As a board-certified psychiatrist and researcher, Dr. Judith Joseph is one of the rare health-centric creators who is actually fit to dole out medical advice. Yet Joseph, who chairs Columbia University’s Women in Medicine Initiative and is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, chooses not to. Instead, she often uses humor (and trending audio) to explain therapy terms and concepts such as borderline personality disorder, avoidant attachment, toxic empathy, and scarcity trauma to her nearly 1.2 million followers across TikTok and Instagram. (One of her most popular TikTok videos, a satirical clip where she explains how narcissistic mothering can lead to “daddy issues,” has 8.7 million views.) Social media is also where Joseph goes to share her clinical research. Last year, she and her team published a first-of-its-kind, peer-reviewed clinical research study on high-functioning depression. Her 2025 book, High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Your Joy, with a foreword by author and podcaster Mel Robbins, is based on the study’s findings, which she first presented at the Biden White House in 2024. Earlier this year, High Functioning became a national best seller and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. More recently, Joseph, who also hosts the podcast The Vault with Dr. Judith, was named one of the Top 50 creators in the world on TikTok’s 2026 Discover List.
