Online Support and Antidepressant Sexual Side Effects

Sexual side effects of antidepressants (ADs) significantly impact patient quality of life and contribute to antidepressant discontinuation. The online social media site Reddit offers unique data on these side effects because user semi-anonymity promotes self-disclosure and disinhibition. This study uses data from the Reddit subcommunity r/depression to modify and extend the Social Sup-port Behavior Code, a support classification model which has previously been applied to online discussions of health. Epistemic network analysis is applied to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between support strategies and AD types in discussions of AD-related sexual side effects. Preliminary results indicate that support in posts and immediate replies to posts (top-level comments) differ for threads which discuss the most commonly prescribed type of AD, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), other types of ADs, or both SSRIs and other ADs. Additional analyses will include other types of ADs and will evaluate responses to top-level comments from post authors.