#Therapymemes: Instagram contra el estigma de la salud mental
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Publicado
23-06-2026
Meritxell Soria Yenez
Lucía Sapiña Garcia
Martí Domínguez Romero
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2913-7583
Lucía Sapiña Garcia
Martí Domínguez Romero
Resumen
Los memes son potentes herramientas virales para concienciar sobre la salud mental. Este estudio tiene como objetivo abordar qué características definen a los memes sobre salud mental y conocer la opinión de profesionales de la psicología y la psiquiatría sobre su uso. El estudio ha analizado 132 memes y ha encuestado a 39 profesionales de este ámbito. El análisis destaca que los memes sobre salud mental describen situaciones de manera agresiva y autodestructiva, vividas en primera persona, y empleando la exageración y el sarcasmo. El humor gráfico es un valioso aliado para concienciar y romper los estigmas de salud mental.
Cómo citar
Soria Yenez, M., Sapiña Garcia, L., & Domínguez Romero, M. (2026). #Therapymemes: Instagram contra el estigma de la salud mental. ZER. Revista De Estudios De Comunicación, 31(60). https://doi.org/10.1387/zer.28219
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Keywords
humor, humor gráfico, salud mental, meme Instagram, salud
References
Andreassen, C. S., Billieux, J., Griffiths, M. D., Kuss, D. J., Demetrovics, Z., Mazzoni, E., & Pallesen, S. (2016).
The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders:
A large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(2), 252-262. https://doi.
org/10.1037/adb0000160.
Akram, U., & Drabble, J. (2022). Mental health memes: Beneficial or aversive in relation to psychiatric symptoms?
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 370. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01381-4
Akram, U., Drabble, J., Cau, G., Hershaw, F., Rajenthran, A., Lowe, M., Trommelen, C., & Ellis, J. G. (2020).
Exploratory study on the role of emotion regulation in perceived valence, humour, and beneficial use of
depressive internet memes in depression. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 899. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-
57953-4
Benaim, M. (2018). From symbolic values to symbolic innovation: Internet memes and innovation. Research Policy,
47(5), 901-910.
Boa Sorte, P. (2019). Internet memes: Classroom perspectives in the context of digital cultures. Revista Educação &
Formação, 4(12), 51-66. https://doi.org/10.25053/redufor.v4i12.1385
Bueno Olivera, E. (2021). Memes and their role in the propagation of information. adComunica. Revista Científica de
Estrategias, Tendencias e Innovación en Comunicación, 23, 175-197. https://doi.org/10.6035/adcomunica.5706
Catanescu, C., & Tom, G. (2001). Types of humor in television and magazine advertising. Review of Business,
22(1), 92-98.
Coll-Florit, M., & Salvador, C. (2023). Metaphor repositories: The case of the mental health metaphor dictionary.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 38(4), 1440-1452. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqad058
Davison, P. (2012). The language of internet memes. In M. Mandiberg (Ed.), The social media reader (pp. 120-134).
NYU Press. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814763025.003.0013
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. Oxford University Press.
DeCook, J. R. (2018). Memes and symbolic violence: #ProudBoys and the use of memes for propaganda and the
construction of collective identity. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(4), 485-504. https://doi.org/10.1080
/17439884.2018.1544149
Dubicka, B., & Theodosiou, L. (2020). Technology use and the mental health of children and young people [College Report
N. CR225]. Royal College of Psychiatrists. https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improvingcare/
better-mh-policy/college-reports/college-report-cr225.pdf
Flecha Ortiz, J. A., Santos Corrada, M. A., López, E., & Dones, V. (2021). Analysis of the use of memes as an exponent
of collective coping during COVID-19 in Puerto Rico. Media International Australia, 178(1), 168-
181. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20966379
Gardener, K. J., Jabs, N. M., Drabble, J., & Akram, U. (2021). Humor styles influence the perception of depressionrelated
internet memes in depression. Humor, 34(4), 497-517. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2021-0045
Goffman, E. (2006). Estigma: La identidad deteriorada. Amorrortu.
Gupta, A., Gupta, D., Chaudhary, P., Raje, P., & Chandiramani, K. (2021). Exploring trivialisation of mental
health issues using internet memes in young adults. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 9(2), 868-881.
https://doi.org/10.25215/0902.091
Hernández-Cuevas, E. M., & Cruz-Bermúdez, N. D. (2021). Meme sharing culture and psychological well-being
from a neuroscientific framework. Journal [IN] Genios, 7(2), 1-20.
Highfield, T., & Leaver, T. (2015). A methodology for mapping Instagram hashtags. First Monday, 20(1). https://
doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i1.5563
Holm, C. H. (2021). What do you meme? The sociolinguistic potential of internet memes. Leviathan: Interdisciplinary
Journal in English, 7, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.7146/lev.v0i7.125340
Jadayel, E. H., Medle, K., & Jadayel, J. (2018). Mental disorders: A glamorous attraction on social media? International
Journal of Teaching & Education, 7(1), 465-476.
Kariko, A. A. T., & Anasih, N. (2019). Laughing at one’s self: A study of self-reflective internet memes. Journal of
Physics: Conference Series, 1175(1), 012250. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1175/1/012250
Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). Online memes, affinities, and cultural production. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear
(Eds.), A new literacies sampler (pp. 199-227). Peter Lang.
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2019). Memes, macros, meaning, and menace: Some trends in internet memes.
The Journal of Communication and Media Studies, 4(4), 43-57. https://doi.org/10.18848/2470-9247/CGP/
v04i04/43-57
Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 363-385. http://www.
jstor.org/stable/2678626
Manikonda, L., & De Choudhury, M. (2017). Modeling and understanding visual attributes of mental health disclosures
in social media. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(pp. 170-181). https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025932
Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J., & Weir, K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor
and their relation to psychological well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48-75. https://doi.
org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00534-2
Muñoz, M., Pérez Santos, E., Crespo, M., Gullén, A. I., & Izquierdo, S. (2011). La enfermedad mental en los medios
de comunicación. Un estudio empírico en prensa escrita, radio y televisión. Clínica y Salud, 22(2), 157-
173.
Pan American Health Organization & World Health Organization. (2019). Mental health problems are the leading cause
of disability worldwide. https://www3.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15481
Pescosolido, B. A., Martin, J. K., Long, J. S., Medina, T. R., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2010). «A disease like
any other»? A decade of change in public reactions to schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(11), 1321-1330. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09121743
Piantavinha, L. (2022). Memes in digital culture: A sociological look at memes as cultural practices. Working Papers, Institute
of Sociology, University of Porto.
Revuelta, G., Llorente, C., Gonzalo Penela, C., & Moena Latasa, O. (2023). «Informe Quiral 2022-2023. La
gravedad de la salud mental: comunicación y percepción». Fundació Vila Casas; Centre for the Study of
Science, Communication and Society (UPF). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8177359
Samson, A. C., & Gross, J. J. (2012). Humour as emotion regulation: The differential consequences of negative versus
positive humour. Cognition and Emotion, 26(2), 375-384. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.585069
Sapiña, L., & Domínguez, M. (2021). Humour as a communication strategy in young adults with cancer: A case
analysis on Instagram. In J. L. Terrón Blanco, C. Peñafiel, D. Catalán, & M. Ramos Rodríguez (Eds.), Comunicación
y promoción de la salud en la era digital (pp. 139-159). E-Dykinson.
Shifman, L. (2013). Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 18(3), 362-377. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12013
Sieff, E. M. (2003). Media frames of mental illnesses: The potential impact of negative frames. Journal of Mental
Health, 12(3), 259-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/0963823031000118249
Soria-Yenez, M., Sapiña, L., & Domínguez, M. (2024). Cartoons of mental illness after COVID-19: A decalogue
of good practices for a non-stigmatising visual representation. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 30(1),
233-245. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.91907
Taecharungroj, V., & Nueangjamnong, P. (2015). Humour 2.0: Styles and types of humour and virality
of memes on Facebook. Journal of Creative Communications, 10(3), 288-302. https://doi.
org/10.1177/0973258615614420
Tudor, M. D. (2022). Language and virality: Representing idioms through internet memes. Journal of Young Researchers,
4, 167-177.
Vélez, J. (2012). Internet memes and their role in the Mexican media. In Memoria AMIC: Communication research
and its social impact. Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico.
Wagner, A., & Temmann, L. (2025). Memefying mental illness: A qualitative content analysis of mental illness portrayals
in #Depressionmemes on Instagram. International Journal of Communication, 19. https://ijoc.org/
index.php/ijoc/article/view/23534
World Health Organization (2024, June 26). The overwhelming case for ending stigma and discrimination in mental
health. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/26-06-2024-the-overwhelming-case-for-ending-stigmaand-
discrimination-in-mental-health
Yoo, W., Paek, H. J., & Hove, T. (2020). Differential effects of content-oriented versus user-oriented social media
on risk perceptions and behavioral intentions. Health Communication, 35(1), 99-109. https://doi.org/10.108
0/10410236.2018.1545169
Zissi, A. (2022). Social stigma in mental illness: A review of concepts, methods, and empirical evidence. Psychiatriki.
33(2), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.22365/jpsych.2021.039
The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders:
A large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(2), 252-262. https://doi.
org/10.1037/adb0000160.
Akram, U., & Drabble, J. (2022). Mental health memes: Beneficial or aversive in relation to psychiatric symptoms?
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 370. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01381-4
Akram, U., Drabble, J., Cau, G., Hershaw, F., Rajenthran, A., Lowe, M., Trommelen, C., & Ellis, J. G. (2020).
Exploratory study on the role of emotion regulation in perceived valence, humour, and beneficial use of
depressive internet memes in depression. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 899. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-
57953-4
Benaim, M. (2018). From symbolic values to symbolic innovation: Internet memes and innovation. Research Policy,
47(5), 901-910.
Boa Sorte, P. (2019). Internet memes: Classroom perspectives in the context of digital cultures. Revista Educação &
Formação, 4(12), 51-66. https://doi.org/10.25053/redufor.v4i12.1385
Bueno Olivera, E. (2021). Memes and their role in the propagation of information. adComunica. Revista Científica de
Estrategias, Tendencias e Innovación en Comunicación, 23, 175-197. https://doi.org/10.6035/adcomunica.5706
Catanescu, C., & Tom, G. (2001). Types of humor in television and magazine advertising. Review of Business,
22(1), 92-98.
Coll-Florit, M., & Salvador, C. (2023). Metaphor repositories: The case of the mental health metaphor dictionary.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 38(4), 1440-1452. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqad058
Davison, P. (2012). The language of internet memes. In M. Mandiberg (Ed.), The social media reader (pp. 120-134).
NYU Press. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814763025.003.0013
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. Oxford University Press.
DeCook, J. R. (2018). Memes and symbolic violence: #ProudBoys and the use of memes for propaganda and the
construction of collective identity. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(4), 485-504. https://doi.org/10.1080
/17439884.2018.1544149
Dubicka, B., & Theodosiou, L. (2020). Technology use and the mental health of children and young people [College Report
N. CR225]. Royal College of Psychiatrists. https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improvingcare/
better-mh-policy/college-reports/college-report-cr225.pdf
Flecha Ortiz, J. A., Santos Corrada, M. A., López, E., & Dones, V. (2021). Analysis of the use of memes as an exponent
of collective coping during COVID-19 in Puerto Rico. Media International Australia, 178(1), 168-
181. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20966379
Gardener, K. J., Jabs, N. M., Drabble, J., & Akram, U. (2021). Humor styles influence the perception of depressionrelated
internet memes in depression. Humor, 34(4), 497-517. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2021-0045
Goffman, E. (2006). Estigma: La identidad deteriorada. Amorrortu.
Gupta, A., Gupta, D., Chaudhary, P., Raje, P., & Chandiramani, K. (2021). Exploring trivialisation of mental
health issues using internet memes in young adults. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 9(2), 868-881.
https://doi.org/10.25215/0902.091
Hernández-Cuevas, E. M., & Cruz-Bermúdez, N. D. (2021). Meme sharing culture and psychological well-being
from a neuroscientific framework. Journal [IN] Genios, 7(2), 1-20.
Highfield, T., & Leaver, T. (2015). A methodology for mapping Instagram hashtags. First Monday, 20(1). https://
doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i1.5563
Holm, C. H. (2021). What do you meme? The sociolinguistic potential of internet memes. Leviathan: Interdisciplinary
Journal in English, 7, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.7146/lev.v0i7.125340
Jadayel, E. H., Medle, K., & Jadayel, J. (2018). Mental disorders: A glamorous attraction on social media? International
Journal of Teaching & Education, 7(1), 465-476.
Kariko, A. A. T., & Anasih, N. (2019). Laughing at one’s self: A study of self-reflective internet memes. Journal of
Physics: Conference Series, 1175(1), 012250. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1175/1/012250
Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). Online memes, affinities, and cultural production. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear
(Eds.), A new literacies sampler (pp. 199-227). Peter Lang.
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2019). Memes, macros, meaning, and menace: Some trends in internet memes.
The Journal of Communication and Media Studies, 4(4), 43-57. https://doi.org/10.18848/2470-9247/CGP/
v04i04/43-57
Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 363-385. http://www.
jstor.org/stable/2678626
Manikonda, L., & De Choudhury, M. (2017). Modeling and understanding visual attributes of mental health disclosures
in social media. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(pp. 170-181). https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025932
Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J., & Weir, K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor
and their relation to psychological well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48-75. https://doi.
org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00534-2
Muñoz, M., Pérez Santos, E., Crespo, M., Gullén, A. I., & Izquierdo, S. (2011). La enfermedad mental en los medios
de comunicación. Un estudio empírico en prensa escrita, radio y televisión. Clínica y Salud, 22(2), 157-
173.
Pan American Health Organization & World Health Organization. (2019). Mental health problems are the leading cause
of disability worldwide. https://www3.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15481
Pescosolido, B. A., Martin, J. K., Long, J. S., Medina, T. R., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2010). «A disease like
any other»? A decade of change in public reactions to schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(11), 1321-1330. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09121743
Piantavinha, L. (2022). Memes in digital culture: A sociological look at memes as cultural practices. Working Papers, Institute
of Sociology, University of Porto.
Revuelta, G., Llorente, C., Gonzalo Penela, C., & Moena Latasa, O. (2023). «Informe Quiral 2022-2023. La
gravedad de la salud mental: comunicación y percepción». Fundació Vila Casas; Centre for the Study of
Science, Communication and Society (UPF). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8177359
Samson, A. C., & Gross, J. J. (2012). Humour as emotion regulation: The differential consequences of negative versus
positive humour. Cognition and Emotion, 26(2), 375-384. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.585069
Sapiña, L., & Domínguez, M. (2021). Humour as a communication strategy in young adults with cancer: A case
analysis on Instagram. In J. L. Terrón Blanco, C. Peñafiel, D. Catalán, & M. Ramos Rodríguez (Eds.), Comunicación
y promoción de la salud en la era digital (pp. 139-159). E-Dykinson.
Shifman, L. (2013). Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 18(3), 362-377. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12013
Sieff, E. M. (2003). Media frames of mental illnesses: The potential impact of negative frames. Journal of Mental
Health, 12(3), 259-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/0963823031000118249
Soria-Yenez, M., Sapiña, L., & Domínguez, M. (2024). Cartoons of mental illness after COVID-19: A decalogue
of good practices for a non-stigmatising visual representation. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 30(1),
233-245. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.91907
Taecharungroj, V., & Nueangjamnong, P. (2015). Humour 2.0: Styles and types of humour and virality
of memes on Facebook. Journal of Creative Communications, 10(3), 288-302. https://doi.
org/10.1177/0973258615614420
Tudor, M. D. (2022). Language and virality: Representing idioms through internet memes. Journal of Young Researchers,
4, 167-177.
Vélez, J. (2012). Internet memes and their role in the Mexican media. In Memoria AMIC: Communication research
and its social impact. Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico.
Wagner, A., & Temmann, L. (2025). Memefying mental illness: A qualitative content analysis of mental illness portrayals
in #Depressionmemes on Instagram. International Journal of Communication, 19. https://ijoc.org/
index.php/ijoc/article/view/23534
World Health Organization (2024, June 26). The overwhelming case for ending stigma and discrimination in mental
health. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/26-06-2024-the-overwhelming-case-for-ending-stigmaand-
discrimination-in-mental-health
Yoo, W., Paek, H. J., & Hove, T. (2020). Differential effects of content-oriented versus user-oriented social media
on risk perceptions and behavioral intentions. Health Communication, 35(1), 99-109. https://doi.org/10.108
0/10410236.2018.1545169
Zissi, A. (2022). Social stigma in mental illness: A review of concepts, methods, and empirical evidence. Psychiatriki.
33(2), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.22365/jpsych.2021.039
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