The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media
Open accessAbstract
Aims: People with serious mental illness are increasingly turning to popular social media, including Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health conditions. This emerging form of unsolicited communication among self-forming online communities of patients and individuals with diverse health concerns is referred to as peer-to-peer support. We offer a perspective on how online peer-to-peer connections among people with serious mental illness could advance efforts to promote mental and physical wellbeing in this group. Methods: In this commentary, we take the perspective that when an individual with serious mental illness decides to connect with similar others online it represents a critical point in their illness experience. We propose a conceptual model to illustrate how online peer-to-peer connections may afford opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness to challenge stigma, increase consumer activation and access online interventions for mental and physical wellbeing. Results: People with serious mental illness report benefits from interacting with peers online from greater social connectedness, feelings of group belonging and by sharing personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness. Within online communities, individuals with serious mental illness could challenge stigma through personal empowerment and providing hope. By learning from peers online, these individuals may gain insight about important health care decisions, which could promote mental health care seeking behaviours. These individuals could also access interventions for mental and physical wellbeing delivered through social media that could incorporate mutual support between peers, help promote treatment engagement and reach a wider demographic. Unforeseen risks may include exposure to misleading information, facing hostile or derogatory comments from others, or feeling more uncertain about one's health condition. However, given the evidence to date, the benefits of online peer-to-peer support appear to outweigh the potential risks. Conclusion: Future research must explore these opportunities to support and empower people with serious mental illness through online peer networks while carefully considering potential risks that may arise from online peer-to-peer interactions. Efforts will also need to address methodological challenges in the form of evaluating interventions delivered through social media and collecting objective mental and physical health outcome measures online. A key challenge will be to determine whether skills learned from peers in online networks translate into tangible and meaningful improvements in recovery, employment, or mental and physical wellbeing in the offline world.
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Social media platforms have potential to deliver mental health interventions in low-resource and middle-resource settings, and have been safely used in high-resource settings with appropriate risk management strategies among young people experiencing active suicidal ideation.
“Social media platforms have similar potential to deliver mental health interventions in low-resource and middleresource settings, 376 and have been safely used in highresource settings with appropriate risk management strategies among young people experiencing active suicidal ideation.”
From The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health (2024) · cites this paper as [376]
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredVarious interventions show promise, from brief, targeted approaches to ongoing peer support networks.
“Various interventions show promise, from brief, targeted approaches [27] to ongoing peer support networks [28].”
From Social Media Use in Adolescents: Bans, Benefits, and Emotion Regulation Behaviors (2024) · cites this paper as [28]
Many individuals with mental illness turn to social media to share their personal experiences, seek information about their mental health and treatment options, and give and receive support from others facing similar mental health challenges.
“Other exploratory studies have found that many of these individuals with mental illness appear to turn to social media to share their personal experiences, seek information about their mental health and treatment options, and give and receive support from others facing similar mental health challenges”
From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Naslund, Aschbrenner, Marsch, & Bartels, 2016b
Many individuals living with mental disorders use social media to share their lived experiences with mental illness.
“Many of these individuals use social media to share their lived experiences with mental illness, to seek support from others, and to search for information about treatment recommendations, accessing mental health services, and coping with symptoms (Bucci et al., 2019; Highton-Williamson et al., 2015; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b).”
From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b
Social media has become an important part of the lives of many individuals living with mental disorders.
“As highlighted in this commentary, social media has become an important part of the lives of many individuals living with mental disorders.”
From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b
Many individuals living with mental illness use social media to search for information about their mental health.
“In recognizing that many individuals living with mental illness use social media to search for information about their mental health, it is possible that they may also want to ask their clinicians about what they find online to check if the information is reliable and trustworthy.”
From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b
Many individuals living with mental disorders use social media to search for information about treatment recommendations, accessing mental health services, and coping with symptoms.
“Many of these individuals use social media to share their lived experiences with mental illness, to seek support from others, and to search for information about treatment recommendations, accessing mental health services, and coping with symptoms (Bucci et al., 2019; Highton-Williamson et al., 2015; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b).”
From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b
Many individuals living with mental disorders use social media to seek support from others.
“Many of these individuals use social media to share their lived experiences with mental illness, to seek support from others, and to search for information about treatment recommendations, accessing mental health services, and coping with symptoms (Bucci et al., 2019; Highton-Williamson et al., 2015; Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b).”
From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Naslund, Aschbrenner, et al., 2016b
Individuals with serious mental illnesses report benefits from interacting with peers on the web, including greater feelings of group belonging and social connectedness.
“Research findings demonstrate that individuals with serious mental illnesses report benefits from interacting with peers on the web, including greater feelings of group belonging and social connectedness [143].”
From The therapeutic alliance in digital mental health interventions for serious mental illnesses: narrative review (2020) · cites this paper as [143]
Recent studies have suggested that peer-to-peer support through social media applications may benefit mental health through interactions with social groups that lead to feelings of belonging and sharing of personal stories/coping strategies.
“Furthermore, recent studies have suggested that peer-to-peer support through social media applications may benefit mental health through interactions with social groups that lead to feelings of belonging and sharing of personal stories/coping strategies (95).”
From Could Wearable and Mobile Technology Improve the Management of Essential Tremor? (2018) · cites this paper as [95]
This is the first study to examine the role of Facebook groups in supporting people discontinue antidepressants or any psychiatric medication.
“We believe this is the first study to examine the role of Facebook groups in supporting people discontinue antidepressants or indeed, any psychiatric medication.”
Evidence has shown that online communities with peer-to-peer support from "patients like me" that allow for patients to share their stories and experiences is a successful addition to web-based and digital solutions to facilitate behavioural change and to provide social support, as it makes patients feel less alone.
“This feature was included in the intervention, as evidence has shown that online communities with peer-to-peer support from “patients like me” that allow for patients to share their stories and experiences is a successful addition to web-based and digital solutions to facilitate behavioural change and to provide social support, as it makes patients feel less alone [44].”
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- Authors
- Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Marsch, L. A., & Bartels, S. J.
- Affiliations
- Dartmouth College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Naslund, J. A.
- Venue
- Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2016-01-08
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 113-122
- ISSN
- 2045-7960 (ISSN-L)
- 2045-7979
- PMC
- PMC4830464
- OpenAlex
- W2315849398
- Cited by
- 1,180
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 157 · 2025: 168 · 2024: 122 · 2023: 132 · 2022: 156 · 2021: 121 · 2020: 123 · 2019: 84 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 23
- FWCI
- 123.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Dartmouth College
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U48DP005018)
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMHR01, R01MH104555, NIMH R01 MH104555)
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U48DP005018)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mental Health and Patient Involvement
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Keywords
- peer support, severe mental illness, social media, stigma reduction, mental health treatment seeking, online intervention, social connectedness, group belonging, physical well-being, conceptual model
- MeSH terms
- Peer Influence, Mental Disorders, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Mental Health, Peer Group, Social Support, Social Media
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