Share:
Innovative Diagnostic Help This software detects Depressive through posted Instagram photos
According to health experts, depression can be treated well, as long as it is detected early. But often the mental illness is diagnosed late. Researchers are now reporting on a computer program that can help identify the disease, using the photos posted on Instagram.
More and more people suffer from depression
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that the number of people with depression worldwide has risen again. In the EU too, more and more people are suffering from the mental illness. Depression can manifest itself in a variety of symptoms: lack of drive, lack of motivation, sadness, little zest for life. You can recognize the disease but apparently also on the basis of photos, the victims publish on the Internet.
A new computer program can help diagnose depression early. The program analyzes photos posted on Instagram and, according to research, detects the mental illness 70% of the time. (Image: DREIDREIEINS photo / fotolia.com) Algorithm for the detection of depressive disorders
Can photos show a computer program if we are depressed? Scientists at Harvard University and the University of Vermont have developed an algorithm that can detect depression by evaluating photos on Instagram.
The experts already published the results of their study last year at the Cornell University Library.
After evaluators have assessed the quality of the study, the results have now been officially published in the journal "EPJ Data Science".
Current methods of diagnosis are tedious and expensive
Current methods of diagnosing depression are usually lengthy and expensive. According to an older study published in the journal "The Lancet", practitioners only give the correct diagnosis in about every other case.
However, the new algorithm made it possible to detect depression with a 70 percent chance.
To get these results, nearly 44,000 photos from 166 Instagram users were analyzed using color, metadata, and face recognition algorithms.
Instead of colored rather black and white shots
The scientists found that the photos of the 71 subjects, in which a doctor had already diagnosed depression, compared with those without diagnosis, showed special properties.
Accordingly, depressives posted dark, gray, blue or black and white shots more frequently. In addition, people with a propensity for depressed behavior would post pictures more often than mentally unremarkable people.
In addition, they post more often photos on which faces are shown, but are on the pictures fewer people than healthy. This may have something to do with the fact that depressives surround themselves with fewer people.
Furthermore, the analyzes showed that depressives tend to use fewer colors. They also used a rarer filter - and if they did, they used a filter that turned a colorful one into a black and white image (Inkwell filter)..
"In other words, people who suffer from depression prefer a filter that literally took all the color out of the images they wanted to share," the researchers write.
The healthy control group, on the other hand, used images freshening Valencia filters most often.
Computer program detects depression to 70 percent
The study authors hope that their findings will provide a new screening option for mental illnesses.
The computer program, which can detect a 70 percent depression, is more accurate than the diagnosis of primary care physicians, who only recognize the disease in 42 percent of cases.
"This suggests a new method for the early screening of depression and other emerging mental illnesses," said Chris Danforth, a professor at the University of Vermont, who conducted the new study with Andrew Reece of Harvard University.
"This algorithm can sometimes detect depression before a clinical diagnosis is made," the expert said in a statement.
"That could help you go to a doctor earlier," Danforth said.
Better treatment options with early diagnosis
The scientists point out, however, that the new software can not replace a medical diagnosis or the transition to a physician. "This examination is not a diagnostic test," say the experts.
"But our study shows that this could be a new and cost-effective way to help people," Danforth said.
Early detection of depression allows for rapid treatment. Thus, sufferers can often be effectively treated with simple but effective therapies.
In addition to psychotherapy and medication, other methods of treating depression can also be used.
So, yoga training works very well in mental illness. And in general, it can be stated that sport also helps against depression. This has already been clearly demonstrated by previous studies. (Ad)