Expert, activist and vulnerable: Discursive construction of mental health identities on social media

Constructing identities in specific ways has various effects, including how individuals understand and manage illnesses and their attitudes towards those with mental illness. This study contributes to the existing body of research that examines how identity influences mental health meaning-making and identifies opportunities for mental health communication. Drawing on social media posts generated in Australia on Reddit, Facebook, and interactive website forums, this study explored mental health identities on social media using Faircloughian and Foucauldian critical discourse analytical approaches, highlighting the takenfor-granted belief systems and power/knowledge relationships that shape these identities. The analysis found three mental health identities: expert, activist, and vulnerable. This paper argues that mental health identities on social media are constituted in and through multiple, interrelated, and ever-shifting textual and contextual power/knowledge relations. With a better understanding of the mental health identities that circulate on social media, health communication professionals can promote mental health messages that amplify positive identities, which play a crucial role in promoting agency and improving health outcomes.