The “language of depression” can have a powerful effect. Scientists have long tried to pin down the exact relationship between depression and language, and technology is helping us get closer to a more complete picture. Now a study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science has come up with a list of guidelines that can help accurately predict whether someone is suffering from depression.
Today, computerized text analysis methods allow the processing of extremely large databases in a few minutes, which can help detect linguistic characteristics that humans may miss, calculating the percentage prevalence of words and word classes , lexical diversity, average sentence length, grammar patterns, and many other metrics.
Language can be separated into two components: content and style. The content is related to what we express, that is, the meaning or theme of the statements. It will not surprise anyone to learn that those with symptoms of depression use an excessive number of words that convey negative emotions, specifically negative adjectives and adverbs, such as “lonely,” “sad,” or “miserable.”
More interesting is the use of pronouns. Those with symptoms of depression use far more first-person singular pronouns, such as “I,” and far fewer second- and third-person pronouns, such as “they” or “she.” This pattern of pronoun use suggests that people with depression are more self-centered and less connected to others.
Language style relates to the way we express ourselves, rather than the content we express. Experts recently conducted a large text analysis of data from 64 different mental health forums on the internet, examining more than 6,400 members. “Absolutist words,” which convey absolute magnitudes or probabilities, such as “always,” “not at all,” or “completely,” were better markers for mental health forums than pronouns or words with negative emotions.
From the beginning, they predicted that those with depression will have a more radical worldview (everything is black or white) and that this would manifest in their language style. Thus, the prevalence of absolutist words was approximately 50% higher in the anxiety and depression forums, and approximately 80% higher for the suicidal ideation forums than in the control forums.
They also found out from their study that those who previously had depressive symptoms were also more likely to have those thoughts again. Therefore, your increased tendency to absolutist thinking, even when there are currently no symptoms of depression, is a sign that it may play a key role in the onset of depressive episodes.
Practical implications
Understanding the language of depression can help us discern the way people with depression symptoms think, but it also has practical implications. The researchers combine automated text analysis with machine learning to classify a variety of mental health conditions from natural language text samples, such as blog posts. And such a classification is already surpassing that made by trained therapists.
Experts say that it is possible to use language associated with depression without being depressed. But considering that the World Health Organization estimates that more than 300 million people worldwide are living with depression, an increase of more than 18% since 2005, having more tools available to detect this problem is certainly important for improve health and prevent tragic suicides like those of the well-known leader of the Nirvana group, Kurt Cobain .
Referencia: Mohammed Al-Mosaiwi et al. In an Absolute State: Elevated Use of Absolutist Words Is a Marker Specific to Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation, Clinical Psychological Science (2018). DOI: 10.1177/2167702617747074
