We spend a substantial amount of our time sharing images, videos, or thoughts on social networks. Now, researchers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona have developed an algorithm that aims to help psychologists diagnose possible mental health problems through the content people post on these platforms.

According to William Glasser's Choice Theory, there are five basic needs that are central to all human behaviour: Survival, Power, Freedom, Belonging and Fun. These needs even have an influence on the images we choose to upload to our Instagram page, the team said.

“How we present ourselves on social media can provide useful information about behaviours, personalities, perspectives, motives and needs,” explained Mohammad Mahdi Dehshibi, a researcher at the AI for Human Well-being (AIWELL) group at the UOC.

The research team has spent two years working on a deep-learning model that identifies the five needs described by Glasser...