Early detection of anorexia from reddit posts using time series based transformer model

Saini, S and Sen, P (2026) Early detection of anorexia from reddit posts using time series based transformer model Discover Computing, 29 (1). 19-. ISSN 2948-2984, 2948-2992

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Abstract

Rates of mental health concerns are rising, and an increasing number of individuals openly share their experiences on social media platforms (Hasell and Nabi, in: Emotions in the digital world: exploring affective experience and expression in online interactions, Oxford University Press, 2023). This openness creates an opportunity to study, detect, and ultimately support those at risk using data-driven methods. We focus on Anorexia Nervosa, an eating disorder characterized by persistent restriction and an intense fear of weight gain. Early, automatic identification can enable timelier assessment and intervention. We propose a transformer-based time-series model that analyzes longitudinal Reddit activity to estimate an individual’s likelihood of Anorexia. The model jointly captures temporal dynamics (how signals evolve over time) and semantic content (what the posts mean), yielding an accuracy of. In our experiments, this approach outperforms baselines that rely solely on semantic features, underscoring the value of modeling user trajectories rather than treating posts in isolation. We further conduct post-hoc explanation analyses to highlight the features most responsible for the model’s predictions, and we show that these attributions align with human intuition. Code for our approach is available in the repository here (https://anonymous.4open.science/r/From-Posts-to-Patterns-Detecting-Anorexia-on-Reddit-6CB7/).

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	46 Information and Computing Sciences, 4608 Human-Centred Computing, Mental Health, Brain Disorders, Behavioral and Social Science, Prevention, Eating Disorders, Nutrition, Mental Illness, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Women's Health, Serious Mental Illness, Pediatric Research Initiative, Anorexia, Clinical Research, 3 Good Health and Well Being
Divisions:	Faculty of Science & Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Computer Science & Informatics Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Computer Science & Informatics > Artificial Intelligence
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2026 14:25
Last Modified:	23 May 2026 10:54
DOI:	10.1007/s10791-026-09903-3
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10791-026-09903-3
Related Websites:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3196581
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