TikTok has accelerated self-labeling and discussion of symptoms, forcing clinicians to distinguish between personality traits, distressing behaviors and disorders that may warrant formal recognition.
Cases like excessive immersive fantasizing—described by people who spend hours absorbed in imagined lives—have become part of a broader debate over how psychiatry defines illness.
The reassessment points to a wider shift in mental health: online platforms are no longer just spreading awareness, but influencing what experts study and how the field updates its diagnostic playbook.