2023-08-20 11:41:45
While Youtube has announced that it will remove videos spreading false health information, doctor of psychopathology and psychotherapist Hélène Romano warns of the excesses of self-diagnosis on social networks.
Because of some mental health content on social media, “we arrive at extremely complicated self-diagnoses, especially since they are not followed by treatment”, explains Hélène Romano, doctor in psychopathology and psychotherapist, on franceinfo Sunday August 20. The YouTube platform announced on August 15 that it would remove all videos that spread false health information in the coming weeks.
franceinfo: What do you think of this YouTube initiative to fight once morest medical misinformation?
Helene Romano: It was regarding time, because there are still a very large number of platforms that have been spreading this type of disinformation for months, which really exploded during the pandemic. So far nothing has been done, so it’s really very important. It should also be possible to do this on other platforms. I am thinking of TikTok or other platforms that are very popular with young people, who are particularly a target audience there.
Finally, the creators of disinformation content will still be able to find other hosts? Isn’t that wishful thinking?
No, I think it’s important that the authorities already disagree with this type of support. Transgression is part of the medium used by some of the people who communicate on these networks, but educating young people, educating parents, educating professionals, for example in the school environment, to be able to convey to young people that there are other means of being informed, it is important. There is a very strong feeling of insecurity at the moment and the networks make it possible to speak without being too ashamed or feeling too guilty, in particular regarding mental health problems.
“A lot of young people go on social networks on these issues: eating disorders, taboo subjects that are difficult to talk regarding, especially given the lack of professionals.”
Helene Romanoat franceinfo
We have an illusion of a temporary bandage compared to the anxiety left by the absence of professionals. Hence the importance, for the authorities, of explaining that there is good information, of providing reliable sites because there are very reliable sites that provide information.
On TikTok, the tag ADHD (attention deficit disorder with/without hyperactivity) reaches three billion views. Speech is freed up, but this increases the risk of misdiagnosis and self-medication…
Yes, and it is all the more so since the systems of these networks work with algorithms. We also have major fashions linked to the series, we can clearly see this in the consultations. People arrive with a diagnosis that they have made because they have done initial research. And then the algorithm of their computer, of their telephone, sent them to another, to another, to another, to another… Which means that it participates in truly constructing a representation that is completely biased by to their own research.
It’s the whole system that skews this and it leads to convictions and certainties. On the Internet, they have the impression of being less alone, of being part of a group they belong to, whereas the context is very insecure. A symptom is not a diagnosis and a diagnosis is not a prognosis. If the young person thinks that he has hyperactivity disorders or that he is HPI (high intellectual potential), it is imperative that he goes to see a professional. It can be a doorway, but it certainly doesn’t have to be a door that closes.
Is it difficult for health professionals to occupy the space of social networks?
It is extremely complicated, but some do it in remarkable ways. There are sites that are extremely well done by professionals, but the issue is also all the sites that are derivative or that are made by people who talk regarding their disease. It is not because a YouTuber or someone known will talk regarding his pathology that we have the same.
“We have a lot of psychically fragile people who will appropriate the story of one or the other.”
Helene Romanoat franceinfo
We arrive at extremely complicated self-diagnoses, especially since they are not followed by treatment. They do their labelling, then they treat themselves with garlic, apples or whatever. Medication requires seeing professionals, doctors. And there, young and old will not go. Staying on the virtual with illusions and very easy answers to extremely complicated questions poses a problem and requires education.
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