Over half of the top 100 trending TikTok videos offering mental health advice contain misinformation, a Guardian investigation has revealed. Experts who reviewed the #mentalhealthtips content found 52% included false or misleading claims.

Dubious advice ranged from eating oranges in the shower to reduce anxiety and promoting unproven supplements, to methods claiming to heal trauma within an hour and misrepresenting normal emotions as serious disorders. Psychologists and psychiatrists warned such content could be unhelpful, harmful, and trivialize genuine mental illness by oversimplifying complex conditions.

Experts and MPs called the findings “damning,” urging stronger government regulation to combat the spread of such misinformation online. TikTok stated it removes content discouraging medical support and directs UK users to NHS resources, questioning the study’s methodology and emphasizing users’ rights to share personal experiences.

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