BETWEEN COMMENTING AND (MIS)INFORMING: DISCURSIVE INTERACTIONS ABOUT GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER ON INSTAGRAM

INTERAÇÕES DISCURSIVAS SOBRE O TRANSTORNO DE ANSIEDADE GENERALIZADA NO INSTAGRAM

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how discursive interactions in online comments on Instagram construct meanings about Generalized Anxiety Disorder, highlighting the tensions between information and disinformation in the circulation of discourses on mental health. Framed within the context of digital culture, the research assumes that Instagram functions as a space of emotional visibility and symbolic dispute, where different voices intersect in the production of meanings about psychological suffering. The theoretical framework is grounded in Bakhtin’s dialogical perspective of language (2010 [1986]; 2016 [1952/1953]), which understands the utterance as a situated and value-laden response, and in authors such as Lemos and Di Felice (2014), Primo (2016), and Recuero (2024), who examine the dynamics of circulation, engagement, and (dis)information in digital social networks. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative and interpretative approach, analyzing public comments on posts by psychologist Alexandre Coimbra and psychiatrist Ana Beatriz Barbosa, selected for their wide visibility and engagement. The results indicate that meanings about Generalized Anxiety Disorder emerge from processes of symbolic negotiation in which scientific, experiential, and common-sense discourses intertwine. It was observed that specialized medical discourse, when reinterpreted on Instagram, tends to be simplified and affectively reframed, blurring the boundary between informing and misinforming. The interactions reveal discursive disputes of authority and show that knowledge about mental health is collectively produced, permeated by values, emotions, and beliefs.