Currently submitted to: Online Journal of Public Health Informatics
Date Submitted: Jun 24, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 3, 2026 - Aug 28, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
AI in Reddit Mental Health Discourse: A Focused Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in mental health research has increased interest in how computational methods analyse mental health discourse in online environments. Reddit has emerged as a valuable source of user-generated mental health data due to its large, anonymous, and topic-specific communities. At the same time, conversational AI systems are increasingly being discussed and evaluated within online mental health communities.
Objective:
This focused scoping review examined how AI has been used to analyse mental health discussions on Reddit and how conversational AI systems are experienced and evaluated by Reddit users. The review addressed four questions concerning AI methods, operationalisations of mental health constructs, user-reported functions and benefits of conversational AI, and perceived concerns and limitations.
Methods:
A structured search of the Scopus database identified 925 records. Following screening and eligibility assessment, 22 studies published between 2022 and 2025 met the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted using a structured charting framework and synthesised through an interpretive thematic approach informed by a critical lens focusing on construct validity, contextual dependence, and epistemological assumptions.
Results:
A structured search of the Scopus database identified 925 records. Following screening and eligibility assessment, 22 studies published between 2022 and 2025 met the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted using a structured charting framework and synthesised through an interpretive thematic approach informed by a critical lens focusing on construct validity, contextual dependence, and epistemological assumptions.
Conclusions:
AI offers valuable tools for analysing large-scale mental health discourse on Reddit and may provide supplementary forms of support in online settings. However, important challenges remain regarding construct validity, contextual interpretation, and ethical implementation. Future research should prioritise theoretically grounded operationalisations of mental health, greater methodological transparency, and more rigorous evaluation of conversational AI in real-world mental health contexts. Clinical Trial: None
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.