Swipe to diagnose: College students, social media, and the stigma of self-diagnosis

Self-diagnosis and self-labeling have become increasingly common as mental health content circulates on social media. College students, frequent users of social media, encounter mental health-related diagnostic language in everyday feeds, yet little is known about how they interpret and engage with this material. This paper draws largely on semi-structured interviews with 25 undergraduates, examining how students encounter self-diagnostic mental health content, how they interpret the legitimacy of self-diagnosis, and how these practices shape their views of professional care. While participants reported frequent exposure to diagnostic content on social media, they expressed skepticism about its accuracy, citing bias, misinformation, and the threat of undermining professional diagnoses. Most notably, students were reluctant to apply the label “self-diagnosed” to themselves, even when they identified with conditions that were not formally assessed. Instead, they distinguished between private identification and public labeling. Participants also acknowledged the potential benefits of self-diagnosis, particularly for those with limited access to care. These findings highlight that “self-diagnosed” carries stigma as a social label, even as the underlying practices of researching symptoms and identifying with conditions may occur privately. The legitimacy of self-diagnosis is contested and shaped by concerns about diagnostic authority, stigma, and unequal access to health care. • Self-diagnosis among college students is common but the label “self-diagnosed” carries stigma. • Students distinguish between private identification and public diagnostic claims. • Self-diagnosis is seen as valid only when professional care is inaccessible.