#Therapymemes: Instagram contra el estigma de la salud mental
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Published
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
Abstract
Memes are powerful viral tools for raising awareness about issues like mental health. This study aims to discover what features characterize mental health outreach memes and to know what the perspective of mental health professionals is. This study analyzes the characteristics of 132 mental health memes and 39 professionals were surveyed to assess the reception of them. The mental health memes examined depict situations in a first-person, aggressive, and self-destructive manner, often employing exaggeration and sarcasm. Graphic humor serves as a valuable ally in raising awareness and breaking down mental health stigmas.
How to Cite
Soria Yenez, M., Sapiña Garcia, L., & Domínguez Romero, M. (2026). #Therapymemes: Instagram contra el estigma de la salud mental. ZER - Journal of Communication Studies, 31(60). https://doi.org/10.1387/zer.28219
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Keywords
humor, health, graphic humor, mental health, Instagram memes
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
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
(c) UPV/EHU Press