Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40220194›Full record

ReviewEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2025

The romanticisation of mental health problems in adolescents and its implications: a narrative review.

Awa Ndour, Lucy Foulkes

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Unfiltered Access, Unseen Harms: A Developmental and Public Health Critique of Digital Rights Discourse.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Awa NdourUniversity of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Lucy FoulkesUniversity of Oxford, Oxford, UK. lucy.foulkes@psych.ox.ac.uk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Romanticisation is the perception and portrayal of a phenomenon as more attractive, interesting, cool, profound or desirable than it really is. There are concerns that mental health problems are increasingly romanticised, particularly among adolescents, but there is limited research on this topic. This narrative review investigated: (1) what romanticisation is in the context of adolescent mental health problems, (2) why adolescents might romanticise mental health problems, (3) the implications of romanticising mental health problems in adolescence, and (4) what interventions might reduce this phenomenon. Sixty-one publications were reviewed, including qualitative and quantitative analyses, cross-sectional and longitudinal self-report studies and conceptual reviews. Most investigated romanticisation of mental health problems online, with most researchers situated in a Western context. Identity formation, popular media influences and peer influences arose as potential explanatory factors. Negative outcomes to romanticisation were indicated, including the reinforcement of mental health problems and reduced help-seeking; few interventions to reduce the phenomenon have been proposed to date.

Indexed as

Adolescent BehaviorMental DisordersAdolescentHumansMental HealthAdolescentsMental healthOnlineRomanticisation

Identifiers

PMID40220194
PMCPMC12396996

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.