Symptoms of anxiety and depression in social media in connection with the threat of COVID-19

Abstract

Professional literature usually perceives the Internet and social media from the perspective of threat. Many papers describe the risk of using the Internet, both practical one concerning threatened security or finances and psychological one pertaining to addiction or depression. However, more and more often the cyberspace is treated as the research subject in itself or an area where one can analyse behaviours of Internet users. This paper is an example of the latter approach. With the help of the Big Data analysis of social media, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) shall be used to compare how often suicidal behaviour symptoms occurred in Internet users’ posts this year and the year preceding the COVID-19 threat.