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Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media / CHLOE WAKEHAM

Swansea University Author: CHLOE WAKEHAM

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.70843

Abstract

There is growing concern across social institutions, professional contexts, and society at large regarding the impact of social media on mental health. Previous studies have predominantly explored how social media exacerbates mental health issues and utilises machine learning to identify affected in...

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Published: Swansea 2025
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Calder, Gideon ; Terry, Julia
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70843
first_indexed 2025-11-05T12:25:42Z
last_indexed 2025-11-07T05:10:42Z
id cronfa70843
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2025-11-05T12:55:00.2393337 v2 70843 2025-11-05 Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media d891632fbcd479424486687373b4d1b0 CHLOE WAKEHAM CHLOE WAKEHAM true false 2025-11-05 There is growing concern across social institutions, professional contexts, and society at large regarding the impact of social media on mental health. Previous studies have predominantly explored how social media exacerbates mental health issues and utilises machine learning to identify affected individuals, underscoring the intrusion of therapy culture into online environments. By contrast, this study examines mental health discourse on Twitter, Tumblr, and TikTok, drawing from Goffman’s self-presentations, Foucault’s social surveillance, Delsol’s loss of meaning, and critiques of therapy culture by Furedi and Lasch, adapting these concepts to the digital realm. The study seeks to comprehend the language, meanings, and cultural values embedded in online identity formation and how identity interacts with mental health discourse. It explores the role of algorithms and other factors in shaping self-presentation and identity. Through extensive online observation, the analysis identifies patterns and meaning-making processes evident in mental health discourse and identity construction. This study contributes methodologically by blending netnographic content analysis (NCA) and semiotic analysis, offering insights into online mental health communities across multiple platforms where multimedia serves as modern forms of folkloric expression. This study identifies three intertwined themes including: humour, individualisation, and self-expression, found within mental health narratives on social media. On the basis of this study’s findings, it is suggested that users delicately navigate these discussions to avoid stigma, despite ongoing efforts to reduce it. In addition, algorithms not only influence content curation but also reinforce users’ self-perceptions by validating their experiences through exposure to similar narratives. This engagement fosters a ‘looping effect’ that perpetuates illness identities, imbuing them with personal significance amid shifting societal values. Thus, continual exposure to these narratives on social media sustains users’ illness identities, reinforcing the meaning derived from these identities. This study, underscores how digital platforms serve as arenas for both constructing and negotiating identities in the context of mental health discourse. E-Thesis Swansea therapy culture, mental health, social media, identity, algorithms 31 10 2025 2025-10-31 10.23889/SUthesis.70843 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Calder, Gideon ; Terry, Julia Doctoral Ph.D 2025-11-05T12:55:00.2393337 2025-11-05T12:22:47.1367941 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy CHLOE WAKEHAM 1 70843__35560__adc6167ccd7f471897e74d9e8d824d9e.pdf Wakeham_Chloe_PhD_Thesis_Final_Cronfa.pdf 2025-11-05T12:44:46.6580679 Output 40266072 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The Author, Chloë Wakeham, 2025. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Third party content is excluded for use under the license terms. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
title Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
spellingShingle Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
CHLOE WAKEHAM
title_short Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
title_full Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
title_fullStr Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
title_full_unstemmed Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
title_sort Therapy Culture Goes Online: Exploring the Use of Illness Identities on Social Media
author_id_str_mv d891632fbcd479424486687373b4d1b0
author_id_fullname_str_mv d891632fbcd479424486687373b4d1b0_***_CHLOE WAKEHAM
author CHLOE WAKEHAM
author2 CHLOE WAKEHAM
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.70843
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
document_store_str 1
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description There is growing concern across social institutions, professional contexts, and society at large regarding the impact of social media on mental health. Previous studies have predominantly explored how social media exacerbates mental health issues and utilises machine learning to identify affected individuals, underscoring the intrusion of therapy culture into online environments. By contrast, this study examines mental health discourse on Twitter, Tumblr, and TikTok, drawing from Goffman’s self-presentations, Foucault’s social surveillance, Delsol’s loss of meaning, and critiques of therapy culture by Furedi and Lasch, adapting these concepts to the digital realm. The study seeks to comprehend the language, meanings, and cultural values embedded in online identity formation and how identity interacts with mental health discourse. It explores the role of algorithms and other factors in shaping self-presentation and identity. Through extensive online observation, the analysis identifies patterns and meaning-making processes evident in mental health discourse and identity construction. This study contributes methodologically by blending netnographic content analysis (NCA) and semiotic analysis, offering insights into online mental health communities across multiple platforms where multimedia serves as modern forms of folkloric expression. This study identifies three intertwined themes including: humour, individualisation, and self-expression, found within mental health narratives on social media. On the basis of this study’s findings, it is suggested that users delicately navigate these discussions to avoid stigma, despite ongoing efforts to reduce it. In addition, algorithms not only influence content curation but also reinforce users’ self-perceptions by validating their experiences through exposure to similar narratives. This engagement fosters a ‘looping effect’ that perpetuates illness identities, imbuing them with personal significance amid shifting societal values. Thus, continual exposure to these narratives on social media sustains users’ illness identities, reinforcing the meaning derived from these identities. This study, underscores how digital platforms serve as arenas for both constructing and negotiating identities in the context of mental health discourse.
published_date 2025-10-31T05:24:24Z
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score 11.096892

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