OCUH3YS