Social Media the Healing Potential: Exploring its Role in Treating Depression Symptom

Summary: According to a recent study, receiving therapy for problematic social media use can help persons with depression feel better mentally.

It’s usage interventions may be able to assist adults whose use of social media has become problematic or adversely affects their mental health, according to research published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Source:  University College London

Problematic use cases of Social Media

Problematic use occurs when a person’s obsession with it diverts them from important duties and causes them to overlook obligations in other areas of their life.

Prior studies have indicated that social media use may become problematic when it begins to negatively impact a person’s everyday life and results in mental health problems like sadness, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.

Researchers have created and assessed it’s use in therapies to address these problems and enhance users’ mental health. These strategies include avoiding or using social platforms in moderation, as well as therapy-based strategies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Between 2004 and 2022, the researchers examined 23 studies with people from all over the world. They discovered that social media use interventions enhanced mental health in 39% of the investigations, which is more than in any other study.

Improvements were especially noticeable in depression (poor mood), as 70% of studies reported that depression significantly improved after the intervention.

The majority of research (83%) found improvements in mental wellness with therapy-based interventions, while only 20% and 25%, respectively, found improvements with limited or no social media use.

More uses of Social Media

The number of people using social media and mental health difficulties are both on the rise, according to the lead author, the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health’s Dr. Ruth Plackett.

It is important for health and care workers to understand that cutting back on platforms use is unlikely to have a significant impact on mental health by itself.

Instead, adopting a more therapeutic approach, focusing on how and why we use Online platforms, and controlling those behaviors may assist in enhancing mental health.

Dr. Patricia Schartau, a GP and study author from the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health, added: In order to give patients who present with anxiety and/or low mood the chance to benefit from treatment, including some of the more effective interventions described in our review, primary care physicians should proactively investigate social media use and its effects on mental health in those patients.

4.59 billion people worldwide are expected to use social media in 2022, and the websites have significantly altered how people interact with one another, create connections, and view one another.

Social Media to promote support

While some studies claim that social media can benefit users and promote support, other research ties social platforms with psychological problems like despair and anxiety.

The researchers are hoping that by sharing their findings, legislators, physicians, and others would be better able to handle problematic social media use.

To find out who would profit most from it’s use interventions, more study is necessary.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Schools Mental Health Programme has awarded Dr. Plackett a Fellowship (grant number MH013). “In addition, the NIHR ARC North Thames has funded this study as an independent research endeavor. It’s important to clarify that the opinions presented by the authors in this study do not necessarily align with those held by NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.”

Study restrictions

The quality of current experimental research is poor, and problems with selection bias make it challenging to generalize the results.

To find out who would profit most from it’s use interventions, more experimental and longitudinal research using representative samples is required.