Facebook aids mental health fight

FACEBOOK status updates, “likes” and even photos could help researchers better understand mental health disorders, academics have argued.

Researchers at Cambridge University acknowledged privacy concerns, but said that, with the right ethical safeguards, social networks could give insight into the onset and early years of mental illness.

Support and intervention may be offered via social networks in the future, particularly among young people, the study added.

More than one billion people worldwide use Facebook daily, one in seven of the global population.

Researchers, writing in Lancet Psychiatry, said up to 92 per cent of adolescents use the site daily and disclose considerably more about themselves online than offline.

“Facebook is hugely popular and could provide us with a wealth of data to improve our knowledge of mental health disorders such as depression and schizophrenia,” said Dr Becky Inkster, the study’s lead author, from the Department of Psychiatry.