Teen Depression Groups on Facebook: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most frequently diagnosed disorders in early adolescence and can lead to a multitude of negative life outcomes, highlighting the need for early and effective intervention to mitigate depressive symptoms. Recognizing the preference of youth to seek informal sources of help for mental health issues, which may include the Internet, the social networking site Facebook was investigated as a potential source of support and help for youth suffering depressive symptoms or disorder. This study examined the content of online Facebook support groups targeting adolescents with depression. A total of 508 posts from six Facebook groups were analyzed. The majority of post content on these Facebook groups consisted of self-disclosure (32.48%), feedback between posters (24.80%), and offers and recommendations of help (24.61%). Posters seem to utilize adolescent Facebook depression groups mainly to connect with those who might share a similar experience and to share information about mental health resources. Future studies should investigate the potential to use the information exchange that occurs in these groups to promote traffic to online and offline evidence-based mental health resources.