So-called "New Depression" in the Media: Assessing the Quality of Medical Coverage from a Psychiatric Perspective

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K12578
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90020:Library and information science, humanistic and social informatics-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Kita Hiroki 東北大学, 高度教養教育・学生支援機構, 助教 (40323092)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 伊藤 千裕 東北大学, 高度教養教育・学生支援機構, 教授 (60292330) ; 木内 喜孝 東北大学, 高度教養教育・学生支援機構, 教授 (20250780)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 新型うつ病 / 医療情報 / メディア / 新聞 / テキストマイニング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

New-type depression is a generic term for a depressive experience that has different characteristics from conventional depression. However, it is not a medical term, but a name given by the media without clear medical evidence, causing confusion in society. In this study, we analyzed newspaper articles on new types of depression to clarify the reality of medical information on depression for the public.
As a result, many of the articles explained the trend of the new type of depression, which is the increase of the new type of depression in the workplace. The articles were accurate and reliable, and the overview of the new type of depression in the articles was almost consistent with the explanation by the Japanese Society for Depression Research.

Free Research Field

健康情報学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

新型うつ病とは従来のうつ病とは異なる特徴をもつ抑うつ体験反応の総称である．しかし医学用語ではなく，メディアにより命名され医学的に明確な根拠のないままに流布し社会に混乱が生じている．診療の際には，医師が患者に新型うつ病がどのような病気であるかを診療の初期段階で説明するが，患者自身があらかじめ抱いている病気の印象を把握しておくことは，患者との円滑な意思疎通を開始するうえで極めて重要となる．
本研究では新型うつ病に関する新聞記事の解析によって記事中の新型うつ病の概要は，日本うつ病学会による解説とほぼ合致するもので，正確で信頼性の高いものと考えられた．