Here, we share practical advice from a psychologist with experience in content creation to help you start or grow your social media presence the right way.
Understand the code of ethics. Holding yourself accountable means knowing you're representing a profession at all times, even if you're “just” playing video games or posting funny videos on TikTok. “You have to make sure you're prepared to fully understand your limitations and your code of ethics. You're going to be pushed to blur those lines in some ways, but you have to be prepared to defend those boundaries,” says licensed marriage and family therapist Dr. Ryan Earl. “It's your responsibility to do that, not your audience's.”
“As psychologists, we hold ourselves accountable. The fact that we take this seriously is a sign of a mature profession,” said clinical psychologist Dr Ali Mattu. “So when I say, 'I'm Dr Ali Mattu, a clinical psychologist,' that should mean something. It should mean that I am held to high standards and that you can trust me.”
Ask for guidance. If you are unsure whether a particular post or interaction is ethical, first consult enforceable ethical principles and standards, then other sources such as the APA’s Social Media Guidelines and the Ethics Committee’s FAQs (PDF, 257KB). To figure that out, don't be afraid to ask trusted colleagues and medical malpractice experts, says Lindsay Childress Beatty, PhD, APA's ethics director.
“Psychologists also need to consider the impact the message will have on the audience and patients who may view the material,” she added.
Keep your advice general and your interactions brief. Clinical psychologist Dr. Justin Puder limits his interactions with his followers to avoid unintentionally offering what could be perceived as therapy on a public platform: “If someone asks a question, I can absorb what they post, validate it, point them to resources, encourage them to move forward in certain ways, and offer psychoeducation without saying, 'Tell me about your family life,'” he said.
The APA's Ethics Committee recommends including a disclaimer on your social pages to indicate that your online interactions do not constitute a professional relationship. Dr. Ashley Elliott, a private practice physician, explains, “I'm your favorite easy-size, petite-size, travel-size, TikTok therapist, social media therapist, and actual clinical psychology PhD, but I'm not your therapist.”
Update your intake form early and often. Before beginning treatment, Puder's patients are given clear social media boundaries: “If you like or comment or whatever, I'm going to treat you the same as any other follower,” he tells them.
Clinical psychologist Dr Kelly Dunlap also has a lengthy intake form detailing her public persona, and promises that she will never publicly share anything discussed in therapy on her platform without her patients' explicit permission (and even then, she won't provide any personally identifiable information). “Set those expectations clearly from the beginning and revisit them often,” she says.
Develop contingency plans for crises. Sometimes, people will take to social media spaces to “vent their trauma,” Dunlap says. When that happens, remove their comments, restrict their posting for a period of time, then reach out to them privately right away. “It sounds like you've got a lot going on and you want everyone to hear about it, but this isn't the place for that. Here are resources,” Dunlap might say.
“Most of the time, people are just stressed, they trust you, they don't know where to go, they're in pain so they just let it all out,” she added.
Puder includes links to crisis and suicide hotlines in his bio.
Don't sacrifice accuracy for visual inspection. One of the benefits of social media is also its drawback. Often, the broader the audience you reach, the shallower your content tends to be, said Dennis P. Stoll, PhD, senior director of applied psychology at the APA. “People tend to scroll past most of the information on a platform like LinkedIn and just read the headline,” he said. “So that brings with it a responsibility to not create misleading headlines for your posts.”
It's also important to use common sense: “Before you hit 'like' or send a new article out into the world, read it, think about it, and make sure you're prepared to stand by it,” Stoll says. “This takes time and effort, but it's crucial to the overall integrity of psychology.”
[Related: Creating ethical social media content]