Computational analyses identify addiction help-seeking behaviors on the social networking website Reddit: Insights into online social interactions and addiction support communities

Abstract

Introduction Although social connection to others with lived addiction experiences is a strong predictor of long-term recovery from substance use disorders (SUD), the COVID-19 pandemic greatly altered global abilities to physically connect with other people. Evidence suggests online forums for people with SUD may serve as a sufficient proxy for social connection, however efficacy of online spaces as addiction treatment adjuncts remains empirically understudied. Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze a collection of Reddit posts germane to addiction and recovery collected between March-August 2022. Methods We collected (n = 9,066) Reddit posts (1) r/addiction; (2) r/DecidingToBeBetter, (3) r/SelfImprovement, (4) r/OpitatesRecovery, (5) r/StopSpeeding, (6) r/RedditorsInRecovery, and (7) r/StopSmoking subreddits. We applied several classes of natural language processing (NLP) methods to analyze and visualize our data including term frequency inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) calculations, k-means clustering, and principal components analysis (PCA). We also applied a Valence Aware Dictional and sEntiment [sic] Reasoner (VADER) sentiment analysis to determine affect in our data. Results Our analyses revealed three distinct clusters: (1) Personal addiction struggle, or sharing one’s recovery journey (n = 2,520), (2) Giving advice, or offering counseling based on firsthand experiences (n = 3,885), and (3) Seeking advice, or asking for support or advice related to addiction (n = 2,661). Discussion & conclusion Addiction, SUD, and recovery dialogue on Reddit is exceedingly robust. Much of the content mirrors tenets for established addiction-recovery programs, which suggests Reddit, and other social networking websites, may serve as efficient tools to promote social connection among people with SUD.