Is social media pathologizing normal behavior?

While social media began as a way to help us stay connected with people we know, we can now easily connect with strangers like us across the globe. In the age of social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, it’s common for us to connect with “people like us” (from quite literally anywhere) and learn about new trends, receive unfiltered news, and get important information about things we care about. Among other things, this new wave of social media has created avenues for us to not only find people like us but also see ourselves in other people. One critical area that has been impacted is mental health and the use of anecdotal experiences to pathologize our own behaviors. In other words, when people (particularly children, adolescents, and young adults) are exposed to content that resonates with them, they become susceptible to internalizing the information and believe it to be true for themselves as well. This trend has been observed across many mental health problems, but has been especially observed in ADHD, which has led to an increase in self-diagnosed ADHD.

What Is ADHD Self-Diagnosis?

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder, which is characterized by a persistent pattern of inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity that interferes with our daily functioning (APA, nd). ADHD is often observed in childhood and persists into adulthood. Self-diagnosis is the process of an individual gathering information from various sources and using it to identify a medical condition within themselves. ADHD self-diagnosis is the process of seeing how well your behaviors or feelings fit the ADHD diagnostic criteria. This is done by searching the web, speaking with people you know have ADHD, or using social media platforms, like TikTok to support your diagnosis.

How has Social Media Affected ADHD and Self-Diagnosis?

Social media (in general) has been a key player in the subject of disseminating misinformation about health. In one systematic literature review of 57 studies, the authors found that social media was the largest spreader of health-related misinformation, particularly related to vaccines, viruses, fluoride, cancer, and smoking (Wang et al., 2019). When considering social media and its role in self-diagnosis of ADHD, there are many things that facilitate this. Social media apps like TikTok have fast algorithms that can expose users to large amounts of curated information within a short amount of time. This creates awareness of issues, like ADHD, and the more someone interacts with the content, the more they are exposed to similar content. Users may also find it difficult to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate information because of how personalized their content is.

Why is self-diagnosis dangerous?

Medical diagnoses should only be completed by a qualified medical professional. Self-diagnosis is dangerous as it can cause harm by delaying adequate care or resulting in inappropriate management skills. Further, the information people use for self-diagnosis is often biased, inaccurate, unreliable, or anecdotal (based on one individual’s personal experience). In one study, researchers reviewed ADHD-related videos on Tiktok and found that over half of the videos (52%) has misleading information about ADHD, another 27% of videos spoke personal/individualistic experiences, and only about 21% had useful information related to ADHD (Yeung, Ng, & Abi-Jaoude, 2022). Similarly, another study found that less than half of the ADHD-related videos on TikTok accurately reflected clinical guidelines and diagnostic criteria. Instead, many of the videos lacked nuance, romanticized symptoms of ADHD, which has led to many young users misinterpreting normal behaviors as symptoms of ADHD (Karasavva et al., 2025).

Why Do People Self-Diagnose ADHD?

There are many reasons why someone would self-diagnose ADHD or any other health disorder. These reasons can be either internal or external. Internal factors can include validation and liberation. It can be validating and can facilitate bonding to see people like us go through similar struggles. On the other hand, it can feel liberating to be able to attach a label or diagnosis to things we are struggling with. External factors can include things like access and medical mistrust. Information, evaluations, and treatment for ADHD can be expensive and difficult for people to access. Further, in many communities, medical mistrust may lead to people seeking alternative avenues to care because they either don’t trust the information shared with them by providers or feel that their providers don’t take their concerns seriously.

How to Get Adequate Information

It can be tricky to balance the information we receive from social media with our symptoms while getting adequate medical information. However, some things can make it easier.

Finding information on TikTok or social media that resonates with you doesn’t mean you have (or don’t have) ADHD. Use the information you find online as a starting point and bring it to your provider.
If you don’t have a health provider, look into establishing a relationship with a primary care doctor or therapist (if applicable).
Share your concerns and symptoms with your provider and ask as many questions as you need to feel secure.
If your provider isn’t making you feel heard or if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your concerns with your provider, it’s always okay to seek a second opinion.
If you are doing your own searching for information, make sure to only use reputable sources such as the American Psychological Association (APA) or peer reviewed journal articles.

Takeaways

In the age of social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, it’s common for us to connect with “people like us” and learn about new trends, receive unfiltered news, and get important information about things we care about.
When people (particularly children, adolescents, and young adults) are exposed to content that resonates with them, they become susceptible to internalizing the information and believe it to be true for themselves as well.
Social media apps like TikTok have fast algorithms that can expose users to large amounts of curated information within a short amount of time.
Self-diagnosis is dangerous as it can cause harm by delaying adequate care or resulting in inappropriate management skills.
To balance the information we receive from social media, you can use the information you find online as a starting point and bring it to your provider, share your concerns and symptoms with your provider, get a second opinion, and use reputable sources.

References:

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/adhd
Wang, Y., McKee, M., Torbica, A., & Stuckler, D. (2019). Systematic literature review on the spread of health-related misinformation on social media. Social science & medicine, 240, 112552.
Karasavva, V., Miller, C., Groves, N., Montiel, A., Canu, W., & Mikami, A. (2025). A double-edged hashtag: Evaluation of# ADHD-related TikTok content and its associations with perceptions of ADHD. PloS one, 20(3), e0319335.
Yeung, A., Ng, E., & Abi-Jaoude, E. (2022). TikTok and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a cross-sectional study of social media content quality. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 67(12), 899-906.

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This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.

While our offices are currently located at the South Loop neighborhood of Downtown Chicago, Illinois, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more. You can visit our contact page to access detailed information on our office location.