SitPO – Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 15 – What Mental Health Crisis? Psychiatrization & Social Media – Shayna Weisz

This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp

About the talk: 1 in 8 people globally are affected by a mental disorder, yet despite research, knowledge and awareness efforts, mental health is still increasing at an alarming rate. Could there be something misleading us in the data, an underlying reason why so many are identifying as mentally ill these days that is being overlooked? I will explain the concept of the “psychiatrization of society” as a possible explanation, in particular exploring social media’s role in the increasing pathologization of normality.

About the speaker: Shayna is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham studying the gendered nature of modern mental health discourse & the psychiatrization of society. Her goal is to uncover and expose pseudoscience and sexism within psychiatry.

The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.