Which Came First: Increase in Mental Health Conditions or Increase in Mental Health Awareness?

By Heartscape Psychology Intern, Valeree Soh

Hmm.. Have you ever heard your friends say things along the lines of “I think I’m depressed,” or “I cannot stand everything being so messy… I think I have OCD”? In fact, most of us are probably guilty of having thrown out statements like these before. It makes one wonder: Where do we draw the line between raising awareness for mental health conditions and (perhaps incorrectly) diagnosing ourselves with a mental health disorder?

With the availability of technology and the Internet, keying our queries (worries) into a search engine becomes effortless. We often Google our health symptoms in attempts to get to the root of why we are feeling unwell. This of course can lead us down the rabbit hole of obscure health conditions that are rare and far between. Nonetheless, our incorrect self-diagnosis paves the way for severe health anxiety (Starcevic, 2023). This phenomenon is called “Cyberchondria”, and it could possibly disrupt one’s relationship with their physician, preventing them from seeking and receiving care in a healthy manner (Starcevic, 2023). With physical illnesses and disorders, the diagnosis is more objective. There is this symptom, and it could be caused by this or that. However, with mental health challenges, “objective” becomes “subjective”. Everyone interprets their feelings differently, and this subsequently influences their opinion on their mental state. For instance, feeling down may be a criteria for diagnosing clinical depression, but since everyone interprets “feeling down” differently, some may overinterpret their distress and label themselves as having depression when they do not.  

Today, we want to bring your attention to a phenomenon known as “prevalence inflation”. Over the last decade or so, people have recognised the urgency to raise awareness about mental health issues and their effects on individuals. This was aimed at preventing these conditions from occurring, and to encourage kindness since you never know when someone might be experiencing these conditions. Yet in a paradoxical manner, the observation has been that there is an increase in the reported rates of mental health conditions. This is what researchers have termed “prevalence inflation”, whereby some individuals tend to interpret milder forms of distress as a mental health condition (Foulkes & Andrews, 2023). Foulkes & Andrews (2023) proposes that this could lead to them facing a real increase in symptoms, in a way that is self-fulfilling. 

*Disclaimer: We believe that there are many individuals experiencing stressors in their life and we do not mean to diminish their feelings and experiences. The reported rates of mental health conditions have certainly increased over the years, and we are not prescribing this to prevalence inflation alone. If you are having trouble with managing your thoughts and emotions and would like to be supported in a professional manner, do reach out to us today. 

Especially with social media in the picture, prevalence inflation might be kicked up a notch. It is not uncommon to see people open up about their struggles with mental health online, whether celebrities or regular social media users. On TikTok, search terms like “depression”, “anxiety”, or “trauma” yields both helpful tips on managing symptoms (from both personal and professional perspectives), as well as questionable content such as posting about self-harming behaviours (Dyson et al., 2016). All these may subtly influence one’s idea of mental illness, resulting in wrong interpretations of their own mental states if they consume the content without practising proper discernment. 

With algorithms working overtime to curate content based on user preferences, it tends to be difficult to control what people view on social media platforms. In fact, this pushes users into an echochamber of similar viewpoints and ideas (Gao et al., 2023), reducing their ability to escape the bubble that the platform has put them in. Gao et al. (2023) found that members of echochambers portray themselves in order to attract the attention of their peers. This, alongside potential misinformation, perpetuates a harmful combination which may negatively impact mental health. We may trap ourselves in these labels we attach to our experiences, and inadvertently prolong the misery we feel if we are not careful. The impact of constantly being exposed to mental health content is tremendous. 

So what can we do about it? First and foremost, there needs to be an understanding that you are not defined by these labels! You are more than your diagnosis, or the symptoms you are experiencing. Let’s not entrap ourselves in these labels. Furthermore, there should be an emphasis that negative feelings are not always a sign of mental illness. Life is full of ups and downs, and the downs are not forever. More should be done to teach individuals, especially the younger generation, to identify and manage distressing emotions appropriately.

Of course, none of this can be done without proper education on mental health conditions, as well as mental health as a whole. There must be a greater emphasis placed on these issues. Simultaneously, there is also a need for people to learn to look out for one another and to be each other’s keeper. Let’s be mindful of what we post and consume on social media!

References

Dyson, M. P., Hartling, L., Shulhan, J., Chisholm, A., Milne, A., Sundar, P., Scott, S. D., & Newton, A. S. (2016). A Systematic Review of Social Media Use to Discuss and View Deliberate Self-Harm Acts. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0155813. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155813

Foulkes, L., & Andrews, J. L. (2023). Are mental health awareness efforts contributing to the rise in reported mental health problems? A call to test the prevalence inflation hypothesis. New Ideas in Psychology, 69, 101010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2023.101010

Gao, Y., Liu, F., & Gao, L. (2023). Echo chamber effects on short video platforms. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 6282. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33370-1

Starcevic, V. (2023). Keeping Dr. Google under control: How to prevent and manage cyberchondria. World Psychiatry, 22(2), 233–234. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21076