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TikTok is flooded with videos from users discussing mental health topics that have long been taboo: Managing anxiety. Seeking help for depression. Living with bipolar disorder.
In many ways, the shift in America toward cultural openness around these topics is a cause for celebration, said Christina Caron, a reporter who covers mental health for the Well desk of The New York Times. But the proliferation of online discourse around subjects like trauma disorders and cognitive behavioral therapy can come with a downside: misinformation.
“It’s hard to know what’s true,” Ms. Caron said.
In her new monthly column, Psych 101, Ms. Caron tries to combat that uncertainty by unpacking topics like what happens when your moral compass is compromised and how a simple technique known as cognitive shuffling can help calm a busy brain. She speaks with people who have experienced the symptoms that she is writing about, as well as clinicians and researchers.
Ms. Caron is a former clinical research coordinator, so she is familiar with weedy medical terminology. But her goal is to provide readers with trusted — and vetted — health information, without the jargon that can sometimes accompany it.
In an interview, Ms. Caron shared how she selects topics for the column and which subjects she wants to tackle next. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Why did you want to start this column?
The idea is to look at mental health terms and trends that we think are worthy of bigger conversations. You see a lot of people online talking about, for example, relationship O.C.D. We can add clarity to that and help explain why people are discussing the distinctions between different types of O.C.D., and why it matters.