A recent disturbing incident on TikTok is serving as a good reminder to talk to your kids about mental health.
Gossip blogger Perez Hilton appeared to be harming himself during a livestream Tuesday.
The livestream set off criticism of TikTok and renewed the issue of mental health, young people and handling it the right way.
Dr. Heather Davis, assistant professor of psychology at Virginia Tech, said it’s unfortunately becoming more common for mental health breakdowns to appear online.
鈥淧eople are becoming more comfortable doing things online than they ever have been before because it鈥檚 just so much more normalized that everyone鈥檚 online all the time,” Davis said.
Davis urged people to seek help in other ways.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e in a mental health crisis, you know, reaching out to a trusted loved one, if you鈥檙e a child or an adolescent, a teen, reaching out to a trusted adult is a good first step,” Davis said.
From there, Davis said, getting professional help is the best response to having suicidal thoughts or going through nonsuicidal self-injury.
鈥淭here are also,” Davis said. 鈥淭hose are the kinds of things we want to see people doing.鈥�
If you witness someone having a mental crisis online, Davis said you should not fall victim to the bystander effect: 鈥淭he tendency to think that if you鈥檙e seeing something happening you don鈥檛 have to report it because you just assume somebody else will.鈥�
Davis said if you see something, take it seriously and report it right away.
Parents also play a big role in managing kids’ mental health.
Davis said parents can help by making sure their children know they can talk about mental health without any judgment.
“Parents should also talk with kids, you know, when they see this kind of stuff, what do they think, what are they feeling, what kind of things are coming up for them,” she said.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 988 or for free and confidential support.
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