The Trust and Interpersonal Disclosure Lab (TIDL) at George Mason University is dedicated to studying how individual factors like trust, stigma, and self-disclosure shape whether, from whom, and at what time people seek support for their mental health. Whether that’s a therapist, a friend, a chatbot or social media, we are interested in how people approach help-seeking, especially those with vulnerable social identities. In our lab we use a variety of tools, including machine learning and language models, to better understand how people express mental health struggles and how these newer digital spaces are reshaping the search for comfort and support around mental health needs. The lab looks at this from multiple angles: the patient’s own experience, the practices and decision-making of providers, and increasingly, how patients and providers interact within an evolving treatment landscape. Underlying it all is an interest in mental health as a complex system, where symptoms, relationships, technology, and larger social forces interact and shape one another, rather than any single cause explaining why someone struggles or seeks help.

---

---

---