Michael Birnbaum1,2,3, Asra Rizvi1,2,3, Keren Faber1,2,3, Aristotle Voineskos4,5, John Kane1,2,3; 1The Zucker Hillside Hospital, 2The Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, 3The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, 4Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 5University of Toronto
The emphasis on reducing the duration of untreated psychosis has highlighted the complex barriers to expeditiously accessing appropriate services. The internet and social media may prove to be critical resources for expediting help-seeking and facilitating treatment initiation in prospective patients and families with first-episode psychosis. 269 participants between the ages of 15-35 were interviewed with the Pathways to Care for Psychosis Questionnaire designed to retrospectively explore trajectories to care emphasizing online resources used to obtain information about emerging psychiatric symptoms and inform the decision to seek care. Ninety-four percent (n=253) use social media regularly and spend approximately 2 hours online daily. Social media use predates illness onset and continues throughout illness emergence. The Internet was the most used resource for information gathering while symptoms were emerging. A minority (22.9%) shared their concerns over social media. Seventy-nine percent state that they would like to receive mental health help via the internet and social media. Internet based resources are part of daily life for youth with first-episode psychosis. Information gathered online plays a role in help-seeking and may represent a proactive step towards treatment initiation. Online activity continues throughout the duration of untreated psychosis offering the prospect for earlier intervention. Youth with and without mental illness express positive attitudes towards novel internet and social media based outreach and engagement efforts.
