Conceptualizing Suicidal Behavior: Utilizing Explanations of Predicted Outcomes to Analyze Longitudinal Social Media Data

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Van Minh, Nasheen Nur, Stern, William, Mercer, Thomas, Sen, Chiradeep, Bhattacharyya, Siddhartha, Tumbiolo, Victor, Goh, Seng Jhing
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 30.12.2023
• Subjects: Algorithms; Artificial intelligence; Computer Science - Computation and Language; Computer Science - Computers and Society; Computer Science - Social and Information Networks; Digital media; Large language models; Machine learning; Mental disorders; Mental health; Post traumatic stress disorder; Psychological stress; Social factors; Social networks; Suicidal behavior; Suicides & suicide attempts
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2312.08299

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated mental health crises worldwide, with social isolation and economic instability contributing to a rise in suicidal behavior. Suicide can result from social factors such as shame, abuse, abandonment, and mental health conditions like depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorders. As these conditions develop, signs of suicidal ideation may manifest in social media interactions. Analyzing social media data using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can help identify patterns of suicidal behavior, providing invaluable insights for suicide prevention agencies, professionals, and broader community awareness initiatives. Machine learning algorithms for this purpose require large volumes of accurately labeled data. Previous research has not fully explored the potential of incorporating explanations in analyzing and labeling longitudinal social media data. In this study, we employed a model explanation method, Layer Integrated Gradients, on top of a fine-tuned state-of-the-art language model, to assign each token from Reddit users' posts an attribution score for predicting suicidal ideation. By extracting and analyzing attributions of tokens from the data, we propose a methodology for preliminary screening of social media posts for suicidal ideation without using large language models during inference.