Student Perspectives: What is #TraumaTok?

StressPoints
Outside academic spaces and therapy offices, trauma has been a growing topic on social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and now TikTok all have trauma content. In these online spaces, formal content (e.g., scientific articles, infographics, video conferences) is mingled with informal content on trauma (e.g., quotes from bestseller books on trauma, memes, personal stories). Whether formal or informal, online content on trauma seemingly brings together the perspectives of practitioners, researchers, coaches, and trauma survivors. The topic seems to be getting a lot of visibility. For instance, #trauma and #ptsd have millions of publications on Instagram. YouTube channels on trauma or subtopics of trauma (e.g., Complex Trauma Recovery, Attachment Trauma, Betrayal Trauma) have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views. Some specialized forums on Reddit (i.e., subreddits) are dedicated to PTSD or C-PTSD and are organized with a set of rules and posting guidelines; they offer peer-to-peer support and have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.