{"id":295318,"date":"2025-06-15T16:56:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T16:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/a-study-from-made-of-millions-alison-dotson\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T16:56:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T16:56:30","slug":"a-study-from-made-of-millions-alison-dotson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=295318","title":{"rendered":"A Study from Made of Millions \u2013 Alison Dotson"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Earlier this year, Made of Millions\u2014a nonprofit dedicated to helping the millions of people around the world who have a mental illness\u2014published \u201cRemapping Recovery: How Gen Z\u2019s Quest for Better Care Is Pioneering New Paths Forward in Mental Health.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Why this study, and why now? Aaron Harvey, co-founder of Made of Millions, said, \u201cWhen we started in 2016, we used data that had been available for decades. So this research was an opportunity for us to better understand what the journey looks like for today\u2019s youth, and specifically, how the internet\u2019s democratization of mental health\u00a0education and advocacy has shortened timelines and improved outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Image courtesy of Made of Millions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As a person with a mental illness myself (but I\u2019m part of Gen X, a generation that somehow sounds much closer to Gen Z than it is), I wanted to know more, especially the findings about my own diagnosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), so I downloaded a copy. Some of the findings surprised me. Some of them gave me hope. And some of them confirmed that we still have work to do to make mental health care more accessible and inclusive.<\/p>\n

When some of the gaps in access to mental health care are due to systemic inequality, it\u2019s easy to feel overwhelmed, to feel a little hopeless and a little helpless. In the absence of sweeping systemic changes, what can we do to mitigate some inequities as we continue to fight? To be clear, I don\u2019t believe the burden should be on the individual to fix a system, but I know I feel better when I can do something.<\/em> To that end, I\u2019ll include some ideas for getting help yourself or helping others.<\/p>\n

What did Remapping Recovery find?<\/h2>\n

Gen Z accurately self-diagnose but also want a professional diagnosis<\/h3>\n

But first, let\u2019s go over some of the findings. (Check out the study itself for all <\/em>of them!)<\/p>\n

These two stood out to me as being hopeful:<\/p>\n

Gen Zs take nearly two times longer to research mental health conditions compared to their parents, but are also half as likely to report being misdiagnosed.<\/em><\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

. . . in more than 90 percent of self-diagnoses, . . . Gen Zs are coupling their self-diagnosis with a professional one, or plan to.<\/em><\/p>\n

They stood out to Lauren O\u2019Shaughnessy of Made of Millions, too. She said, \u201cThese findings\u00a0were\u00a0surprising because there\u2019s a popular narrative right now that social media is encouraging young people to abandon traditional\u00a0healthcare altogether and attach themselves to the first mental health condition they stumble upon. This perspective undermines Gen Z\u2019s intelligence and ability to self-educate.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Shaughnessy said that it\u2019s not a lack of wanting <\/em>professional mental health care that keeps Gen Z from taking advantage of it. Rather, it\u2019s the barriers to access: \u201cfinancial constraints, long waitlists, and practitioner shortages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What can be done?<\/h3>\n

Gen Z are resourceful and will find information and support outside traditional systems. In an ideal world, this would only be a stopgap solution and would be supplementary, not a whole mental health care plan, but it\u2019s important to know about the alternatives.<\/p>\n

Esther Fernandez of Made of Millions said, \u201cWhile it can be difficult to find someone who takes your insurance, there are definitely ways to tap into your community to see what is available to you. Using directories online is a good start. A local advocacy group might be hosting low-cost webinars, conferences, or support groups. A university might offer sliding-scale sessions with graduate students. Researchers might offer free medication or therapy sessions in exchange for research participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did Remapping Recovery find?<\/h2>\n

Less time between symptoms and diagnosis<\/h3>\n

\u201cOn average, it took respondents about 2.5 years between symptom onset and diagnosis.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In the OCD community, we\u2019ve been saying for as long as I can remember (actual decades) that the time period between onset of symptoms and diagnosis is 13 to 17 years. But this study\u2019s respondents included kids under 18, a group that\u2019s been omitted from other studies, and that time period is much, much shorter. (Keep in mind that Remapping Recovery isn\u2019t a follow-up to those studies.)<\/p>\n

Harvey credits this change at least in part to OCD advocates \u201cwho have spent the last decade making topics like intrusive thoughts part of our youth\u2019s everyday vernacular.\u201d Young people are finding community and non-stigmatizing information about mental illness online\u2014and of course, they\u2019re finding misinformation there as well.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across a TikTok about taboo intrusive thoughts that was so stigmatizing it still upsets me. When I commented to explain that sexual and violent intrusive thoughts are a common symptom of OCD, the replies were from angry (and probably scared) people who don\u2019t understand what OCD is. All I could think was How will this affect someone who hasn\u2019t even started their recovery journey?<\/em><\/p>\n

Helpful, well-researched videos about OCD\u2014and other diagnoses\u2014are abundant on TikTok and other social media sites, but one wildly wrong one can have a devastating impact if viewers don\u2019t know how to determine which sources are credible.<\/p>\n

What can be done?<\/h3>\n

Uma Chatterjee, who falls right between millennial and Gen Z\u2014oh, and she\u2019s a neuroscientist, so she knows a little something about research\u2014said, \u201cLearn how to vet your sources and build literacy and you don\u2019t have to understand everything<\/em>. You have to understand who to look for and how to cross-check that information to make sure it\u2019s accurate and it\u2019s coming from someone who doesn\u2019t have a vested interest in you being sick or buying their product because they have the secret sauce to fix something that no one else has.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)<\/a> outlines several questions people should ask to help determine whether the media they\u2019re consuming is accurate and unbiased. Some include:<\/p>\n