Andrea Vaughan, UCL

17th November 2020

Estimates suggest almost half of all people who die by suicide have no contact with healthcare professionals for their mental health. Prejudice and stigma surrounding mental health disorders mean that few seek professional support for suicidal thoughts. There is a need, therefore, to develop other methods to enable engagement with people who do not have the inclination or the ability to discuss these openly. Social media can provide a safe place to discuss mental health , including suicidal thoughts.

Much existing research to identify the linguistic features unique to users with suicidal ideation focuses on data from thematic contexts dealing directly with the topic of suicide or mental health. Its usefulness in identifying people at risk is therefore limited. It is probable the features identified in the current literature are only of the theme of suicide, rather than being indicative of suicidal ideation. For linguistics to be useful to identify those with suicidal ideation, and to save lives, those at risk need to be identifiable from a wider range of contexts.

This project investigates linguistic features of suicidal ideation, comparing data from r/suicidewatch with data from unrelated subreddits by the same users. The overarching aim is to explore whether users with suicidal ideation use language on social media differently to people without, regardless of topic. This presentation will provide a brief overview of current research, describe the methodological approach I intend to take, as well as detail the ethical considerations of this topic and in the context of social media