The Psychological and Behavioral Patterns of Online Psychological Help-Seekers before and during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Text Mining-Based Longitudinal Ecological Study

Yinghui Huang, Hui Liu, Lin Zhang, Shen Li, Weijun Wang, Zhihong Ren, Zongkui Zhou and Xueyao Ma
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Yinghui Huang: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Hui Liu: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Lin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Shen Li: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Weijun Wang: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Zhihong Ren: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Zongkui Zhou: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430056, China
Xueyao Ma: Medical Psychology, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, 89075 Ulm, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: Online mental health service (OMHS) platforms have contributed significantly to the public’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. However, it remains unclear why the public used OMHS platforms for psychological help-seeking (PHS) behavior and how PHS behavior varied across different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the ecological PHS behavior data from two OMHS platforms, we extracted population, psychological problems, and influential factors of PHS behavior by text mining and time series analysis methods. Seven top-ranked psychological problems (i.e., depression and anxiety, lack of interest, suicidal tendencies, social phobia, feelings of being worried and afraid, suffering, anger) and seven influential factors (i.e., interpersonal relationships, love, family, work, psychotherapy, personal characteristics, marriage) were found. The online PHS behaviors related to different psychological problems and influential factors remained a growing trend before 2020 and have been increasing significantly due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Four main stages were found during the pandemic according to the changes in the online PHS population: sharp growth, significant decline, slight rebound, and slow decline. This study identified large-scale, spontaneous PHS behaviors among the online public during the COVID-19 pandemic and the various psychological problems and influential factors that varied across different stages of the pandemic, suggesting that the government and health practitioners should adopt effective policies and strategies to prevent and intervene in mental health problems for the online public.

Keywords: COVID-19; online psychological help-seeking behavior; online mental health service; text mining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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