The Use of Therapy-Speak Throughout Tik Tok: Accuracy of Information and Sentiment

Through the increasing popularity of social media platforms coupled with a lack of qualified mental health service providers, a new concept arises: therapy-speak. Since many people do not, or are unable to, discuss topics surrounding mental health with a professional, many users are now posing questions about mental health to the broader, unqualified public. In this paper I posit that therapy-speak can have both positive and negative effects on social media users depending on how these terms are employed. In section II, Literature Review, I prove this statement by analyzing the effects of using therapy-speak incorrectly and explore the effects of using it properly. I further examine the use of therapy-speak throughout Tik Tok when employed by mental health professionals in the last segment of the literature review. In section III, I detail the methodology implemented throughout this study, which includes both a content and sentiment analysis, as further described in sections III(A)(1) and III(A)(2), respectively. I also discuss the limitations to the study, in section III(B), with the primary obstacles consisting of human bias and algorithmic preferences. After presenting the findings of this study, in section III(C), the Discussions and Interpretations section (III(D)), details the significance of these findings. Finally in section IV, I conclude that there is a disconcerting amount of misinformation and misrepresentation of therapy-speak terms throughout Tik Tok, which, connecting back to the literature review, has the potential to harm Tik Tok user