University of Washington: Facebook information can reveal depression in users

Friends often post negative comments on Facebook, but in fact they are already showing signs of depression. On Friday, a foreign media published a review, introducing how Facebook can help the public and psychologists make early assessments and help patients with depression. The following is the full text of the review:

If a friend recently posted some depressing status, emotional pictures, or some worrying links on Facebook, we might mistakenly think that they are just trying to get attention from others, and sometimes even hide their updates because they are annoying. However, according to recent media reports, these unusual behaviors often show real signs of depression.

For most people, including teenagers and the elderly, social networking sites are their only outlet. A study conducted by the University of Washington last year showed that 30% of the 200 students surveyed felt "worthless or very hopeless, had insomnia or excessive sleep problems, and had difficulty concentrating." These phenomena all meet the American Psychiatric Association's definition of depression symptoms. The Internet space can create an invisible barrier for people, allowing them to dare to vent some things that they usually hide in real life. Because among these patients with depression, generally only 10% will seek counseling from psychologists to help them solve their psychological problems.

"We can identify early signs of risk through what adolescents and adults say on Facebook, which can help inform clinical screening and counseling," said Dr. Megan A. Moreno, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the lead researcher on the Facebook study.

But using Facebook to identify signs of depression raises ethical and privacy issues, since posts can only be seen by people in a user's friend list, who in most cases are not experts in psychology.

“Do you think we could employ someone in a university clinic whose job is to look at Facebook every day? It’s not practical and it would feel weird,” Dr. Moreno said.

At Cornell University, student dormitory advisors are advised to add students living in their dormitories on Facebook to help the university track students' mental health and overall status. Dormitory advisors also hold regular weekly meetings with student counselors and police to discuss students and the symptoms of potential depression they present. The meetings allow dormitory advisors to understand how to distinguish between false alarms and actual risks, and to further focus on information about students who should seek help from counselors.

Although children are generally reluctant to add their parents on Facebook because they feel embarrassed, parents should be vigilant about their children's online activities to see if they reveal anxiety, bullying or other abnormal behaviors. Dr. Moreno recommends that if parents notice some unexpected signs of information - whether in real life or online, they should try to remain calm and intervene as soon as possible instead of losing their temper. After all, people post information on Facebook in the hope of receiving responses and comments from others.

In 2007, Facebook also cooperated with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a US public welfare organization. Users can report posts with "suicide" links to them. Once it is confirmed that the link in the post poses a risk, both the reporter and the original poster will receive a website link to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline and online psychological counseling information.