In an Absolute State: Elevated Use of Absolutist Words Is a Marker Specific to Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation

Abstract

Absolutist thinking is considered a cognitive distortion by most cognitive therapies for anxiety and depression. Yet, there is little empirical evidence of its prevalence or specificity. Across three studies, we conducted a text analysis of 63 Internet forums (over 6,400 members) using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software to examine absolutism at the linguistic level. We predicted and found that anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation forums contained more absolutist words than control forums ( d s > 3.14). Suicidal ideation forums also contained more absolutist words than anxiety and depression forums ( d s > 1.71). We show that these differences are more reflective of absolutist thinking than psychological distress. It is interesting that absolutist words tracked the severity of affective disorder forums more faithfully than negative emotion words. Finally, we found elevated levels of absolutist words in depression recovery forums. This suggests that absolutist thinking may be a vulnerability factor.

Beyond Modelling: Understanding Mental Disorders in Online Social Media

“…This suggest that those words are also frequently used by users affected by anorexia or self-harm. The same situation was observed when considering the set of absolutist terms 13 derived from the work of Al-Mosaiwi et al [1], who concluded that the elevated use of absolutist words is a marker specific to anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Figure 3 depicts for each class the average number of documents that contain at least one word associated with a particular emotion, including the polarity (positive or negative).…”

Social comparisons, social media addiction, and social interaction: An examination of specific social media behaviors related to major depressive disorder in a millennial population

“…The authors found that depressed individuals posted photos that were bluer, darker, and grayer, and they were also less likely to apply filters to their photos. In an assessment of language use, it was found that individuals with increased symptoms of depression use more first person singular pronouns (e.g., me, myself, I) and fewer second and third person pronouns (e.g., they, them) (Al‐Mosaiwi & Johnstone, ). The authors speculated that this pattern of pronoun use suggests that people with depression are primarily focused on themselves and have fewer connections with others (Al‐Mosaiwi & Johnstone, ).…”

Understanding Depression from Psycholinguistic Patterns in Social Media Texts

“…Absolutist Words. A recent study on absolutist thinking, which is considered a cognitive distortion by most cognitive therapies for anxiety and depression, showed that anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation forums contained more absolutist words than control forums [3]. The study, conducted as a text analysis of 63 Internet forums with over 6400 members resulted in a validation of an absolutist words dictionary, presented in Table 1.…”