Instagram como Plataforma para la Salud Mental: evolución de las estrategias de publicación y compromiso

Mental health has become increasingly important on social and academic agendas due to the rise of psychological disorders. This study presents an automated analysis of mental health posts on Instagram between 2019 and 2024, exploring how Instagram has evolved into a key space for the visibility and discussion of mental health-related content. Aspects such as formats, text length, use of hashtags and interactions generated are examined. The results reveal an exponential growth of posts on mental health, with a significant increase in text length, especially in posts with videos. Images are the preferred format as they generate higher levels of interactions and support more extensive narrative in their posts. Interactions through comments, which require more cognitive effort, have decreased in recent years, especially in video formats, suggesting a possible decrease in deep conversations. Finally, hashtags describing a specific disease are associated with higher levels of interaction, generally outperforming more generic tags; except for 2024, when generic tags appear with significant reach. This study underlines the relevance of Instagram as a tool to make sensitive topics visible and promote meaningful discussions around mental health, providing information that allows optimising digital communication strategies aimed at promoting psychological wellbeing.