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Using social media to Diagnose Depression

September 6, 2024 in Social Media Guide

Often, we hear about the damage that social media is having on our mental health, from isolating ourselves to avoiding face-to-face human interaction to experiencing FOMO. This study however, tried to see how social media wasn’t affecting mental health, but instead how it can help diagnose mental illnesses, specifically with depression.

The study reviewed the Facebook statuses of 683 people who consented to have their profiles analyzed. Of those, 114 had been diagnosed with depression, so for each person who had been diagnosed, there were 5 others being compared to them who were not. The researchers used a time frame based around the months leading up to depressed person’s diagnosis, resulting in a total of analyzing over half a million Facebook statuses!

What did the researchers discover? By organizing those statuses and ensuing conversations into categories, they found patterns of supposed depression-associated “language markers.” These are words and phrases that had more negative emotional connotations, including sadness, hostility, and loneliness. Those who used these also were more likely to use first person pronouns like “I” and “me” more often too.

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Through these “language markers,” the researchers discovered that they were able to predict the depressed individual’s diagnosis with significant accuracy. This was especially true in the three to six months before the diagnosis. To the researchers, these statuses included words that overlapped with those often found in medical screening surveys for depression, implying that it can be adapted in a way so diagnosis can be done electronically.

The ability to screen for depression by using social media is also important because it allows for those who are vulnerable a more accessible opportunity to get diagnosed. For example, it can be difficult for a primary care provider to screen for it in a brief session. Also, by having the statuses and information already there can make it easier for those who are hesitant to reach out to submit it instead of speaking up if they’re uncomfortable.

The article makes sure to reiterate that the study had the participants consent to submitting their statuses for analysis and that they did not use data provided by Facebook. This should also hold true for potential future diagnosing. Between having mental health be a very personal issue and being in a time where social media companies have notoriously been selling data, it’s important that the choice ultimately lies with the individual in question.

Do you think that social media is a good indicator to tell when someone is at risk of a mental illness? Do you think that it’s a good idea for people to submit their profiles if they want to get screened for depression?

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Gratitude Prompts

September 4, 2024 in Be Positive

According to Grateful, researchers at Harvard Medical School report, “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

However, Brianna Steinhilber writes that while practicing gratitude seems simple enough, it can be difficult for some, “especially if you’re a person who has a hard time expressing emotions, or you’re going through a rough patch that makes channeling gratitude difficult.”

Therefore, to begin, use a gratitude prompt. Gratitude prompts can tap into your creativity and help you recognize the things you’re grateful to have in your life. You can also use gratitude prompts as a conversation starter with others. And try writing them down by keeping a gratitude notebook or using an app!

Try these gratitude prompts:

  1. List five small ways that you can share your gratitude today.
  2. Write about a person in your life that you’re especially grateful for and why.
  3. What skills or abilities are you thankful to have? (You communicate well, you’re a good cook, you have an uncanny ability to dominate in Fantasy Football. Hey, it’s your journal).
  4. What is there about a challenge you’re experiencing right now that you can be thankful for? (This is a tough one, but you have learned something or grown from the hardship—how?)
  5. How is where you are in life today different than a year ago–and what positive changes are you thankful for?
  6. What activities and hobbies would you miss if you were unable to do them?
  7. List five body parts that you’re grateful for and why. (Those long legs help you reach items on the top shelf … don’t forget the little things.)
  8. What about the city you live in are you grateful for?
  9. What are you taking for granted about your day to day that you can be thankful for? (Can’t think of any? Your alarm clock, your coffee machine, the paperboy who delivered your newspaper, your friendly neighbor who always says good morning … and that’s before you even leave the house.)
  10. List 5 people in your life who are hard to get along with—and write down at least one quality for each that you are grateful for.
  11. What materialistic items are you most grateful for?
  12. Write about the music you’re thankful to be able to listen to and why. (We couldn’t make it five minutes on the treadmill without our beats.)
  13. Who has done something this week to help you or make your life easier and how can you thank them?
  14. What foods or meals are you most thankful for? (Bacon, egg and cheese on Monday morning, we’re looking at you.)
  15. What elements of nature are you grateful for and why? (The beach, a starry sky or one speckled with fluffy clouds, the sunset…)
  16. What part of your morning routine are you most thankful for? (A big stretch before you get out of bed, that warm cup of coffee, a cuddle session with your pet…)
  17. Write a letter to someone who has positively impacted your life, however big or small.
  18. What is something you’re grateful to have learned this week?
  19. When was the last time you laughed uncontrollably—relive the memory.
  20. What aspects of your work environment are you thankful for? (Supportive co-workers, flexible hours, great snacks in the kitchen…)

Don’t have time to write?  Check out one of these apps instead:

  • Grateful: A Gratitude Journal
  • My Gratitude Journal
  • HappyFeed: Graditude Journal
  • Gratitude Journal 365
  • Gratitude Journal: The Life-changing App

Answer one of the prompts above, and if you feel comfortable, share your response in the Comments section below!  Have your own prompt? Let us know!

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New Music Monday

September 2, 2024 in LINKS

Music can help us in many ways. As several posts here have discussed, it can be particularly helpful when it comes to calming anxiety, providing an escape, or even helping us feel justified in moments when emotions can feel too overwhelming. Music players allow us to create our own playlists depending on our mood, or create ones for us depending on what we like. YouTube allows you to get creative, featuring not just songs, but remixes, mashups, and strange combinations that you can’t find anywhere else.

Finding new music can be difficult, though. While the internet has an infinite of music to search for, it’s just that, infinite. Even finding music that is similar to what you currently listen to and actually like can be daunting, but the Internet is here to help, offering tools to help you find new music that’s refreshing, but also familiar.

If you’re looking for similar music to help with concentration and mental health, or if you just want to find new artists to listen to, here are a few websites that make the process a little bit easier:

Gnoosic The musical subset of Gnod (the Global Network of Discovery), Gnoosic has you enter three artists or bands that you like. They can be from any genre, and don’t need to match. From there, Gnoosic recommends you a new artist that they predict that you would like, a song of theirs to play from Spotify, and three options: “I like it,” “I don’t like it,” and “I don’t know.” Regardless of which option you choose, Gnoosic repeats the process, using your choices to narrow down their recommendations.

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Live Plasma Live Plasma looks rather simple at first glance. It’s just a search box where you put in an artist that you like. Once you enter that, however, the page suddenly fills with a web, the artist you searched for at the center. Though intimidating at first, Live Plasma recommends a few artists that they think are similar to your chosen artist, and then recommends ones similar to those artists, and so on. Even better? If you click on any of the artists, there’s a small play button that allows you to listen to one of their songs so you can see what kind of style they have.

TuneFind TuneFind is a little different than the other websites in that you’ve probably heard the songs that they’re listing already. You may not know what it is though and most likely heard it on a TV show or a movie. TuneFind allows you to look up that song that you found particularly calming or inspirational that played in the background during a scene on an episode last night: simply search the TV show or movie, find the relevant episode if it’s the former, and TuneFind lists the songs that played throughout. Sometimes, TuneFind makes it even easier and will list what specific scene the song plays in too.

How do you look for new music? Are there any resources you use to look for music to help with stress relief?

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Controlling Emotions

August 30, 2024 in Be Positive

It’s impossible to be in control of our emotions all the time. After all, we’re only human, and we react to things in different ways as they happen, whether we want to or not. We may get overly excited about something we’re passionate about during a time when it’s probably not the most appropriate, or we might find ourselves getting a little too heated when someone insults someone close to us.

In moments when your mental health might not be the strongest, navigating and controlling your emotions can feel like a lost battle. It’s like you’re fighting with your mental illness to see who is in control over your brain and how you respond to things, and before you know it, you find yourself on edge and even the slightest inconvenience can have you bursting into tears.

Feeling like you don’t have control, especially over your emotions and reactions can be incredibly overwhelming, but it’s not impossible to take that control back.

The Internet has a few guides on how to control your emotions when they’re leaning on the more negative side. These include taking a deep breath and taking a moment to ground yourself before reacting to something, rewinding to see how you got to that feeling in the first place, and replacing negative thoughts with positive ones to redirect your mood.

And remember this: although it can feel like you’re fighting your mental illness over the remote control for your brain and emotions, you have the strength to take it back. No matter what, that remote will always end up back in your hand. 

Have you ever felt like you weren’t in control of your emotions? How did that feel? Do you have any advice on how to improve your mood or combating negative emotions?

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Can You be Extroverted and Have Social Anxiety?

August 28, 2024 in Educate Yourself

Our minds often give us images of certain types of people when we think about certain things. For example, we tend to think of those with anxiety to be by themselves, preferring to be alone and in the quiet. It can be easy and even confusing to separate introversion and social anxiety, since both include a preference of being alone and away from crowds. Even though there are significant differences, the assumption is that most people with social anxiety are also introverts, and that the two go hand in hand.

It’s important to remember though that those with disorders and illnesses do not have to have the same personality traits. While the idea of extroverts – those who thrive off of crowds, enjoy talking to large groups of people, and get their energy when they’re around others – also having social anxiety doesn’t seem to make sense, it’s something that can still happen. Being an extrovert is not a protective factor against anxiety, since anxiety is something that your mind can’t help but think about.

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Extroverts with social anxiety have two major parts of themselves conflicting, but if you take a step back, you can see how the two can influence each other. Social anxiety often includes fears of having their anxiety be noticeable and facing criticism, and those who have these and are also extroverted can feel these fears to a larger degree. They like to be around people, but they also want to make sure that they are being accepted by them. Because they want to be accepted, their anxiety can make them afraid of the worst-case scenarios and that people won’t actually like them and will actually find their outgoing traits to be annoying.

Those with social anxiety (or other mental illnesses) who are also extroverts can also be afraid of admitting they have these issues, because people don’t think that this combination is possible. Because people expect extroverts to be social, lively, and loud, extroverts can feel that they have to be that way all the time, not just to meet the standards of others, but the image they have of themselves. One 24-year-old woman goes into detail about her experience as someone with anxiety and depression but considers herself to be an extrovert. She explains that her more extroverted traits, such as being loud, can come out because she uses it to try and make up her fears of being judged by others when in public.  

While there are images that we think of when we think about mental illness, they can still be stereotypes and damaging to not just those who meet that image, but those who “conflict” with it.

Are you an introvert or extrovert? How do you think that the stereotypes and stigmas about mental illness can affect those who don’t meet them on the outside, such as outgoing and extroverted people?

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Going Off the Grid – A Social Media Hiatus

August 26, 2024 in Social Media Guide

For most people, social media is an intrinsically large part of our lives. Young people can easily spend hours per day on various social media networks without even realizing they are doing so. Enabling phone notifications for these apps means that we log onto these networks multiple times a day to see the newest updates and posts, including comments and likes on our own posts.

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Social media has been proven to be a stressful addition to our lives – read more about the ways social media stresses us out here. I often find myself overwhelmed by the amount of social information being thrown at me via Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, just to name a few social media networks adolescents and young adults use today. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I like to take what I call a “phone break” – a social media hiatus where I simply don’t look at any of my social media accounts. I have found this to be incredibly therapeutic and a way to clear my head.

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Here are some tips if you want to try going off the grid on your own:

  • Time Your social media hiatus can be as short or as long as you like. I typically log off my accounts and turn off my notifications from anywhere from 24 hours to up to five days at a time, if I can. You determine how long of a break you need. You can also just go off the grid and decide later down the line when you want to come back.
  • FOMO The fear of missing out is real, and the primary reason I always come back to my social media accounts in the end. When I do come back, I generally set some rules for myself – eg. I can check my accounts twice a day (once in the morning, once in the evening). Or after posting a picture on Instagram, I can only check the number of likes on it once an hour, instead of incessantly checking every five minutes.
  • Cleanse I like to use my time away from my phone doing things make me happy that I don’t generally have a lot of time to do. My social media hiatus is about me – about relieving my stress and starting fresh. If the weather is nice, I try to spend as much time outdoors as I can. If it’s not, I light some candles in my home and curl up with a warm blanket and a book. Bonus points if you have a nice fireplace to curl up next to this winter!

Have you ever gone “off the grid”? What did you think? Does taking a break from social media appeal to you? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Listening to Ambient Noise

August 23, 2024 in LINKS

Sitting in silence can be mortifying, but sometimes, listening to music isn’t that much of a help either – even though it can improve how we feel, sometimes it’s too loud and distracting. White noise can be the best options in this kind of situation; it’s an ever-present noise, but nowhere near loud to the point that it becomes overwhelming.

White noise is a kind of ambient noise, which, in short, is any sort of background noise. While white noise tends to sound more like static, ambient noise can also include the sounds of waves, rain, summertime crickets, or the conversations of people around you that you don’t particularly care to eavesdrop into. Ambient noise is kind of a reassuring, ever-present comfort, there to remind you that you aren’t completely alone, but gives you the space you need at the same time.

A Soft Murmur
A Soft Murmur

Whether it’s to concentrate on a task at hand or to calm yourself down during a particularly anxious and tense time, there are many places to find ambient noise to play on your computer or phone (Spotify has a number of playlists under the Sleep and Focus genres if you need a place to start, and YouTube has an infinite number of hour-long videos). However, for a more interactive experience, A Soft Murmur (a website and an app) allows you to adjust different kinds of ambient noise for a personalized noise that’s just for you. There are ten categories, ranging from rain to coffee shops to a singing bowl, all with different volume controls so some can be louder than others.

Here, you can pretend you’re on a beach, the sound of waves around you with the cackling noises of a bonfire nearby. You can recreate being in a coffee shop during a thunderstorm, people’s voices around you drowning out the rumblings of the thunder. You can also have some fun and find out what a singing bowl is, blasting it amongst the sounds of rain, birds, white noise, and crickets all at once. Whatever it is, the website not only gives you what you want to listen to to relax, but also the control that we sometimes need to feel.

Would you consider listening to ambient noise if you don’t already? Would you enjoy having the ability to play DJ and control what kind of noise you listen to?

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Happiness Set Point

August 21, 2024 in Be Positive, LINKS

There is an idea in psychology that we all have something called a happiness set point. A happiness set point is a term used to describe our general level of happiness, and it is unique to each of us. We all have different set points, and it is possible that some people, who seem to be happier than others, have naturally higher happiness set points.

Where does our happiness set point come from? 

Your happiness set point partly comes from your genes. It also comes from our upbringing and personality traits that we develop when we are young and stay with us throughout our lives.

Does our set point change?   

Yes, but only temporarily. In general, our happiness set point has the ability to increase around positive (such as winning the lottery) and negative (you do not perform well on an exam) events. However, eventually our happiness will return to our natural set point (with the exception of a few life events). In fact, research has shown that “lottery winners and those who have undergone extreme hardship due to a health crisis or accident, within a year or so to return to the level of happiness they had prior to their life change.” Basically if something good happens, your sense of happiness rises; if something bad happens; it falls. However, eventually it all returns back to baseline.

Can I do anything about my happiness set point?

Yes! There is a way to choose to become a happier person. Huffington Post put out nine suggestions for taking control over your own happiness:

  1. Simply try.
  2. Make happiness your number-one goal.
  3. Linger on those little, positive moments.
  4. Choose mindfulness.
  5. Smile your way to happiness.
  6. Practice gratitude.
  7. Pursue happiness, find happiness – and success.
  8. Let yourself be happy.
  9. Practice compassion.

However, these are just suggestions. There are lots of other ways things you can try to raise the set point of your happiness.

What are other ways you might be able to raise your happiness set point? Try these out for a while and let us know if you notice any results!

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Stress Less – Change to Chill

August 19, 2024 in LINKS

Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash

School is starting and it seems like stress always comes right along with it.

It can be hard to STRESS LESS by yourself. Allina Health’s “Change to Chill™ Starter Kit” has some awesome resources for you to not have to chill by yourself.


WHAT IS CHANGE TO CHILL?
Change to Chill is a free online resource kit for teen mental health which:

  • Addresses what stress is
  • Teaches you about triggers of stress
  • Helps you recognize signs of stress
  • Gives you tools for coping with stress like meditation, mindful movement,
    how-to videos and guided imagery

TRY IT OUT:
Take a look through and see if you want to try any of the activities on your own. Or take the tools to an organization you are part of and suggest a group activity. There are small, easy activities, and guides for planning a large chill event too. Also, if YOU are too stressed to even THINK about how to help other people de-stress, look around you. There are definitely other people your age or adults at school, activities, and your community who are just LOOKING for ways to help! Ask them to get together a space and food and invite other young people – and the kit will give you the tools to do the rest!

How to Get Started with Change to Chill

Note: SOVA does not have any affiliation with Allina Health.

Did you try out anything in the Change to Chill kit? If you did, let us know in the comments below!

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Is Depression in My Genes?

August 16, 2024 in Be Positive, Educate Yourself

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Where does depression come from? Like we talked about before, there are many theories (ideas for why something happens that scientists put together from facts and based on how the world seems to work).

There is some evidence or proof that part of why someone has depression comes from their genes—or basically the code your parents gave you that is an instruction manual for your body and mind.

On average in our population, about 38 percent of the way depression is inherited may be from genetics—and more so for girls than boys. Remember that statistic is talking about a whole population—we don’t know what it means for an individual person. For one person, genetics could be 70 percent of the reason they have depression—for someone else it might only be 10 percent.

About 10 percent of all people will experience depression. If someone has a parent or sibling with depression that risk goes up to about 20 to 30%.

Scientists haven’t found a “depression gene” yet. Its more likely there are a bunch of genes that contribute risk.

All of this means you don’t just get depression from your mom or dad—genes are part of the story but definitely not all of it. So don’t ever take that to mean you are programmed to be one way and there is nothing you can do about it.

You know how you open up a new phone and it has default settings? Think about those as your genes. Many phones are customizable–and you can decide how to set it up. Just because you get certain genes doesn’t mean you can’t work with what you got! (Read our post on epigenetics to find out more about how to work with what you inherit.)

Maybe you drop your phone and the screen cracks a little—then you get a new shiny case for it and now it looks awesome and you can’t tell there’s a crack. That’s kind of how the environment works—what’s around you and the experiences you have also effect who you become.

You are a collection of where you came from (your genes), what you grew up with (your environment), who you choose to become (your motivation and goals), and who helps you get there (your support system—including clinical professionals such as your therapist and doctor who provide you with tools you need to get you where you want to go).

Has anything made you feel as if your depression or anxiety are inevitable? Where did you get those messages? Share with us in the comments.

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