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We analysed 14 million Reddit posts to reveal a striking shift in how we talk about mental health

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · · 817 words · By Jemima Kang; Mike Conway; Nick Haslam
Neurodivergence vs. Mood Disorders Social Media Influence on Mental Health Medical Misinformation
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What to know about Neurodivergence vs. Mood Disorders

Researchers analyzed over 14 million Reddit posts from 2015 to 2022 to track shifts in mental health discussions. The study found a transition in prominence from mood and anxiety disorders toward neurodivergent conditions like ADHD and autism, noting both the potential for better self-awareness and the risk of misdiagnosis.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 8
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left20%
Center60%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

More people are relying on social media – such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Reddit – to learn about mental health conditions and to interact with people who have shared experiences.

Why it matters

These aren’t only long-familiar disorders such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.

Common ground

They also include conditions often placed under the “neurodivergent” umbrella such as autism, ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), Tourette syndrome and dyslexia.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Researchers analyzed over 14 million Reddit posts from 2015 to 2022 to track shifts in mental health discussions. The study found a transition in prominence from mood and anxiety disorders toward neurodivergent conditions like ADHD and autism, noting both the potential for better self-awareness and the risk of misdiagnosis.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/we-analysed-14-million-reddit-posts-to-reveal-a-stri…

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 60% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 3
verified Verified By Reference 3
check_circle Corroborated 2
info
Claim 1: “In 2015, depression and anxiety were prominent mental health communities on Reddit”
SINGLE SOURCE
While evidence mentions research using Reddit to study depression and anxiety, none of the provided sources specifically confirm that these were the 'prominent' communities specifically in the year 2015.
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web search NEUTRAL — The objective of this review is to understand the scope and nature of research using Reddit as a primary data source for studying depression and anxiety.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8663609/
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web search NEUTRAL — Sadness emerged as the most prevalent emotion among overlapping users in the r/Depression community. In addition, physical activity changes, negative self-view, ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/org/science/article/pii/S14388…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 8, 2025 · The percent of young adults reporting poor mental health has nearly doubled in the past decade in the US is 17.8%. 65+ have the highest rates ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1j6efk3/th…
info
Claim 2: “The 14 communities we studied included those related to mood, anxiety, trauma, personality, dissociation and psychosis, as well as those focused on conditions often placed under the “neurodivergent” umbrella, such as autism, ADHD, Tourette syndrome and dyslexia”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided for this claim consists of irrelevant links to Study.com and does not mention the 14 specific communities studied.
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web search NEUTRAL — Take online courses on Study.com that are fun and engaging. Pass exams to earn real college credit. Research schools and degrees to further your education.
https://study.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Need a Study.com Account? Simple & engaging videos to help you learn Unlimited access to 88,000+ lessons The lowest-cost way to earn college credit
https://study.com/academy/login.html
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web search NEUTRAL — Master any subject with Studley AI. Trusted by more than 2,000,000 top students. Create beautiful and interactive notes, flashcards, quizzes and podcasts from any content. Study smarter, not harder.
https://www.studley.ai/
info
Claim 3: “in 2022, ADHD and autism communities had become most popular and prominent, displacing depression and anxiety”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence mentions datasets covering various mental health conditions (including ADHD and Autism), but does not provide a comparative analysis stating that these communities displaced depression and anxiety in popularity by 2022.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivit…
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web search NEUTRAL — Nov 5, 2025 · The dataset encompasses six mental health conditions, such as Anxiety, Autism, and Depression, and a control group. CARMA surpasses existing ...
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.03102v1
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web search NEUTRAL — Oct 1, 2025 · We found a substantial decrease in the association of PMDD with depression and anxiety, evident both in general cross-community activity trends ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12488957/
verified
Claim 4: “we analysed more than 14 million posts and comments about mental health on Reddit”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided for this claim consists of generic links to Study.com and general Wikipedia entries about Reddit; no specific study analyzing 14 million mental health posts is mentioned in the evidence.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On the social news site Reddit, some communities (known as subreddits or subs) are centred around explicit, violent, propagandist, or hateful material. Many such subreddits have been the topic of cont…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversial_Reddit_communiti…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Reddit ( RED-it, formerly stylized reddit) is an American proprietary social news aggregation and forum social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In April 2023, the discussion and news aggregation website Reddit announced its intentions to charge for its application programming interface (API), a feature which had been free since 2008, causing …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit_API_controversy
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 5: “on TikTok the hashtag #adhd has had more than 50 billion views”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence contains general information about TikTok and its impact, but none of the sources provide the specific view count for the #adhd hashtag.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Libs of TikTok is the username of various American anti-LGBTQ and far-right social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik ( KHAH-yə RY-chik), a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libs_of_TikTok
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — TikTok is a social media and short-form online video platform. It hosts user-submitted videos, which range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed through a mobile app or thro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The TikTok Billboard Top 50 was a music chart published weekly by Billboard in the United States. It ranked the most popular songs on the social media platform TikTok in the United States based on a c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_Billboard_Top_50
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 6: “In our Reddit study published last year, we found that as the largest ADHD- and autism- related communities (subreddits) became increasingly more prominent from 2012 to 2022, their content gradually became more similar, and their users increasingly overlapped”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided includes general discussions about neurodivergence and unrelated Wikipedia entries, but does not contain the specific findings of a study regarding the prominence and overlap of ADHD and autism subreddits from 2012 to 2022.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On February 10, 2026, a mass shooting occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. On that afternoon, Jessie Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their home before going to Tum…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Tumbler_Ridge_shooting
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alexandra Brosh (born May 18, 1985) is an American blogger, writer, and comic artist best known for Hyperbole and a Half, a blog and webcomic she created in 2009. Brosh grew up in small towns across t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allie_Brosh
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award and three Saturn Awards. Holland's films as a lead actor have grossed …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Holland
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “One study found a majority of the most popular TikTok videos on ADHD were misleading”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results confirm this: one citing a 2023 study in JAMA Network Open and another citing a University of British Columbia report, both stating that over half of the 100 most popular ADHD videos on TikTok contained misleading information.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Catie Osborn, known by the username Catieosaurus, is an American author, speaker, TikToker, actor, podcast host, sex educator, and mental health and disability advocate, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Muc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catieosaurus
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The online video platform TikTok has had worldwide a social, political, and cultural impact since its global launch in September 2016. The platform has rapidly grown its userbase since its launch and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_TikTok
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Generation Z, often shortened to Gen Z and informally known as Zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-la…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “Reddit users do not represent the general population; they tend to be younger, male, more educated, and have a higher income”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results describe Reddit's demographics as skewed toward being younger, male, and college-educated/privileged compared to the general population.
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web search NEUTRAL — Nov 18, 2023 ... Most Redditors are people living with their parents in upper middle class areas. That's why they're clueless to the real world. They have little ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/17y2fau/why…
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web search NEUTRAL — Dec 30, 2011 ... ... with public debate tended to be skewed toward male ownership. As I ... with the same interest tend to be similar people. I know that a ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskSocialScience/comments/nw5jw/psy…
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web search NEUTRAL — Sep 15, 2021 ... The demographics are heavily skewed toward young, white, college ... be young, white college-educated men/women. People tend to date ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/datingoverthirty/comments/poqrwt/ho…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.