Cultural psychiatry across (cyber)spaces: Understanding the role of fan cultures in mental health (Updated September 5, 2024).

This article discusses the role of fan cultures in mental health and how they are underexplored within cultural psychiatry. Fan cultures, which emerge from communities of shared interests such as television series, novels, and video games, have become more popular and accessible due to the internet. The paper explores how recognizing fan cultures in cultural psychiatry can contribute to improving mental health care for members of fan communities. It also examines the extent to which conventional methods of cultural psychiatry allow for the recognition of the mental health implications of fan cultures in clinical practice. Please note that this preprint has not been peer-reviewed. [Extracted from the article]