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Blogging and Social Media for Mental Health Education and Advocacy: a Review for Psychiatrists

  • Psychiatry in the Digital Age (JS Luo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Psychiatry Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We live in a digital age where information can be found instantaneously via the Internet. Studies have shown that consumers search for much of their medical information on the Internet, particularly utilizing blogs and social media platforms. As the mental health field is riddled with misinformation and stigma, this offers a unique opportunity for psychiatrists and mental health professionals to reach a broad audience for mental health education and advocacy. In this review, we discuss the various methods and techniques for blogging and social media. We then review the current recommendations for ethics and professionalism as well as make recommendations to strengthen our guidance in this new and evolving field.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

Conflict of Interest

Holly S. Peek, Misty Richards, Owen Muir, Michael Caton, and Carlene MacMillan declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Steven Richard Chan reports personal fees from iMedicalApps.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Yawkey 6A, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Holly S. Peek

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, C8-193, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Misty Richards

  3. NYU School of Medicine and Hofstra-North Shore/LIJ School of Medicine, 154 N 9th Street Rear House, Brooklyn, NY, 11249, USA

    Owen Muir

  4. School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Steven Richard Chan & Michael Caton

  5. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Study Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, Manhattan Office: One Park Avenue 7th Floor I, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Carlene MacMillan

Authors
  1. Holly S. Peek
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  2. Misty Richards
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  3. Owen Muir
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  4. Steven Richard Chan
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  5. Michael Caton
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  6. Carlene MacMillan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Holly S. Peek.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psychiatry in the Digital Age

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Peek, H.S., Richards, M., Muir, O. et al. Blogging and Social Media for Mental Health Education and Advocacy: a Review for Psychiatrists. Curr Psychiatry Rep 17, 88 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0629-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0629-2

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