Seeking Depression Information on the Internet

The internet has grown as a source of health information for both clinicians and their patients.  Patients with mental disorders may be particularly drawn to using the internet for information due to the stigma associated with these disorders.  This makes it important for health educators to understand the demographic pattern of searches for health information including depression and other mental disorders.  A recent research study of those seeking information about depression provides some insight into the volume and pattern of web searches for "depression".  Fu et al conducted an interesting study that examined the number and pattern of internet searches for depression.  The authors used the following design in their study:

• Query for all AOL users web searches between March and May 2006
• Keyword depression with exclusion of obvious confounders, i.e. "great depression"
• Limited to U.S. AOL users
• Review of database of 21 million web queries.

The key results from their study included:

• 3 of every 1000 internet searches sought depression-related information
• 1.16 million search for "depression" estimated per month in the U.S.
• The most common search areas related to depression were 1. general information 28%, 2. identification/managment 18%, 3. pharmaceutical company depression website 11%, 4. depression-related psychiatric comorbidities, i.e. anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder 7%, 5. female and pregnancy-related depression 5%, 6. teen depression 5%, 7. suicide 0.6%.

This study probably underestimates the volume of internet searches related to depression as some individual likely type in the name of a depression drug or other more specific information in their query.

The authors note the volume of public searches for depression should stimulate high-quality education for the disorder.  Health educators with high-quality, evidence-based information should also work to keep their information at the top of search engine queries.  There is a significant amount of misinformation about depression and mental disorders on the internet.  There needs to be an effort to make sure individuals searching "depression" get to sites that provide them the information they need to help them make good decisions about their symptoms and disorders.

Here are some of the web sites that I feel provide high-quality evidence-based information for the general public:

National Institute of Mental Health
Mayo Clinic
WebMD
Google Health
Drugs.com
National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists

If you have personal experience with sites that you would like to recommend, feel free to post your recommendations in the comments section.

Pricky Pear from Enchanted Rock State Natural Area in Texas courtesy of Yates Photography.

Fu KW, Wong PW, & Yip PS (2010). What do internet users seek to know about depression from web searches? A descriptive study of 21 million web queries. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 71 (9), 1246-7 PMID: 20923627