Related papers: Helping or Hurting? Predicting Changes in Users' R…
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…
Online communities can serve as meaningful sources of social support, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable groups. Disclosure of personal information facilitates integration into online communities but may also expose individuals to…
Since the advent of online social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, useful health-related studies have been conducted using the information posted by online participants. Personal health-related issues such as mental health,…
Recent years have seen a rise in social media platforms that provide peer-to-peer support to individuals suffering from mental distress. Studies on the impact of these platforms have focused on either short-term scales of single-post…
Online mental health support communities have grown in recent years for providing accessible mental and emotional health support through volunteer counselors. Despite millions of people participating in chat support on these platforms, the…
Many people struggling with mental health issues are unable to access adequate care due to high costs and a shortage of mental health professionals, leading to a global mental health crisis. Online mental health communities can help…
Recommender systems on social media increasingly mediate how users encounter mental health content, yet it remains unclear whether they distinguish help-seeking from distress expression. We conduct a controlled 7-day audit of TikTok's "For…
Mental disorders such as depression and suicidal ideation are hazardous, affecting more than 300 million people over the world. However, on social media, mental disorder symptoms can be observed, and automated approaches are increasingly…
In recent years, Online Social Networks have become an important medium for people who suffer from mental disorders to share moments of hardship, and receive emotional and informational support. In this work, we analyze how discussions in…
Social support in online mental health communities (OMHCs) is an effective and accessible way of managing mental wellbeing. In this process, sharing emotional supports is considered crucial to the thriving social supports in OMHCs, yet…
Large language model-powered chatbots have transformed how people seek information, especially in high-stakes contexts like mental health. Despite their support capabilities, safe detection and response to crises such as suicidal ideation…
A growing number of people engage in online health forums, making it important to understand the quality of the advice they receive. In this paper, we explore the role of expertise in responses provided to help-seeking posts regarding…
A central challenge in affective computing is determining appropriate empathy levels for different interaction contexts. Prior work has characterized two poles: task-focused interactions, where empathy demand is near zero, and emotional…
Social media usage has been shown to have both positive and negative consequences for users' mental health. Several studies indicated that peer feedback plays an important role in the relationship between social media use and mental health.…
Mental health forums are online communities where people express their issues and seek help from moderators and other users. In such forums, there are often posts with severe content indicating that the user is in acute distress and there…
In the light of increasing clues on social media impact on self-harm and suicide risks, there is still no evidence on who are and how factually engaged in suicide-related online behaviors. This study reports new findings of high-performance…
The increase in the prevalence of mental health problems has coincided with a growing popularity of health related social networking sites. Regardless of their therapeutic potential, On-line Support Groups (OSGs) can also have negative…
AI companion chatbots are increasingly used for emotional support, with prior work in the domain predominantly documenting their mixed psychosocial impacts, including both increased emotional expression and heightened loneliness. However,…
Social media platforms have become pivotal as self-help forums, enabling individuals to share personal experiences and seek support. However, on topics as sensitive as depression, what are the consequences of online self-disclosure? Here,…
Platforms like Reddit and Twitter offer internet users an opportunity to talk about diverse issues, including those pertaining to physical and mental health. Some of these forums also function as a safe space for severely distressed mental…