Lots of clicks, little truth—misdiagnoses on TikTok

"ADHD is a superpower", "Narcissists don't love", "Autistic people have no sense of direction". Such statements reach millions of people on TikTok. A new study involving the University of Witten/Herdecke (UW/H) now shows: Only just under one in five videos analysed conveyed technically correct content. The majority were incorrect, contained false or oversimplified statements and many other videos merely described personal experiences.

For the study, the researchers analysed 177 German-language TikTok videos on ADHD, depression, autism, narcissism and post-traumatic stress disorder. The videos totalled more than 94 million views.

"We had expected to find problematic content," says Aaron Mroß, research associate at the Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy II at UW/H. "But we were surprised that so many videos spread false information." Concentration problems are quickly equated with ADHD on TikTok, for example, although they can have many causes.

Especially a lot of false content about narcissism on TikTok

Videos about narcissism scored the worst. Not a single one of the videos analysed was rated as correct. Much of the content generalised people with narcissistic personality disorder as cold, manipulative or incapable of relationships. "That doesn't do justice to those affected," says Mroß. "Many of these people have had difficult, stressful experiences themselves." Videos about post-traumatic stress disorder were much more reliable. Here, experts published content more frequently and the causes and symptoms were often easier to explain.

A lot of reach, little expertise

Only around 18 per cent of the videos analysed came from experts such as psychologists or doctors. Most of the content came from those affected or laypeople.

The researchers therefore warn against prematurely interpreting everyday or unspecific symptoms as self-diagnosed mental illnesses or disorders. At the same time, sharing on social media can help to make experiences visible and reduce stigma - as long as personal experiences are not presented as medical facts.

The authors' advice is therefore to critically scrutinise such information on social media and pay particular attention to who is producing the videos. Anyone who suspects that they are affected or needs support should turn to experts - such as psychotherapists or psychiatrists. Help centres include the appointment service centres of the health insurance companies, the Centre for Mental Health and Psychotherapy (ZPP) or, in acute cases, psychiatric clinics such as the Herdecke Community Hospital.

Further information:

In addition to Witten/Herdecke University, researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen, the LVR University Hospital Essen, Bielefeld University and Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan were involved in the study. The study was the result of an international collaboration between psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience.