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Facebook Posts May Point To Depression, Study Finds (nbcnews.com)
People's Facebook posts might predict whether they are suffering from depression, researchers reported this week. From a report: The researchers found that the words people used seemed to indicate whether they would later be diagnosed with depression. The findings offer a way to flag people who may be in need of help, but they also raise important questions about people's health privacy, the team reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. People who were later clinically diagnosed with depression used more "I" language, according to Johannes Eichstaedt of the University of Pennsylvania and his colleagues. They also used more words reflecting loneliness, sadness and hostility. "We observed that users who ultimately had a diagnosis of depression used more first-person singular pronouns, suggesting a preoccupation with the self," they wrote. That is an indicator of depression in some people. The team recruited 683 people who visited an emergency room for their study and asked to see their Facebook pages. Most were not depressed, but 114 had a depression diagnosis in their medical records.
NASA is considering a spectacular new idea for crewed exploration of Venus. This sounds like a great idea.
We want Facebook to evaluate mental health, this seems like a perfectly sane thing to do
Because Facebook causes depression. It's as toxic as methyl mercury
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Don't they have anything going on in their lives they don't want Schmuckerberg to sell to advertising profilers? That IS depressing.
I'm too depressed to post on facebook.
Not too surprising, Depression is suffering, just like if you have a physical illness. Normally when someone is suffering, they want some sort of attention to it. "My Leg Hurts" or "My Left arm is numb" but when you have depression you are suffering, but not in ways that you can identify. There is pain but you can figure out why, so it may be the guy they don't like so "I hate this guy" or the fact that they want someone there "I am lonely". When one is depresses they want to State that they are in pain... However will redirect the pain to different things.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
In an unrelated study, people with limbs pointing the wrong way were at an increased risk of having broken bones.
The findings offer a way to flag people who may be in need of help, but they also raise important questions about people's health privacy.
is logging into bookface.
Second is checking your security settings to see if they have changed "magically" since you checked.
Third is trying to delete the bookface app off of your non-rooted phone/tablet.
man, you're old, no wonder you're depressed
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
There is a reason it's called FecesBook:
Gee, people posting crap about their shitty lives that no one gives a fuck about. Color me surprised. /sarcasm
If people actually *did* things with (or without) their friends instead of posting idiotic selfies maybe they wouldn't feel so lonely instead of living a meaningless life hoping to get likes. I guess they would rather whine about it instead of *doing* something. Doesn't anyone have hobbies anymore??
Irony: And now I'm posting crap about people posting crap. DOH.
Facebook already proven to be causing anxiety and depression because people see others as having more exciting lives. Stop using Facebook and get out and experience real life friends.
I got so depressed I deleted my entire FaceBook account. I feel much better now!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
of clinical depression whatsoever? It means being depressed even when you have hobbies. The problem is that _nothing_ makes you happy. Even things that should. Even things that are going well.
The point of studies like this is to try and tell the difference between somebody going through a rough patch like "work sucks" or "my kid wakes me up at 3am crying every morning" and "I've given up on life".
We'd have a lot less problems in the world if we'd stop telling folks to pull themselves up by their bootstraps (a literal impossibility, the irony of which always seems lost on the folks who favor the phrase) and actually, you know, tried to solve problems.
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"That is an indicator of depression in some people" [and could be useful for the home remedy people]. Buy St. John Wort dependably $39.95 good 1 month buy now.
This is correct. Living it now.
But livejournal posts definitely do!
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Whether depressed people are 1) drawn to Facebook looking for an outlet for their pain, or 2) made more depressed BY the content they read on Facebook doesn't really matter. Depressed people are regularly on Facebook.
Spotting the pattern is easy: Look at your list of Facebook friends and note who posts there the most often (on your feed or others). Then think about their personal lives (if you know any of the details they haven't already posted about), and you'll see a general pattern of unhappy people filling some hole not being filled somewhere else in their lives.
People looking for old friend/acquaintances to reconnect with (or more). People yelling at "the other side" of --currentTrendingTopic-- - just to be heard by anyone who will listen to them. People oversharing about their personal lives - details of failing relationships, illnesses, vacation plans (with tons of pics) - just hoping someone reads them and shares the experience with them (FB likes are like heroin to these people.)
It's true that happier people do sign up for Facebook as well. They just stop using it after they get bored of it and go back to other facets of their lives they enjoy. Most others keep coming back for another dimebag of likes and shares.
is not great.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Yes, I've definitely noticed I'm more depressed after using Facebook.
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Always. Ever since your first comment Bill.
Facebook always made me depressed, I feel so much more healthier now after closing the account earling last spring.
Ban computers, shut down the internet. We cannot risk the mental health of our children anymore. #thetimeisnow #stoptheinternet
What is the effect of Slashdot posting on mental health ?!?
This is apples and oranges.
Sometimes there's people with depression who *do* feel some variants of happiness and hope; and sometimes they're so fogged and energy-less from life that they feel next to nothing about anything good or bad. Sometimes it's possible to move between these two states.
I've had periods of experiencing both, so it's too much to generalize that all people experience depression the same way. Hell, I feel like I've had around four different stages of depression in my life at this rate, gradually getting better as I shake off the thoughts and habits that kept me in despair.
If you're lucky, restructuring of your life to a less-depressed one takes years. If you aren't lucky, it can take a practiced effort for the rest of your life. I don't really believe in a "cure" if depression has been around since your childhood, because your plastic brain grew up in a depression-causing environment you will naturally find it very difficult to move away from that wiring once that highly neuroplastic phase of your life is over.
Not to say all is lost, either. It really depends on your situation. Sometimes being somewhat depressed is a natural reaction to having a difficult life and may be more typical than most sufferers believe (ie. poverty, poor social integration, arrogance pushing people away, bad blood ties, financial instability, workplace stress, feeling generally unfulfilled). On the other hand, people are usually looking for a reason for life to be meaningful to them. That is such a personal and private thing that a lot of people may never find. But it is worth taking the time, whatever little of it you have, to find out what that meaning or meaningful thing is.
Finding even a little something that is consistently meaningful may save your life.
is a sure sign of depression. Just knowing there are so many people wasting so much time and giving up so much personal information in exchange for nothing of value depresses me.
"used more first-person singular pronouns, suggesting a preoccupation with the self,"
"That is an indicator of depression in some people."
Most were not depressed, but 114 had a depression diagnosis in their medical records."
Saying people used words describing being sad and it also being on social media makes me also wonder how many of the depressed people were actually depressed... and how many just wanted to say they were depressed. I seem to recall a lot of posts on myspace and facebook back in college by people talking about being depressed to show off how deep they were. Or people joking and showing meme images about how depressed they are and laughing about it.
Also reminds me of back in the 90's a ton of people online trying to write their dark poetry about suicide and whatnot.
Too many people that seem to think depression is a cool thing to get attention with, rather than something serious that we should pay attention to. Not : "lol im depressed isn't that cool guyz? look at my pic of jack skelington now"
The second premise that you lose privacy based on the words you use are nonsense. It's the same as you yelling in the town square.