Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33574604›Full record

ArticleNature human behaviour2021

Individuals with depression express more distorted thinking on social media.

Krishna C Bathina, Marijn Ten Thij, Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, Lauren A Rutter, Johan Bollen

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature human behaviour, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed
18.6field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

50 citing papers in PubMed, 119 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  4. Disorganisation and depression: a re-examination of how we think and speak when depressed.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026
    Review
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  13. Factors associated with end-of-life quality in terminally ill cancer patients' last six months of life: a longitudinal study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Krishna C BathinaLuddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Marijn Ten ThijLuddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7186-7344
Lorenzo Lorenzo-LuacesDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8882-0243
Lauren A RutterDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8852-7602
Johan BollenLuddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA. jbollen@indiana.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7031-9293
Indiana University Bloomington · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, but is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Cognitive behavioural therapy holds that individuals with depression exhibit distorted modes of thinking, that is, cognitive distortions, that can negatively affect their emotions and motivation. Here, we show that the language of individuals with a self-reported diagnosis of depression on social media is characterized by higher levels of distorted thinking compared with a random sample. This effect is specific to the distorted nature of the expression and cannot be explained by the presence of specific topics, sentiment or first-person pronouns. This study identifies online language patterns that are indicative of depression-related distorted thinking. We caution that any future applications of this research should carefully consider ethical and data privacy issues.

Indexed as

PersonalityAnticipation, PsychologicalDepressionEmotionsFemaleHumansMaleMental HealthPessimismSocial MediaThinking

Identifiers

PMID33574604
OpenAlexW3127096501

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.