Mental health discussion trends on Italian social media

A study conducted by the Osservatorio di Pavia, in collaboration with Associazione Civita, has analyzed how mental health is discussed on Italian social media and television. Between January and June 2026, researchers examined over 138,000 public posts on Facebook and Instagram.

The findings indicate that the term “anxiety” is a central topic, appearing approximately 37,000 times, which is significantly more frequent than the term “depression.” While the increased visibility of mental health topics represents a shift away from past stigmas and silence, the study highlights concerns regarding the quality of information.

There is a growing risk that clinical terms like “anxiety” may lose their specific medical meaning as they are increasingly used to describe everyday stressors, such as exam nerves or general worry, rather than persistent psychological conditions.