YouTube and TikTok as a source of medical information on dissociative identity disorder
Open accessAbstract
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a rare condition that causes alternation of at least two separate personality states and has a prevalence of less than 1% in the general population. This study aims to appraise the social media platforms, YouTube and TikTok, as sources of medical information on DID. YouTube and TikTok were queried using the following search phrases: “Dissociative Identity Disorder,” “Multiple Personality Disorder,” and “Split Personality Disorder.” The top 60 videos by views for YouTube and likes for TikTok were selected from each search term on each platform. Videos were reviewed by four independent reviewers using a modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) Scale, Global Quality Scale (GQS), and they were further classified as useful, misleading, or neither useful or misleading. Number of videos that met criteria were 60 YouTube videos and 97 TikTok videos. After classification, 51.7% of YouTube videos were useful while only 5.2% of TikTok videos were useful. A significant difference was found between (mDISCERN and GQS) score and the video source, type of content, and classification (α < .05). This study focused exclusively on English videos. Additionally, it did not evaluate other social media platforms that are used worldwide. This results of this study show the need for healthcare professionals and organizations to not only create content of high quality but increase engagement on social media platforms, particularly TikTok, in order to educate users on DID.
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Similar dynamics of SM modeling of peri-psychiatric symptoms in youth have consistently been reported with respect to dissociative identity disorder and self-harm.
“Similar dynamics of SM modeling of peri-psychiatric symptoms in youth have consistently been reported with respect to dissociative identity disorder [107, 108] and self-harm [109–111].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [108]
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- Authors
- Munoz, I. B., Liu-Zarzuela, J., Oorjitham, N., & Jacob, D.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (US)
- Corresponding author
- Munoz, Isreal Bladimir
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-01
- Volume
- 15
- Pages
- 100707
- ISSN
- 2666-9153 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4390146822
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7
- FWCI
- 5.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- dissociative identity disorder, YouTube, TikTok, social media health information, online health information quality, DISCERN scale, Global Quality Scale, patient education
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