Washington, D.C., May 18, 2022 — Over the better part of a decade, health-related searches on social media platforms have increased exponentially. YouTube has more than 2 billion monthly logged-in users and every day, people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views. To connect Americans with evidence-based information about mental health, the American Psychiatric Association has recently ramped up its efforts on this important platform.

“The APA has always advanced the idea of mental health as part of general health and well-being, spread awareness on psychiatric treatments, and educated the public with evidence-backed information related to mental health,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A. “YouTube is a major platform where patients discover health-related information, especially younger patients. I applaud YouTube for recognizing APA as a healthcare educator and am proud our organization is working to educating the public with fact-based videos on mental health.”

As part of its ongoing efforts, APA has produced a new series of videos to accurately and concisely explain mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and others. These explainer videos provide evidence-based information in a format the public can easily engage with and provide an entry way to educate themselves on mental health.

APA’s YouTube channel will continue to publish mental health resources and positive mental health related messaging to educate and inform the public and mental health professionals. This content will include expert discussions, conversations between YouTube creators and APA experts, and brief explainer videos on mental health disorders.

As an accredited educational institution, APA is considered an authoritative health source and videos from the APA are labeled to help people more easily identify information coming from accredited sources when they are seeking content on YouTube.

To identify which health sources are eligible for this “accredited healthcare educator” label, YouTube uses the principles and definitions developed by a panel of experts convened by the National Academy of Medicine. YouTube has also focused on prioritizing content from these “accredited healthcare educators” to display in top searches related to health keywords.

American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association, founded in 1844, is the oldest medical association in the country. The APA is also the largest psychiatric association in the world with more than 37,000 physician members specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses. APA’s vision is to ensure access to quality psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. For more information, please visit www.psychiatry.org.