I learned about it on TikTok: How staying up to date on social media trends and new technological advances can be valuable for treating mental health concerns in youth.

Dr. Jacquelin Esque

Jacquelin Esque, MD

photo: Jamie Manser

When it comes to staying informed in child psychiatry, keeping a pulse on new developments and trends in technology and social media may be key to understanding and treating your child and adolescent patients. Below we have highlighted a few recent updates in technology and social media related to child and adolescent mental health concerns.  

TikTok Challenges: Over the last several years, young people have gone to the hospital following participation in TikTok challenges that have led to substantial injuries. Examples include the “Benadryl Challenge” where participants use high doses of diphenhydramine to produce hallucinations or euphoria and the “Fire Challenge” which includes pouring flammable liquids on a surface or body and setting it on fire. When these cases present, it can be difficult to identify whether they should be classified as intentional self-harm/suicide attempts versus an unintentional injury and what the appropriate follow-up or disposition may be. It is important in all of these cases to complete a detailed safety assessment to understand potential risk factors for suicide including underlying depression, history of previous suicide attempts or self-harm, and any current suicidal ideation, intent, or plan. It is also notable that if the child or teen experiences a significant injury from the challenge or the experience of the challenge itself is traumatic, this can be another risk factor for suicide and places these patients at an even higher risk. It is recommended that we promote awareness of these challenges and provide routine psychoeducation to patients and families about safe social media use to help prevent these serious outcomes and complete thorough evaluations and safety assessments to determine appropriate disposition when these cases present in the medical setting. 

Gamified technological interventions as treatment for common mental health concerns: A recent systematic review and meta-analysis looked at the benefit of gamified digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) – which include activities on computers, tablets, video game consoles, and smart phones – for improving symptoms of ADHD, depression, and anxiety in children and adolescents. The researchers identified 27 randomized controlled trials which included 2,911 patients and found there was a benefit of gamified DMHIs for children with ADHD or depression. No significant impact on anxiety disorders were found. DMHIs for ADHD that were delivered on a computer and those RCTs that included larger populations of male participants had larger treatment effects. They also found that DMHIs that were targeted at depression and used preset time limits exhibited larger treatment effects as well. The authors suggest more research should be done in this area; although few adverse effects were reported in these studies, other data indicates concerns about negative effects of screen time for young people. Future studies should also look more specifically at concurrent medication and psychotherapy interventions to help elucidate whether DMHIs can be used alone or more as an add-on to other treatment options.  



Eating disorder content on TikTok: A 2023 qualitative study looked at themes, accuracy of information, and user engagement in 200 eating disorder related TikTok videos. The study found that pro-recovery content was the most prevalent theme of the videos reviewed, that pro-recovery content contained more accurate information compared to pro-eating disorder and anti-eating disorder domains, and they found no differences in user engagement between accurate and misleading content across all three domains. The authors concluded that although misleading and inaccurate content related to eating disorders exists, there is also evidence that TikTok allows sharing of videos that increase community awareness and promote positive stories of eating disorder recovery which may be helpful in engaging adolescent patients. 


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