Keywords
looping effect
self-diagnosis
Categories
How to Cite
Abstract
This article presents a model describing the role of recommendation systems in shaping diagnostic self-identification among young adults. Its starting point is Ian Hacking’s concept of the looping effect: classifications of people influence self-understanding, ways of reporting experience and action, while the responses of classified persons feed back into expert knowledge, institutions and the social meanings of categories. The study is based on a targeted narrative review of psychological, sociological, clinical and media studies literature completed on 8 August 2026. Research documents feed personalisation, uneven quality of mental health content and associations between exposure to such material and users’ beliefs. The available empirical evidence does not yet establish a single causal chain leading from exposure to self-diagnosis, identity change or symptom intensification. The model therefore distinguishes a well-observable short recommendation feedback loop from a hypothesised long loop involving institutional knowledge and practice. The first mechanism follows from the architecture of personalisation; the second remains a research question. Depending on the context, a diagnostic label may organise experience and facilitate help-seeking, or it may become excessively central to self-concept. The article discusses implications for clinical practice and proposes longitudinal studies linking exposure history, changes in self-description and institutional responses.
References
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Copyright (c) 2026 Anna Podolak, Agnieszka Zarotyńska, Robert Sito