Be vulnerable.

Content posted by social media influencers on Instagram impacts the societal perception of mental health disorders and possesses the ability to reduce stigmatization. By answering the research question “How are mental health issues portrayed by social media influencers on Instagram?” with the sub-questions “What visual and communicative structures are used by social media influencers to address mental health issues on Instagram?” and “How does a parasocial relationship develop between social media influencers that focus on mental health issues and their followers?” this master thesis provides a comprehension of common practices applied and representation constructed by social media influencers, who publicly address their personal struggles with mental health disorders. Through conducting a mixed method approach, qualitative figurative cluster analysis of the images and thematic analysis of the captions posted by three social media influencers on Instagram, the following insights are revealed. In total 300 images with captions were studied. As an overview, it can be stated that a positive portrayal, focusing on recovery and not hurdles caused by mental health disorders, occurs. Stigmas and stereotypes are not supported by the connotative messages communicated on the three studied Instagram accounts. The shared images mainly do not contain visual cues to mental health disorders, are beautified and predominantly captions reveal their personal mental health journey with an optimistic tone. Further, visual and communicative structures are evident, namely disjointedness of captions and images, captions changing the narrative of the image, implementation of symbols, self-presentation practices and personification of vulnerability. Moreover, a parasocial relationship is established by the social media influencers on a visual as well as textual level. The type of picture (selfie or close to mid-range shot), the location (e.g.: bedroom), the depiction of private moments (e.g.: vacation or partying with friends) and images showcasing the social media influencers in vulnerable moments are detected as visual indicators of developing a parasocial relationship. Additionally, the informal choice of language and creating a sense of community through words like “we” as well as hashtags present the linguistic factors signifying a connection with the followers.