Leveraging Digital Media to Promote Youth Mental Health: Flipping the Script on Social Media-Related Risk

This article reviews research exploring the ways that digital media, particularly social media, can be used to prevent negative mental health outcomes and promote youth mental health and well-being.Recent findingsResearch indicates that media can be protective against mental health problems and promote mental health by enabling social support and destigmatizing mental illness, especially for youth with limited resources. Media also can be leveraged to identify those at risk, to educate, provide resources, and promote well-being, and to track symptoms and intervene to prevent or mitigate negative mental health outcomes. There is limited research on interventions designed to reduce the negative effects of digital media on mental health, especially those that harness media itself, a critical area of future research.SummaryThis article provides a summary of the current evidence on this topic, highlights key directions for future research, and provides evidence-based recommendations for adolescents, families, educators, clinicians, industry, and policy-makers to prevent mental health problems related to media.
Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research