"Feeling bad on Facebook" is a research-based article about depression. Depression is a mental condition that has an adverse effect on an individual's feelings. In severe cases, it leads to suicide. The study reveals that the state is common among college going students who are either young adults or teenagers. Diagnosing depression by just physical assessment is difficult. The disease does not have any direct physical signs that are specific to it. It is characterized by mental and emotional symptoms which only the person experiencing can reveal to other people to seek help. Common symptoms include hopelessness, depressed mood, insomnia and abnormal behavioral changes (Megan Moreno, 2011). Therefore, it is diagnosed when the victim opens up his or her feelings, or the symptoms to health become conspicuous or someone who can give referrals.
Further, the article reveals that in most cases, depression goes undiagnosed despite its high prevalence among young adults and teenagers. Therefore, it has had some negative consequences on the victims such as affecting their social life, their academic and daily performance and in severe cases leading to suicide. The article focuses on how social media networks can be used to identify depression symptoms. The researcher focuses particularly on Facebook which most of the users use to share their feelings. Using the status updates of Facebook users, one can get to know how the other individual is feeling and recognize any negative emotions that are associated with depression.
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The study participants in the article are college students who are Facebook users. The researcher used the students whose accounts were active and engaged within the 30 days of the study. Only public accounts were used. The total number of the study population was 200 students inclusive of both male and female students. Majority of the participants were male accounting for 56.5% of the entire study population. All the participants were aged 18 years and above with the majority 87.5% falling under the category of young adults; 20 years and above (Megan Moreno, 2011).
Additionally, the majority 72% were in a relationship. The study participants were found using the Facebook search engine that was able to identify profiles based on the social demographic characteristics that were key. Around 500 patterns were identified; however, the researcher used the eligibility criteria to narrow down to 200 participants (Megan Moreno, 2011). The exclusion criteria of the study were all students with private accounts and not within the age bracket of college students while the inclusion criteria were all students meeting the required age, having a public Facebook account and are actively engaged on Facebook.
The research was carried out purposefully to evaluate college students who use Facebook to disclose their depression symptoms. The specific objectives of the study were to: describe the symptoms of depression that have been displayed on Facebook profiles. Assess the number of profiles that exhibited signs of depression to come up with an estimated prevalence using DSM criteria for diagnosis. To determine the relationship between the social-demographic characteristics of the study population and their depression status. The hypothesis of the study was that there is no significant statistical relationship between the stigma associated with public display of emotions and the depression symptoms prevalence. The researcher used the following methods to achieve the objective of the study and answer the study question. Addressing the first and second objective, there was an in-depth evaluation of the profiles that were put up by the account users to identify all the depression symptoms displayed. The only status updates that were legible were those that had a personal touch — the evaluation dated since the day the study was done to a year ago to measure the consistency. The third objective was measured by analyzing the social demographic characteristics and the status updates of the individuals.
The research results showed that around 25% of Facebook users disclose depression symptoms on their profiles. However, using the DSM criteria for diagnosis, only a small proportion of the college students displayed signs of depression publicly. There was no significant relationship between social-demographic characteristics and depression status. All the results of individual factors have a p-value higher than 0.05. However, a significant correlation has been established between the profile of an individual, their comments and depression symptoms. College students who are depressed are more likely to disclose their emotions on Facebook rather than sharing with people offline. Some limitations are creating a gap in the study; however, because the students selectively choose the aspect of life, they would wish to display. Therefore, the study does not provide data that can accurately diagnose one with mental depression. Although there are some limitations, the study gives an insight into future research and mental health-care. The information tracked down on Facebook can be used to know the students at risk and put in measures that will prevent the severity of the condition.
I found this research very interesting because of the insight it gives. There is so much information on mental depression that the study has presented and ways to identify depression cases among my peers. The research is helpful mainly because it has addressed one of the thematic areas in health in a new approach. Depression is mental health of public concern, and with the information on the paper, one can determine those at risk and help them get help in time. I would like to know how to differentiate the individuals sharing their emotions on Facebook from those sharing their opinions which I believe can lead to misdiagnosis.
References
Megan A. Moreno, L. A. (2011). Feeling Bad on Facebook: Depression disclosures by college students on a social networking site. Research Article , 28: 447 - 455.
