User Dynamics and Thematic Exploration in r/Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights From Overlapping r/SuicideWatch Users

BACKGROUND

In 2023, the United States experienced its highest- recorded number of suicides, exceeding 50,000 deaths. In the realm of psychiatric disorders, major depressive disorder stands out as the most common issue, affecting 15% to 17% of the population and carrying a notable suicide risk of approximately 15%. However, not everyone with depression has suicidal thoughts. While "suicidal depression" is not a clinical diagnosis, it may be observed in daily life, emphasizing the need for awareness.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to examine the dynamics, emotional tones, and topics discussed in posts within the r/Depression subreddit, with a specific focus on users who had also engaged in the r/SuicideWatch community. The objective was to use natural language processing techniques and models to better understand the complexities of depression among users with potential suicide ideation, with the goal of improving intervention and prevention strategies for suicide.

METHODS

Archived posts were extracted from the r/Depression and r/SuicideWatch Reddit communities in English spanning from 2019 to 2022, resulting in a final data set of over 150,000 posts contributed by approximately 25,000 unique overlapping users. A broad and comprehensive mix of methods was conducted on these posts, including trend and survival analysis, to explore the dynamic of users in the 2 subreddits. The BERT family of models extracted features from data for sentiment and thematic analysis.

RESULTS

On August 16, 2020, the post count in r/SuicideWatch surpassed that of r/Depression. The transition from r/Depression to r/SuicideWatch in 2020 was the shortest, lasting only 26 days. Sadness emerged as the most prevalent emotion among overlapping users in the r/Depression community. In addition, physical activity changes, negative self-view, and suicidal thoughts were identified as the most common depression symptoms, all showing strong positive correlations with the emotion tone of disappointment. Furthermore, the topic "struggles with depression and motivation in school and work" (12%) emerged as the most discussed topic aside from suicidal thoughts, categorizing users based on their inclination toward suicide ideation.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study underscores the effectiveness of using natural language processing techniques to explore language markers and patterns associated with mental health challenges in online communities like r/Depression and r/SuicideWatch. These insights offer novel perspectives distinct from previous research. In the future, there will be potential for further refinement and optimization of machine classifications using these techniques, which could lead to more effective intervention and prevention strategies.

Investigating COVID-19's Impact on Mental Health: Trend and Thematic Analysis of Reddit Users' Discourse

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in heightened levels of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues due to sudden changes in daily life, such as economic stress, social isolation, and educational irregularity. Accurately assessing emotional and behavioral changes in response to the pandemic can be challenging, but it is essential to understand the evolving emotions, themes, and discussions surrounding the impact of COVID-19 on mental health.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to understand the evolving emotions and themes associated with the impact of COVID-19 on mental health support groups (eg, r/Depression and r/Anxiety) on Reddit (Reddit Inc) during the initial phase and after the peak of the pandemic using natural language processing techniques and statistical methods.

METHODS

This study used data from the r/Depression and r/Anxiety Reddit communities, which consisted of posts contributed by 351,409 distinct users over a period spanning from 2019 to 2022. Topic modeling and Word2Vec embedding models were used to identify key terms associated with the targeted themes within the data set. A range of trend and thematic analysis techniques, including time-to-event analysis, heat map analysis, factor analysis, regression analysis, and k-means clustering analysis, were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The time-to-event analysis revealed that the first 28 days following a major event could be considered a critical window for mental health concerns to become more prominent. The theme trend analysis revealed key themes such as economic stress, social stress, suicide, and substance use, with varying trends and impacts in each community. The factor analysis highlighted pandemic-related stress, economic concerns, and social factors as primary themes during the analyzed period. Regression analysis showed that economic stress consistently demonstrated the strongest association with the suicide theme, whereas the substance theme had a notable association in both data sets. Finally, the k-means clustering analysis showed that in r/Depression, the number of posts related to the "depression, anxiety, and medication" cluster decreased after 2020, whereas the "social relationships and friendship" cluster showed a steady decrease. In r/Anxiety, the "general anxiety and feelings of unease" cluster peaked in April 2020 and remained high, whereas the "physical symptoms of anxiety" cluster showed a slight increase.

CONCLUSIONS

This study sheds light on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and the related themes discussed in 2 web-based communities during the pandemic. The results offer valuable insights for developing targeted interventions and policies to support individuals and communities in similar crises.