Enabling Early Health Care Intervention by Detecting Depression in Users of Web-Based Forums using Language Models: Longitudinal Analysis and Evaluation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Major depressive disorder is a common mental disorder affecting 5% of adults worldwide. Early contact with health care services is critical for achieving accurate diagnosis and improving patient outcomes. Key symptoms of major depressive disorder (depression hereafter) such as cognitive distortions are observed in verbal communication, which can also manifest in the structure of written language. Thus, the automatic analysis of text outputs may provide opportunities for early intervention in settings where written communication is rich and regular, such as social media and web-based forums.

Objective

The objective of this study was 2-fold. We sought to gauge the effectiveness of different machine learning approaches to identify users of the mass web-based forum Re

SUBMITTER: Owen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7614849 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature