Social media and its relationship with mood, self‐esteem and paranoia in psychosis

Abstract

ObjectiveAn evidence‐base is emerging indicating detrimental and beneficial effects of social media. Little is known about the impact of social media use on people who experience psychosis.MethodForty‐four participants with and without psychosis completed 1084 assessments of social media use, perceived social rank, mood, self‐esteem and paranoia over a 6‐day period using an experience sampling method (ESM).ResultsSocial media use predicted low mood, but did not predict self‐esteem and paranoia. Posting about feelings and venting on social media predicted low mood and self‐esteem and high paranoia, whilst posting about daily activities predicted increases in positive affect and self‐esteem and viewing social media newsfeeds predicted reductions in negative affect and paranoia. Perceptions of low social rank when using social media predicted low mood and self‐esteem and high paranoia. The impact of social media use did not differ between participants with and without psychosis; although, experiencing psychosis moderated the relationship between venting and negative affect. Social media use frequency was lower in people with psychosis.ConclusionFindings show the potential detrimental impact of social media use for people with and without psychosis. Despite few between‐group differences, overall negative psychological consequences highlight the need to consider use in clinical practice.

The digital revolution and its impact on mental health care

“…Researchers working in the field of social comparisons and psychopathology have proposed that perceived social rank is associated with mood and self‐esteem (Gilbert, ). Indeed, negative social comparisons on social media websites are associated with depression, low self‐esteem (Berry, Emsley, Lobban, & Bucci, ; de Vries & Kühne, ; de Vries, Möller, Wieringa, Eigenraam, & Hamelink, ; Feinstein et al ., ; Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal, ), paranoia (Berry, Emsley, et al ., ), and negative cognitive bias (Østergaard, ). It seems, then, that social media platforms, and the comparisons individuals make on these platforms, can hugely impact one's mental state.…”

Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice

“…• Studies show increased risk of exposure to harm, social isolation, depressive symptoms and bullying • Social comparison pressure and social isolation after being rejected on social media is a potential concern • More frequent visits and use of a larger number of social media platforms has been linked with greater depressive symptoms, anxiety and risk of suicide • Social media replaces in-person interactions and may contribute to greater loneliness and worsening of existing mental health symptoms (Andreassen et al 2016;Berry et al 2018;Best et al 2014;Feinstein et al 2013;Kross et al 2013;Lin et al 2016;Mittal et al 2007;Stiglic and Viner 2019;Twenge and Campbell 2018;Vannucci et al 2017;Woods and Scott 2016) 2) Facing hostile interactions…”

“…For individuals living with more severe mental illnesses, the effects of social media on psychiatric symptoms have received less attention. One study found that participation in chat rooms may contribute to worsening symptoms in young people with psychotic disorders (Mittal et al 2007), while another study of patients with psychosis found that social media use appeared to predict low mood (Berry et al 2018). These studies highlight a clear relationship between social media use and mental health that may not be present in general population studies (Orben and Przybylski 2019) and emphasize the need to explore how social media may contribute to symptom severity and whether protective factors may be identified to mitigate these risks.…”

Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Longitudinal Twitter Analysis (JANUARY-APRIL 2020)

“…However, the time-consuming and costly nature of survey development 5 and instrument validation make it difficult to draw real-time conclusions 6 , especially amidst rapidly evolving news cycles that shift pandemic related discourse. In the absence of survey data, social media represents a potentially valuable data source for studying emergent social issues, including the effect of those issues on behaviors and social mood 7 . Repeated tracking of social media data can provide a diachronic perspective on public morale and collective changes in sentiment, as participants voluntarily contribute to narratives, providing unprompted and diverse understandings of various issues [8][9][10] .…”

“…Numerous scholars have successfully used social media data to identify trends and nuances in public mood using a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. Some examples include comparing the happiness of users to their online social networks 11,12 , identifying detailed predictors of mood through social media feeds 7 , predicting cognitive distortions expressed among groups at-risk of mental health disorders 13 , tracking the emotions of social media users at high resolution 14,15 , and mapping negative affectivity among users with internalizing disorders 16 . Collectively, these studies demonstrate the feasibility and value of using sentiment analysis on social media data to study societal mood and well-being, as well as biomedical signals among social media users that can provide useful proxies for mental health 13,[17][18][19] .…”