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Pediatric Psychiatry SIG members reveal misinformation and promotion of risky behavior within social media content

As campaigns mount to harness social media and curtail content shown to impact young people’s mental health, child care experts from within ACLP at CLP 2022 will today pose the question: Are We All Mad Here?

Sponsored by the Academy’s Pediatric Psychiatry SIG, the interactive workshop (today from 15:30 PM in rooms 204-205) will burrow into what speakers describe as a ‘social media rabbit hole’ to throw a spotlight on content that is plagued with misinformation and promotes risky behaviors, such as substance use, self-harm and potentially lethal ‘challenges.’

Robert Brett Lloyd, MD, PhD, FACLP, associate professor, Northwestern University, will moderate the workshop. Speakers include:

• Sonya Sandhu, MD, who will provide an overview of current social media apps, introduce essential jargon, and identify the role of ‘influencers.’

• Laura Markley, MD, FACLP, who will highlight social media challenges which have resulted in medical and psychiatric hospitalizations, introduce the world of cyber pro-anorexia and pro-self-harm communities, and emphasize social media’s role in psychiatric symptom/ diagnosis contagion.

• Ewa Bieber, MD, who will review current literature on the association of cyberbullying and mental health. She will present up-to-date legislation regarding cyberbullying and review legal resources for those exploited through social media.

The final 30 minutes will allow the opportunity for hands-on exploration of social media apps, questions, and discussion. Attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Recognize both the overt and covert uses of the most current social media apps.
• Examine the role of social media trends on patients’ clinical presentation.
• Integrate knowledge of social media culture into clinical assessment.

“Knowledge of social media apps by C-L psychiatrists is imperative for a culturally informed assessment,” say the organisers.