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Reddit showed mixed views of the APA Goldwater Rule

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Research area:Social SciencesMental Health and PsychiatryBioethics

What the study found

Reddit discussions about the American Psychiatric Association’s Goldwater Rule showed mixed views from 2016 to 2024, with positive sentiment the most common single category. Users often described the Rule as protecting psychiatric credibility and guarding against abuse.

Why the authors say this matters

The authors suggest that wider engagement may help the APA consider how the Goldwater Rule can remain attentive to societal expectations in an era of digital advances and sociopolitical divisions. They also say the public debate mirrors similar debates within psychiatry.

What the researchers tested

The researchers examined Reddit posts and comments from June 2016 to November 2024 that referenced the Goldwater Rule. They used Reddit’s Application Programming Interface, keyword searches, and a multi-phase human and large language model review process to annotate content as Positive, Neutral, Negative, or Irrelevant, then thematically analyzed the non-Irrelevant comments.

What worked and what didn't

After filtering, the corpus included 566 comments labeled Positive, Neutral, or Negative. Positive content accounted for 42.23%, Neutral for 36.57%, and Negative for 21.20%; Neutral responses often showed ambivalence, suggested changes or clarifications, or supported the status quo.

What to keep in mind

The abstract does not describe detailed study limitations. It also focuses on Reddit discourse only, so the findings reflect that platform and the period studied rather than public opinion more broadly.

Key points

  • The most common single sentiment on Reddit was positive toward the Goldwater Rule.
  • Neutral comments were common and often expressed ambivalence or suggested changes.
  • Negative and positive content appeared especially in political discussions, including debates about President Donald Trump.
  • Many users discussed the Rule’s practical boundaries in digital media and telehealth.
  • The study analyzed 566 non-irrelevant Reddit comments from 2016 to 2024.

Disclosure

Research title:
Reddit showed mixed views of the APA Goldwater Rule
Authors:
Alexander Smith, Juan Graña, Dinesh Bhugra, Maria A. Oquendo, Ana Buadze, Antonio Ventriglio, Michael Liebrenz
Institutions:
University of Bern, Bern University of Applied Sciences, King's College London, University of Pennsylvania, University of Zurich, University of Foggia
Publication date:
2026-03-30
DOI:
10.1186/s12910-026-01447-x
OpenAlex record:
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AI provenance: This post was generated by OpenAI. The original authors did not write or review this post.

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