Research conducted by School of Communication Professor Hyunyi Cho,  Senior Lecturer Melissa Foster and undergraduate student Farah Hasan was cited in the July 26 New York Times opinion article “Stop Pathologizing Ordinary Life.” The study examined whether people viewing social media posts that normalize anxiety disorders become more inclined to think they have one. 

The idea for the study, published in the Journal of Health Communication, started when Hasan noticed a trend in her social media posts and received mentoring and encouragement from Foster. The study found that when participants read social media posts that made anxiety seem normal, they were more likely to view their own anxiety as a disorder. Results were published in the paper: “Normalizing Anxiety on Social Media Increases Self-Diagnosis of Anxiety: The Mediating Effect of Identification (But Not Stigma).”

Hasan is now a medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University and Foster recently joined Colorado Mountain College as an associate professor and fellow in the Center for Civic Education and Engagement.