Table 1. Summary and description of the mental health condition themes and their originating subreddits used in this study.
| Theme | #Posts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| BPD | 11,880 | Forum to discuss aspects of Borderline Personality Disorder either as a sufferer, someone closely related to a sufferer, or someone interested in this disorder |
| bipolar (BipolarSOs, BipolarReddit, bipolar) | 41,636 | Communities to discuss issues surrounding Bipolar Disorder; while bipolar and BipolarReddit focus on sufferers and their support, BipolarSOs invites contributions from people that are in a relationship with someone suffering from Bipolar Disorder |
| schizophrenia | 4,963 | Subreddit to discuss schizophrenia-type disorders and schizophrenia-related issues such as psychosis |
| Anxiety | 57,523 | Forum for anything that is related to an anxiety disorder; does not distinguish between sufferer or someone related to a sufferer |
| depression | 197,436 | A community for helping anyone struggling with depression; posters are not limited to those who have received a diagnosis by their GP/hospital doctor and the emphasis is on supporting others in their struggle with depression |
| selfharm (selfharm, StopSelfHarm) | 17,102 | Forums to discuss aspects of people self-harming; while selfharm aims to build a community of sufferers, StopSelfHarm focusses on supporting anyone wanting to stop self-harming even if through a related person |
| SuicideWatch | 90,518 | Forum to support individuals thinking about suicide or people thinking of someone else being at risk of suicide |
| addiction | 4,360 | Community to discuss any physical or psychological dependence, e.g. drugs or video games; encourages self post, but does not exclude non-sufferers |
| cripplingalcoholism | 38,241 | Community for alcohol-dependent people, with an emphasis on the acceptance of the condition, also stretching to embracing their condition |
| Opiates (OpiatesRecovery, opiates) | 65,143 | Forums to discuss opiate addiction; while opiates addresses all aspects of the addiction, OpiatesRecovery focusses strongly on supporting everyone wanting to withdraw from opiates; Posting to opiates is restricted to people aged over 18 years |
| autism | 9,470 | Forum for anything related to an Autism Spectrum Disorder; provides information and support to anyone facing a diagnosis whether for themselves or someone else |
| Non-mental health | 476,388 | Control dataset generated using posts from users on subreddits outlined above, who have posted on other subreddits that are not mental health related |
Where appropriate, multiple subreddits participating in one theme are presented in brackets.