From Thoughts to Tweets - Depression and Social Media

                            

At the age of 16 I was diagnosed with depression only to be diagnosed with Chronic Panic Attack Disorder (Anxiety) 6 years later at the age of 22. Most people are surprised when I share my journey with anxiety and depression. I would like to believe they are curious to know how such a bubbly-happy-go-lucky person can find time to be anything other than that. However, as most people that deal with mental health issues can relate, it starts in our minds and we often internalize everything in secrecy. 

So of course when I came across an article title, “This Twitter Algorithm Predicts Mental Illness Better Than Trained Professionals,” I was like SAY WHAT? I understand that mental illness is an umbrella statement that encompasses mild and sever mental conditions. However, I was still intrigued to read the article that focused on two very tricky topics: algorithms and mental illness. 

I encourage you to read the original article but if you are interested in the TL;DR then here ya go...

Top 3 points made in the article: 

1. Data was collected on 378 Twitter participants focusing on depression (204) and post traumatic stress disorder (174) in the following study: Forecasting the onset and course of mental illness with Twitter data
2. The patients that would be most likely be diagnosed with depression were recorded using words like “don’t, disaster, and sad” more than “like, me, or happy.”
3. The study used predictive data similar to warning systems for hard-to-detect cancers, disease outbreaks, and regional dietary health issues. 

As you can imagine, no system is fool proof. Soliciting the help from mental health professionals to properly diagnose patients will still be a must.  With that said...

Top 3 points I encourage you to consider: 

1. What about the group of people that do not use social media?
   
   According to Statista.com: "In 2017, 81 percent of U.S. Americans had a social media profile, representing a five percent growth compared to the previous year. According to estimates, the number of worldwide social media users reached 1.96 billion and is expected to grow to some 2.5 billion by 2018."
     
2. What about those of us that censor what we say/share on social media?
   
   - I do no post negative or subliminal messages on social media.
   - I have friends however when I am with them we rarely take photos together, we are normally enjoying the moment.
   - I love bright photos with good lightening but I also enjoy black and white photos (filters) for nostalgic reasons.
   - I rarely post daily unless I am participating in a neat “challenge”, otherwise I am only an “onlooker” of others or I am off of the platforms all together.
   - I do not have many followers thus my crowd participation from people is low compared to others.
   
3. What about the other mental illnesses that can be harder to diagnose from social media posts alone?
   
   According to psychologytoday.com: “The definition of smiling depression is: appearing happy to others, literally smiling, while internally suffering with depressive symptoms. Smiling depression often goes undetected. Those suffering often discount their own feelings and brush them aside. They might not even be aware of their depression, or want to acknowledge their symptoms due to a fear of being considered “weak.”
   The hallmark of smiling depression is sadness. The smile and external façade is a defense mechanism, an attempt to hide their true feelings. A person could be experiencing sadness about a failed relationship, career challenges, or lacking what they view as a true purpose in life. The sadness might also manifest as a constant, overall feeling that “something just isn’t right.”

I am excited to see what more comes from this study. It is amazing to see the two things that I deal with on a daily basis, algorithms and depression, being used to potentially help millions.  

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Please feel free to share below. 

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