09/30/2025
The TikTok Therapy Crisis: A Challenge to Christian Discipleship in the Digital Age
Overview
As Generation Z increasingly turns to platforms like TikTok for mental health advice and spiritual insight, Christian communities face a growing challenge. This shift reflects more than a preference for digital content—it signals a transformation in how young people form identity, seek healing, and understand faith. The phenomenon, dubbed the “TikTok Therapy Crisis,” reveals a tension between online validation and traditional Christian discipleship.
Key Issues
• Unregulated Mental Health Content
Gen Z consumes vast amounts of mental health content online, much of which lacks professional or theological grounding. This creates a digital marketplace that competes with both clinical care and church-based discipleship.
• Self-Diagnosis and Algorithmic Influence
Teens often self-diagnose based on short-form videos, leading to confirmation bias loops where normal emotions are pathologized. Algorithms reinforce these patterns, shaping users’ perceptions of themselves and their struggles.
• Community vs. Discipleship
TikTok offers instant validation and community, which can feel more supportive than church environments that emphasize growth and accountability. This dynamic can hinder spiritual maturity and promote static identities rooted in mental health labels.
• Authority Shift
Young people increasingly trust influencers over pastors or parents for guidance on life and mental health. This undermines traditional structures of spiritual formation and shifts authority to algorithm-driven content.
• Faith Formation Online
Gen Z Christians often express their faith through social media, but this can lead to performative spirituality focused on engagement metrics rather than genuine transformation.
• Comparison and Anxiety
Social media fosters comparison, which can intensify anxiety and spiritual insecurity. Young believers may feel inadequate when comparing their inner struggles to curated online personas.
• Authenticity Paradox
While digital content feels authentic, it’s often curated. Parasocial relationships with influencers can feel more real than church relationships, yet lack depth and accountability.
• Secular vs. Christian Mental Health Frameworks
Most online mental health advice is rooted in secular psychology, which may conflict with Christian views on suffering, identity, and healing. This can lead to fragmented understandings of emotional and spiritual issues.
Christian Response: Integration and Discernment
• Theological Discernment
Christian counselors and leaders must help young people critically evaluate digital content through biblical lenses, distinguishing helpful insights from harmful ideologies.
• Media Literacy
Churches should teach biblically-informed media literacy, helping youth understand how algorithms work and how to engage content wisely.
• Authentic Community Alternatives
Churches must offer genuine relationships and support systems that meet emotional and spiritual needs more effectively than digital communities.
• Youth Ministry Adaptation
Discipleship programs should address mental health challenges and digital culture directly, integrating psychological understanding with spiritual formation.
• Training and Care Models
Church leaders need training in both mental health and theology to guide young people effectively. New care models should combine clinical competence with pastoral support.
Hope and Opportunity
Despite the challenges, Gen Z is attending church at higher rates than previous generations, signaling a hunger for authentic community and spiritual depth. This presents a unique opportunity for churches to engage meaningfully with young believers and offer holistic discipleship that integrates faith and mental health.
Remnant Counselor Collective. (2025, September 25). The TikTok therapy crisis: How social media mental health trends undermine Christian discipleship. Remnant Counselor Collective.
Gen Z Christians attend church at record rates yet seek mental health guidance on TikTok daily.
