Depression presentations, stigma, and mental health literacy: A critical review and YouTube content analysis. (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Devendorf, Andrew; Bender, Ansley; Rottenberg, Jonathan
• Is Part Of: Clinical psychology review. Volume 78(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: Depression -- Public framing -- YouTube -- Content analysis -- Stigma -- Illness beliefs; Clinical psychology -- Periodicals; Psychology, Pathological -- Periodicals; Psychotherapy -- Periodicals; Psychology, Clinical -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101843
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0272-7358

Abstract

Abstract: We review knowledge concerning public presentations for depression. These presentations impact illness beliefs and may influence public stigma, self-stigma, and depression literacy. We provide a critical review of messages, images, and information concerning depression's causes, continuum conceptualization, timeline, curability, coping/treatment regimen, and strengths. To provide data regarding the prevalence of particular presentations, we conducted a content analysis of 327 videos about depression representative of material on the YouTube social media platform. YouTube presentations of depression indicate that depression: 1) is caused by either biological (49.5%) or environmental (41.3%) factors; 2) is a categorical construct (71%); 3) is treatable, with 61% of relevant videos ( n = 249) presenting recovery as "likely"; 4) is chronic, found in 76% of videos mentioning timeline; 5) is recurrent (32.5%); 6) is mostly treated via medication (47.4%) or therapy (42.8%), although diet/exercise (28.4%) and alternative treatments (22.6%) are commonly endorsed; and 7) is rarely associated with strength (15.3%). Nearly one-third of videos were uploaded by non-professional vloggers, while just 9% were uploaded by mental health organizations. We discuss how these presentations may influence stigmatizing attitudes and depression literacy among people with and without depression and suggest future research directions to better understand how to optimize public presentations. Highlights: Public presentations for mental disorders, like depression, are understudied. Public presentations influence illness beliefs, stigma, and mental health literacy. YouTube presents depression as biological/environmental, categorical, and chronic. Public presentations have unintended consequences and should be critically discussed. We outline next steps to prompt the study of public presentations for depression.