Jul 8, 2026 · 22 min · 11 segments
Interview with Dan-Mircea Mirea, MSci, author of The Reinforcement Effect of Social Media Likes in Depression. Hosted by John Torous, MD. **Related Content:**…
Dan Mircea MireaGuest
John TorousHostFrom the JAMA Network, this is JAMA Psychiatry Author Interviews, conversations with authors exploring the latest clinical research, reviews, and opinions featured in JAMA Psychiatry.
Today, we're thrilled to be discussing a new paper just out in JAMA Psychiatry, The Reinforcement Effect of Social Media Likes in Depression.
We're about to talk with the corresponding author, Dr. Dan Michimura from Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
We have all seen intense public concern about how social media impacts mental health, and yet the research literature remains inconclusive.
Some reviews link heavy social media use to worse mental health, others find positive effects, and many reviews find minimal to no effect at all.
Most studies rely on how people report and self-report they use social media and often treat social media like a single monolithic thing.
Rather than asking how much people think they use social media, it asks how their behavior is shaped by the rewards social media delivers, think about the likes, and whether that process works differently in people with or without depression.
So to learn more, we're about to talk to the corresponding author of this paper just published in Drama Psychiatry.
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From the JAMA Network, this is JAMA Psychiatry Author Interviews, conversations with authors exploring the latest clinical research, reviews, and opinions featured in JAMA Psychiatry.
Today, we're thrilled to be discussing a new paper just out in JAMA Psychiatry, The Reinforcement Effect of Social Media Likes in Depression.
We're about to talk with the corresponding author, Dr. Dan Michimura from Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
We have all seen intense public concern about how social media impacts mental health, and yet the research literature remains inconclusive.
Some reviews link heavy social media use to worse mental health, others find positive effects, and many reviews find minimal to no effect at all.
Most studies rely on how people report and self-report they use social media and often treat social media like a single monolithic thing.
Rather than asking how much people think they use social media, it asks how their behavior is shaped by the rewards social media delivers, think about the likes, and whether that process works differently in people with or without depression.
So to learn more, we're about to talk to the corresponding author of this paper just published in Drama Psychiatry.
