Is TikTok creating a mental health epidemic?

Captions such as “signs you have depression,” now flood TikTok feeds as part of a popular trend where users claim widely felt emotions are indications of serious mental disorders. This trend is part of what has come to be recognized as a “TikTok mental illness epidemic.”

In Gen Z’s attempt to destigmatize mental health issues, they have instead glamorized and hyper-normalized mental illness to the point of being trendy.

The rising popularity of mental illness on social media has encouraged people to label their sadness as depression and temporary stress as anxiety, subsequently leading to a record high in self-diagnosis.

– Maya Kaplan, 360 Media, Inc.