Here’s some practical advice from psychologists experienced in content creation on starting, or growing, your social media presence the right way.
Know the ethics code. Upholding the ethics code means recognizing you are always representing the profession, even if you are “just” playing a video game or posting a goofy video on TikTok. “You need to make sure you’re prepared to absolutely understand your limitations and code of ethics. You will be pushed in some way to blur those boundaries, and you have to be prepared to hold the line,” said licensed marriage and family therapist Ryan Earl, PhD. “It’s your responsibility to do that—not your viewers’.”
“As psychologists, we regulate ourselves. It’s a sign of a well-matured profession that we take this stuff seriously,” said clinical psychologist Ali Mattu, PhD. “So when I say, ‘I’m Dr. Ali Mattu, clinical psychologist,’ that should mean something, and it should mean that I am held to a high standard and you can trust me.”
Seek guidance. If you are not sure if a certain post or type of interaction is ethical, first consult the enforceable ethical principles and standards, and then look at APA’s social media guidelines or other information like the Ethics Committee’s FAQ (PDF, 257KB)opens in new window to figure it out, Lindsay Childress-Beatty, JD, PhD, APA’s chief of ethics, said. Do not hesitate to ask trusted colleagues or a malpractice provider either.
“Psychologists should also consider the impact of any message on the audience as well as patients who might see the material,” she added.
Keep your advice general and interactions brief. To avoid unintentionally providing what could be considered therapy on a public platform, clinical psychologist Justin Puder, PhD, limits his back-and-forths with followers. “If someone asks a question, I can absorb what they put out there, validate it, point them toward resources, encourage them to move forward in certain ways, and provide some psychoeducation without getting into, ‘Tell me about your family life,’” he said.
APA’s Ethics Committee recommends using a disclaimer on your social pages indicating that interacting with you online does not establish a professional relationship. Private practitioner Ashley Elliott, PsyD, puts it this way: “I’m your favorite fun-size, pint-sized, travel-sized, TikTok therapist, social media therapist, and actual doctor of clinical psychology—but I’m not your therapist.”
Update your intake form early and often. Before Puder’s patients begin therapy, he spells out social media boundaries. “If you do like or comment or whatever,” he tells them, “I will treat you like any other follower.”
Clinical psychologist Kelli Dunlap, PsyD, also has a lengthy intake form detailing her public persona and promising to never disclose anything discussed in therapy on her platforms without explicit permission from her patients first (and even then, with no personally identifiable information). “Set those expectations clearly from the beginning and revisit them frequently,” she said.
Develop a contingency plan for crises. Occasionally, people will barge into social media spaces and “trauma dump,” Dunlap says. When that happens, she will delete the comments, restrict the individual from posting for a set time, and then quickly reach out privately. “It seems like you have a lot going on and you want people to hear about this, but this isn’t the space for that. Here are some resources,” Dunlap might say.
“Most of the time, people are just stressed and they trust you and they don’t know where to go, so they lay it all out there because they’re in pain,” she added.
Puder includes links to a crisis and suicide hotline in his bio.
Do not sacrifice accuracy for eyeballs. One benefit of social media is also a drawback: Often, the broader the audience you reach, the shallower the content tends to be, said Dennis P. Stolle, JD, PhD, APA’s senior director for applied psychology. “People tend to scroll past the bulk of the information and just read headlines” on platforms like LinkedIn, he said. “That brings with it a responsibility to not create headlines in your own posts that could be misleading.”
It is also important to apply common sense. “Before you press ‘like’ or push a new article out into the world, make sure you’ve read it and thought about it and are willing to stand by it,” Stolle said. “It can take time and effort, but it’s critically important for the overall integrity of psychological science.”
[Related: Creating ethical social media content]
