“Laughing so I don’t cry”: How TikTok users employ humor and compassion to connect around psychiatric hospitalization

Today’s youth face many mental health challenges and are increasingly represented in psychiatric hospitalizations. Scholars have sought to understand social media’s role in mental health issues, but limited work has explored TikTok—the video-centric social media platform that is popular with youth—and people’s connections around psychiatric hospitalization experiences. In this study, we used qualitative content analysis to examine a random sample of 140 TikTok posts related to psychiatric hospitalization. We found that members of this population frequently utilize humor to create and maintain a positive and supportive community with each other. We also describe how TikTok’s design affords these interactions among community members, and conclude with a series of provocations for researchers and designers working at the intersections of social media and mental illness. We hope our study provides insights for how to further support rather than just censor youth in using creative outlets to connect with each other.