Abstract

Both mental illness and various disorders are being heavily romanticized by three-minute videos on TikTok. It seems odd for mental health of all things to be viewed in an idealized setting, but recent data shows that adolescents are desperately searching for a community in which to belong and gain attention, leading some to a self-induced obsession with having a mental disorder or illness. This has caused the erasure of dark history and traumatic events for many actual victims in place of pretty filters and glamorized facts. Addressing how social media platforms handle mental health and the ways in which some users get exploited can help form a better understanding of the desperation for mental health complications and discover ways to stop toxic pathophilia.