ArticleDepression and anxiety2022
Prospective associations of text-message-based sentiment with symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety.
Article in Depression and anxiety, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Relation Between Passively Collected GPS Mobility Metrics and Depressive Symptoms: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Assessing the Need for Mental Health Support From Free-Text Responses: Development and Validation of Language-Based Assessments in Adults With Internalizing Symptoms.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Depressive Symptoms Are Associated with Linguistic Features of Negative but Not Positive Autobiographical Narratives.Affective science · 2026Article
- Fine-tuning large language models for detecting negative self-referential language in smartphone text among youth with depression.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2026Article
- Cognitive modeling of real-world behavior for understanding mental health.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2026Review
- Digital biomarkers in the diagnosis of social anxiety disorder: a scoping review.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Assessing Heterogeneity in Sentiment Changes in Text-Based Counseling: Latent Class Trajectory Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- A randomised cross over trial examining the linguistic markers of depression and anxiety in symptomatic adults.Npj mental health research · 2025Article
- Semantic signals in self-reference: The detection and prediction of depressive symptoms from the daily diary entries of a sample with major depressive disorder.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2025Article
- Using natural language processing to identify patterns associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Language sentiment predicts changes in depressive symptoms.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Detecting adolescent depression through passive monitoring of linguistic markers in smartphone communication.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2024Article
- Measuring algorithmic bias to analyze the reliability of AI tools that predict depression risk using smartphone sensed-behavioral data.Npj mental health research · 2024Article
- Linguistic Variables and Gender Differences Within a Messenger-Based Psychosocial Chat Counseling Service for Children and Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Differential temporal utility of passively sensed smartphone features for depression and anxiety symptom prediction: a longitudinal cohort study.Npj mental health research · 2024Article
- Predicting negative attitudes towards suicide in social media texts: prediction model development and validation study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Capturing mood dynamics through adolescent smartphone social communication.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2023Article
- The Promise of Affective Language for Identifying and Intervening on Psychopathology.Affective science · 2023Article
- Analyzing text message linguistic features: Do people with depression communicate differently with their close and non-close contacts?Behaviour research and therapy · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveLanguage patterns may elucidate mechanisms of mental health conditions. To inform underlying theory and risk models, we evaluated prospective associations between in vivo text messaging language and differential symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety.
methodsOver 16 weeks, we collected outgoing text messages from 335 adults. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), NRC Emotion Lexicon, and previously established depression and stress dictionaries, we evaluated the degree to which language features predict symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, or social anxiety the following week using hierarchical linear models. To isolate the specificity of language effects, we also controlled for the effects of the two other symptom types.
resultsWe found significant relationships of language features, including personal pronouns, negative emotion, cognitive and biological processes, and informal language, with common mental health conditions, including depression, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety (ps < .05). There was substantial overlap between language features and the three mental health outcomes. However, after controlling for other symptoms in the models, depressive symptoms were uniquely negatively associated with language about anticipation, trust, social processes, and affiliation (βs: -.10 to -.09, ps < .05), whereas generalized anxiety symptoms were positively linked with these same language features (βs: .12-.13, ps < .001). Social anxiety symptoms were uniquely associated with anger, sexual language, and swearing (βs: .12-.13, ps < .05).
conclusionLanguage that confers both common (e.g., personal pronouns and negative emotion) and specific (e.g., affiliation, anticipation, trust, and anger) risk for affective disorders is perceptible in prior week text messages, holding promise for understanding cognitive-behavioral mechanisms and tailoring digital interventions.
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