20,531 research outputs found

    Depression and Self-Harm Risk Assessment in Online Forums

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    Users suffering from mental health conditions often turn to online resources for support, including specialized online support communities or general communities such as Twitter and Reddit. In this work, we present a neural framework for supporting and studying users in both types of communities. We propose methods for identifying posts in support communities that may indicate a risk of self-harm, and demonstrate that our approach outperforms strong previously proposed methods for identifying such posts. Self-harm is closely related to depression, which makes identifying depressed users on general forums a crucial related task. We introduce a large-scale general forum dataset ("RSDD") consisting of users with self-reported depression diagnoses matched with control users. We show how our method can be applied to effectively identify depressed users from their use of language alone. We demonstrate that our method outperforms strong baselines on this general forum dataset.Comment: Expanded version of EMNLP17 paper. Added sections 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, FastText baseline, and CNN-

    The FDA “black box” warning on antidepressant suicide risk in young adults: More harm than benefits?

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    The decision made in the year 2004 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require a boxed warning on antidepressants regarding the risk of suicidality in young adults still represents a matter of controversy. The FDA warning was grounded on industry-sponsored trials carried one decade ago or earlier. However, within the past decade, an increasing number of reports have questioned the actual validity of the FDA warning, especially considering a decline in the prescription of the antidepressant drugs associated with an increase in the rate of suicidal events among people with severe depression. The present report provides an overview of the FDA black box warning, also documenting two Major Depressive Disorder patients whose refusal to undergo a pharmacological antidepressant treatment possibly led to an increased risk for suicidal behaviors. The concerns raised by the FDA black box warning need to be considered in real-world clinical practice, stating the associated clinical and public health implications

    Strategies to minimise the incidence of suicide and suicidal behaviour

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    This resource sheet provides a review of policies and programs that aim to prevent suicide and suicidal behaviour. Suicidal behaviour refers to actions that can result in death, such as taking an overdose or deliberately crashing a car. The scope of this resource sheet does not include self-injury that is part of the cultural grieving process (‘sorry business’). While it is known that high levels of mental health and wellbeing decrease the risk of suicide, programs to promote mental health and wellbeing are also not considered in this resource sheet, as they are the subject of a separate resource sheet Strategies and practices for promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Effective mental health promotion programs include cultural healing programs, culturally appropriate mental health services and the Indigenous Hip Hop program. Also important are Indigenous adaptations of effective mainstream programs such as the Resourceful Adolescent Program, MindMatters (a mental health promotion program for secondary schools) and the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program. Suicide is strongly associated with the use of alcohol and other drugs. Strategies to reduce alcohol and other drug-related harm are also not included as they are the subject of a separate resource sheet Reducing alcohol and other drug related harm. This resource sheet considers suicide prevention policies and programs that have been implemented in both remote and non-remote parts of Australia and internationally. It assesses their strengths and limitations and their actual, or likely, effectiveness in relation to Indigenous Australians

    Internet addiction in students: prevalence and risk factors

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    The last decade has witnessed a large increase in research on the newly emerging mental health problem of Internet addiction. Rather than looking at Internet addiction per se, this study focused on particular activities on the Internet that might be potentially addictive and linked them to personality traits that might predispose individuals to Internet addiction. The aims of this study were (i) to assess the prevalence of clinically significant levels of Internet addiction, and to (ii) discern the interplay between personality traits and specific Internet uses in increasing the risk for Internet addiction. This cross-sectional online survey used data from 2,257 students of an English university. Results indicated that 3.2% of the students were classified as being addicted to the Internet. The included personality traits and uses of online activities explained 21.5% of the variance in Internet addiction. A combination of online shopping and neuroticism decreased the risk for Internet addiction, whereas a combination of online gaming and openness to experience increased it. In addition to this, frequent usage of online shopping and social online activities, high neuroticism and low agreeableness significantly increased the chances of being addicted to the Internet. Findings and their implications are discussed

    Youth and the future: effective youth services for the year 2015

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    This report provides an understanding of the services required by young people in the year 2015, based on a thorough analysis of recent trends and expert projections of those trends. The report analyses key social and economic changes for young people in Australia over the past 10 to 20 years including movements in population, education, employment/unemployment and the labour market, incomes, family and household structure, health, and crime and justice

    Improving e-therapy for mood disorders among lesbians and gay men

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    Introduction This toolkit provides the first comprehensive set of guidelines for tailoring mood-disorder e-therapies to the needs of same-sex attracted people. It gives developers of e-therapies a set of practical recommendations for adjusting e-therapies to more effectively accommodate lesbians and gay men. These recommendations are supported by in-depth research that was designed specifically to inform this toolkit. Summaries of this research are provided in the toolkit and detailed findings are available in published research articles. This toolkit also provides information on the mental health-related challenges that are often faced by same-sex attracted people and links readers to key resources and organisations for further information. Checklists and other tools are included as aids for developers to assess the inclusiveness and relevance of e-therapies to lesbians and gay men. In short, this toolkit contains an extensive set of tools and explains why and how they could be implemented

    Self-monitoring Practices, Attitudes, and Needs of Individuals with Bipolar Disorder: Implications for the Design of Technologies to Manage Mental Health

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    Objective To understand self-monitoring strategies used independently of clinical treatment by individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), in order to recommend technology design principles to support mental health management. Materials and Methods Participants with BD (N = 552) were recruited through the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the International Bipolar Foundation, and WeSearchTogether.org to complete a survey of closed- and open-ended questions. In this study, we focus on descriptive results and qualitative analyses. Results Individuals reported primarily self-monitoring items related to their bipolar disorder (mood, sleep, finances, exercise, and social interactions), with an increasing trend towards the use of digital tracking methods observed. Most participants reported having positive experiences with technology-based tracking because it enables self-reflection and agency regarding health management and also enhances lines of communication with treatment teams. Reported challenges stem from poor usability or difficulty interpreting self-tracked data. Discussion Two major implications for technology-based self-monitoring emerged from our results. First, technologies can be designed to be more condition-oriented, intuitive, and proactive. Second, more automated forms of digital symptom tracking and intervention are desired, and our results suggest the feasibility of detecting and predicting emotional states from patterns of technology usage. However, we also uncovered tension points, namely that technology designed to support mental health can also be a disruptor. Conclusion This study provides increased understanding of self-monitoring practices, attitudes, and needs of individuals with bipolar disorder. This knowledge bears implications for clinical researchers and practitioners seeking insight into how individuals independently self-manage their condition as well as for researchers designing monitoring technologies to support mental health management

    The cutting-edge of clinical psychology? : the internet, mental health & self-harm support groups

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    The aim of this study is to investigate the role of the internet within the area of mental health support. The first paper reviews the current literature surrounding the use of the internet for self-help and intervention purposes. It highlights investigations into the outcomes, benefits and disadvantages in using this medium for support and therapeutic input. It also highlights the implications within clinical psychology for future research and service development. This is presented in terms of on-going interventions and support, as well as for use within a 'stepped-care' model of service delivery. The second paper presents an empirical investigation into users' experiences of using online support groups concerned with self-harming behaviour. The literature surrounding this area was noted as particularly sparse. The study uses a mixed method incorporating both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Exploration into the responses towards individuals who disclose self-harming behaviour is also performed using a simulated online forum post to which participants 'role-played' replies. The third paper presents a reflective account of the research process. It includes reflection around the area of using the internet as a research tool. It also specifically highlights a methodological critique of the empirical methods with reference to online ethical research guidelines presented by the British Psychological Society (BPS, 2007). Personal reflections on the process, and dealing with a potentially distressing subject matter are also discussed
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